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My Top Tool for Fast Editing

My Top Tool for Fast Editing | Emily Moore | Private Photo Editor
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I'm a NC girl born & raised, a wife to my college sweetheart, mom to my sweet daughter Caroline & fur-mom to my floof, Riley. I love summer days at the beach, fall weekends in the mountains, & everyday in between exploring new corners of the world. I live for Italian food, tacos & margaritas. Currently taking life one adventure at a time.

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My Top Tool for Fast Editing | Emily Moore | Private Photo Editor

My Top Tool for Fast Editing

When my business grew from 2 to 14 clients in one year, I knew there this year would require some fast editing on my part. In February, I got a wedding count for the year from all of my clients. April, September, and October were going to be pretty hectic, but nothing was going to compare to May.

You see, back in January, I booked a seat to attend a retreat AND scheduled a trip to the beach. It wasn’t exactly the smartest thing I’ve ever done, but this is the first year I’ve had more than 2 clients, so I didn’t know what to expect. When I found out I was scheduled to take on 24 catalogs in May alone, I warned my husband that I would be spending a lot of time in my office when we weren’t out of town.

My Busiest Month to Date

In the 3 years I’ve been in business, this past May was my busiest month I’ve ever had as a private photo editor. Despite the fact that I spent almost two full weeks out of town, I was able to edit all of the catalogs I received, which ended up being 17 weddings and 3 engagement sessions! That’s a grand total of 14,487 images (which doesn’t even include retouching work I do for the Kate Max Stock)!!

The best part was that I still delivered most of them within my 3-5 business day turnaround time, which means my client’s clients were still able to get their wedding catalogs back quickly even though I was out of town. Now that’s some fast editing!

So How Did I Do It?

Over the last few months, I have been getting a lot of questions asking how I am able to edit and turnaround catalogs so quickly, so today, I’m sharing my number one secret to how I’m able to do this! You ready? Here we go!

My Top Tool for Fast Editing: Wacom Pen Tablet

The Wacom Pen Tablet

My secret weapon is my Wacom pen tablet, and it has been a total game changer for my business! This tablet makes it SO easy to get through weddings quickly – I never work without it! I keep the pen in my writing hand and use it as a mouse. The other hand stays on my keyboard, where I use keyboard shortcut commands. You can use it whether you are right-handed OR left-handed! Yes lefties – this WILL work for you, and you can trust me on this because I’m a lefty myself!

One of my favorite features of the tablet is that it formats itself to the size of your screen. I get so annoyed with the computer mouse because on my iMac, I end up having to pick it up and set it back down over and over again just to get across my large screen. Since the tablet formats itself to whatever screen size you are working with, it allows you to move your mouse from corner to corner without having to pick it up and drag it over, which saves time! You can also click and right-click with your pen, so you never had to bother with that pesky mouse, again!

My Top Tool for Fast Editing: Wacom Pen Tablet

I’m going to be honest with you…

When I first got my tablet, I HATED it. I was used to editing with a mouse, and I had a difficult time converting to the tablet. It was difficult to maneuver and I gave up on it after 20 minutes or so. When I got a job in Oregon as a retoucher, I HAD to learn how to use my tablet. I can not tell you how glad I am that I was forced to give it another try. After working with it for an hour or so, I started getting the hang of it. Now, I hate using a computer without it! Although it takes some time to get used to, once you spend some time on it you won’t want to go back! I guarantee it!

If you’re convinced that you need a tablet, I’d recommend the Wacom Intuos Pro in size medium. This size works well whether you’re working on a 13-inch laptop or on a 27” iMac. Unless you’re using a dual monitor screens that are both very large, you won’t need a large tablet size. The small is fine, but if you’re using anything bigger than a laptop, you definitely want the medium.

So what are you waiting for? Get one of these tablets and speed up your editing exponentially! Trust me, this investment into your business will pay itself off in no time!

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Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links. If you decide to purchase any of these resources, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. I only share products I love and fully support.

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  1. Lucy says:

    I love my wacom – it’s like a teeny tiny piece of magic, isn’t it?
    Really useful post – thanks for sharing.

  2. Winnie says:

    I totally thought this post was going to be about Photo Mechanic or something. Would you consider doing a quick video tutorial on how you use your Wacom? I’m intrigued but still attached to my mouse at this point!

  3. Mikkel says:

    Wacoms are AMAZING. I agree – takes getting used to but afterwards there is no going back!

  4. EJ says:

    Great post on using your tablet, I admit I could use mine more!

  5. Jess says:

    I totally agree! I am obsessed with my Wacom tablet and seriously couldn’t edit an image without one anymore. I am a lefty too, and I actually think I have an advantage because I use my right had for the keyboard and mouse.

  6. I gave a tablet a try once, and did not like it. Maybe I will give it another try.

  7. holly says:

    I have never used a tablet but I am super interested!

  8. Alekandra says:

    I’ve been thinking about getting a Wacom and your post about speeding up my editing is really enticing.

  9. Emilyanne says:

    This is awesome! Kudos to you for ramping up your business so quickly, and for still managing to meet your clients expectations!

  10. Erinn says:

    Great editing tips! The use of a Wacom tablet would be such a valuable addition for any photographer.

  11. Elizabeth says:

    ohhh I’ve been on the fence about this purchase! I think I’ll try it out in my slow season! Thank you for the information!

  12. Sarah says:

    I keep debating getting one of these, Im so worried about the learned curve though… glad you have ahd so much success with it

  13. Misty says:

    LOVE my Wacom tablet! Though it’s an older version and not near as nice as yours. It still makes a huge difference to my editing though!

  14. Hannah says:

    Great post! I need to get my tablet out and start using it. It’s a hard shift because I’m so used to my mouse. But I think you’ve convinced me to try using it again!

  15. Lindsay Zilke says:

    Ummm, this sounds amazing! I need to look in to this for my editing. Thanks for the great read and advise!!

  16. Alyssa says:

    i’ve been dying to get one of these! it sounds amazing!

  17. Nicki Hasler says:

    WOW! I never knew that such a tablet existed. As a full time wedding photographer, I feel that having a private editor is a must. Great post. <3

  18. Very clean and concise, makes learning these tips much easier!

  19. Janessa Valentine says:

    I’ve been debating on getting a Wacom and this blog really helped me make a decision, great post!

  20. liz Cleland says:

    I had never seen this before. I am totally looking into this because I spend hours editing!

  21. Karthika says:

    I have been thinking about adding this to my editing toolkit…thank you for such an informative post.

  22. My oldest bought a graphics tablet a while back, though she’s been so busy with college I haven’t seen her use it. I’m glad you mentioned about hating it at first. I think one of the reasons she’s set it aside is that it’s a bit of a steep learning curve…

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