A monitor hood is simply a C-shaped plastic shade that helps to stop stray light from hitting the monitor surface from above and at the sides. Some of the BenQ and EIZO monitors designed for photo editing include monitor hoods, but you can also buy universal hoods for both external monitors and laptops. Some of the best monitors for photography are produced by BenQ and EIZO, and these can be connected to both laptops and desktops. These monitors will nearly always utilize in-plane switching (IPS) technology, which means the monitor will display a clear image from wider/multiple viewing angles, so you don’t have to be sitting directly in front of the monitor to view a reliable image. Also, with Windows, gaming PCs are ideal for photo editing.Ī wide gamut monitor is one that’s capable of displaying 98–100 percent of the Adobe RGB (1998) colour space.
LAPTOP LIGHTROOM PHOTO EDITING UPGRADE
If buying a new Mac you’ll need to increase the RAM at the point of purchase, but with Windows PC it’s much easier to upgrade at a later date.
LAPTOP LIGHTROOM PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE
The minimum RAM you should consider is 16GB, but 32GB or even 64GB will better help image editing software run smoothly and perform tasks much quicker.
I use all the accessories recommended here, but the most important two by far are the monitor calibration device and a wide gamut monitor, in that order.Ī powerful computer Image processing requires a lot of processing power, so powerful computers with multi-core processors and plenty of RAM are essential. In reality, there are only two additional accessories you need, while the others can improve comfort and control. But getting yourself up to 100 percent is a much steeper climb, and some essential accessories are required to help you get there. You will need a computer – a laptop or a desktop – and, gear-wise, in many cases this will get you 70 percent of the way towards where you need to be with image editing. It’s like any hobby really – you can buy as much or as little as you want to but having all the gear does not always guarantee excellence. "As a photographer, you will be well aware that there is a plethora of accessories that you can buy to aid your photography, and photo editing is certainly no exception some are essential, others are nice to have while the remainder simply come down to personal preference. James talks briefly about the essential photo editing accessories that any image manipulation aficionado need to consider.
Today's processors can fill in for them, and they pack enough pixel-pushing punch for photo editing.
A conventional hard disk drive will bottleneck performance like flat tires on a Ferrari, and while dedicated graphics cards are great for gaming, they're not a necessity here. This used to be more eye-sore than eye-candy, with appalling contrast and viewing angles, but thankfully IPS display tech fixes this and you shouldn't settle for anything less.Īn SSD (solid state drive) is a must as your primary storage in any new laptop. It's easy to get bogged down in the tech and spec soup of computer terminology, but there are a couple of key areas photographers need to think about. Watch the video above for the top 7 things to consider when buying a laptop.