Drobo Storage Backup System Once you start shooting professionally, backing up your client's projects is of utmost importance. We love the Drobo because it is portable, redundant, fast, and easy to upgrade. If you buy one of these definitely get one with eSata or USB 3.0 so you can move files quickly and even edit directly off of it if you desire. Speaking of storage options, we also recommend backing up your data through off site companies like Carbonite or Mozy which offer really cheap online storage options that will cover you in case of fire, theft, or physical drive failure.
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SmugMug Business 1-Year As wedding photographers we needed a place to publish full weddings after each event. SmugMug allows us to upload full resolution images and their system allows our clients to order prints directly from Bay Photo. At the end of each month, we get a check from SmugMug and it requires almost no work on our part.[SmugMug]
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Animoto Pro 1-Year Both Patrick and I are full time wedding photographers when we are not managing Fstoppers. A huge part of our marketing entails making a public slideshow for every wedding that we shoot. If you haven't seen this video about why we use Animoto, click here. Animoto is a wedding photographer MUST. [Animoto]
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Lightroom 4 Lightroom 4 is the most popular photo editing and workflow software out there, and for good reason. No other software allows the RAW and jpeg editing freedom that Lightroom does (in addition to allowing for unlimited presets from various third party sources) and also gives the type of workflow simplicity that is important to photographers with a lot of images in their library. A must-have for any photographer out there.
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Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended Photoshop is a must-have in my book. If you're a photographer, you aren't getting the most out of your work unless you're using the digital darkroom that is Photoshop. If you see your friend tinkering with free online photo editors or another lame program, don't let him suffer. Get him the gift that will make all other gifts blush.
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