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…a Photographer.

I spend a lot of my free time behind a lens. I love HDR photography. It is a hobby that I have been able to turn into some supplemental income, which is awesome. Photography in general means a lot of time out wandering the world as well as time in front of the computer screen. When I first started I could spend over 10 hours processing a single image; creating layers upon layers (upon layers), dodging & burning, retouching, sharpening, exporting and saving a photo. Then I discovered “cheating” in the form of a pretty little plug-in suite, and it completely changed my workflow. One click could create an effect that took much, much longer to replicate manually in Photoshop. The time I spent working on an individual file was drastically cut down, and that meant more time to go out and shoot, which equaled more opportunity to make money.

…a Designer.

When I was a senior in college I decided I needed an online portfolio, so I learned to code and build a site from scratch. It wasn’t anything too fancy, but it got the job done. Then a friend asked me to design a website for his business. Someone then saw that and wanted a website for their business. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, I turned to templates and themes. They enabled me to offer more features than if I would have created the site myself, and even though I didn’t have complete control over the design I was still able to customize the interface for each client while saving a ton of time. Again, “cheating” in the form of a theme presented more opportunity to make money and add value to my client’s website.

…a Painter??

That’s why I see so much value in the tools that are out there; they save time and can even do a better job than you could do by yourself. You don’t see painters mixing egg yolks and pigment powders to make their paint anymore; they buy it in tubes. Can people still mix their own paint from scratch? Sure, but it is simply more convenient, cheaper and of higher quality to buy it in a tube. I would be surprised if a painter hears any ridicule while squeezing another drop of Cadmium Yellow Med Hue onto his palette just because he didn’t make the paint from scratch, so why are designers often scoffed at for using plug-ins, templates and themes? The tools to create evolved for painters just as they are evolving for designers in the digital world.

My advice would be to embrace and take advantage of the resources that are out there. Of course, I am not the only one with an opinion. So… is it “cheating” for designers to utilize themes and plug-ins in their work? Does it label you as a less-capable designer? Have they brought value to you and your workflow?

I know these resources are voodoo to some, but what is your take? What is cheating and what isn’t?