Virtualization Technology and the Future of Virtual Work

If you are a photographer, there are many reasons why you should consider learning about virtualization technology, or the popular name, virtual machines. Virtual machines allow you to use programs to "have two different computers inside your computer," essentially. One of these computers is virtual, and the other one is your actual OS (Operational System).

Virtual machines have risen up in popularity because of the many benefits that come with the possibility of having more than one OS for you to use since some applications for a variety of professions are only available to one OS and not to the other.

Many programmers, for example, like having a virtual machine in their computers because it allows them to have the operational system Linux for their programming practices (Linux is a great system for programmers as it is extremely customizable, open source and the community around programming in Linux is enormous.

Many artists, on the other hand, enjoy having a virtual machine to have both Windows and Mac at their disposal, since many drawing, image manipulation, and artistic software are only available to one of the two systems.

This technology is the future of many professions because people don't have to rely on the update and release of additional programs for the systems they use, they can have more than one of them.

But, for photographers, why would virtualization technology be useful?

Photography and the Inevitable Virtualization

For photographers, why would having a virtual machine be useful? First, we have to understand another great functionality of the virtualization technology.

Having a virtual machine allows photographers to have, for example, Windows 10 and Windows XP in the same computer, or even Windows and another OS. With that, they not only have access to different programs that are compatible to those systems and their versions, photographers can also have more than one version of a software that they use in their daily work, and that is incredibly powerful.

There are virtual machines programs in the market that allow photographers to have multiple versions of Adobe's Photoshop, for example. Photoshop is a fantastic tool for photographers because you can perform image manipulation in one of the most comprehensive software for that. However, you might find many functionalities that you were used to, or add-ons to programs, that are not updated anymore to your new operational system. If you have a virtual machine, you can fix these problems in no time.

Nowadays, virtual machines are becoming extremely popular and useful for a variety of professionals. VMWare is one of the most famous software for virtualization and has been in the industry for years, while newcomers such as Parallels are introducing incredible tech solutions for all kinds of people. They have developed a way, for example, to support Microsoft's Microsoft Ink while editing Office documents, and also developed pressure-sensitive support to applications like CorelDraw and Photoshop for Windows.

Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop

There are many programs that are useful to photographers who want to edit their photos, participate in photo contests, improve their knowledge with technology and become competitive in the market. Adobe Lightroom is a unique software that allows you to apply filters (lightrooms) to your photos that are extremely potent and are much more effective at balancing the colors and shades of your photos than any other application.

How does Lightroom work? You can design and create your own lightrooms to use in your photos, but you don't have to, as you can find many free Lightroom presets on the internet.

With virtual machines, you can use software like Lightroom while also having other applications that are only available to other OS.

Competitions

By using virtualization technology, you will be able to become much more competitive in the market. You will have a wider variety of tools for photo-editing at your disposal, and they can be applications that are only available to a specific OS, but that won't be a problem for you anymore.

Now that you can enter contests more frequently because you will be improving your craft with more consistency, there are many contests on the internet that you can enter to receive constructive feedback that will enhance your photos even more in the future.

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