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.

Want more choices? Check out our list of the best laptopīelow is an excerpt of “ The Digital Darkroom: The Definitive Guide to Photo Editing” by James Abbott, published by Ilex Press ( £17.70 on .uk).

But don't rule out comparably priced laptop PCs, which can offer more bang per buck with better upgradability. The MacBook is favoured by many photographers, and for good reason. 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.

Best photo editing mac users 2017