More and more photographers have embraced Lightroom as their main post production tool. Although I completely understand that thinking – and it’s valid for many photographers – I worry than Photoshop is in danger of becoming the forgotten advantage.

If you are in the business of selling your photography services, I’m sure that you’ve run into the challenge of competing with the “craigslist photographers”. These are the folks who have bought themselves a decent camera and are offering to take pictures at ridiculously low prices. Convincing potential customers that it’s worth spending more money on a professional photographer can definitely be a challenge. I believe that one way to distinguish yourself from these part-timers is Photoshop – or at least what you can do with Photoshop.

Yes you can do a lot of “standard” work in Lightroom, from color correction to basic retouching. But it’s the power of the Layers panel that puts Photoshop apart from Lightroom, and that can be the advantage you are looking for.

Whether it’s compositing your subject onto a different background, adding texture or graphic overlays, or creating a fantasy image, Photoshop can help you create one-of-a-kind images…art that your part-time competition are unlikely to be able to emulate.

When I’m shooting portraits I often think about shooting it in pieces, almost imagining each shot as a layer in Photoshop. That way it’s easy to composite the layers together to create an unusual portrait – or art – like these examples.

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Of course I’m not suggesting that you abandon Lightroom! But don’t forget about the incredible powerful of Photoshop that can help you make sales.