For years, I’ve been holding off buying a graphics tablet and making do with a mouse to carry out my graphics work. You’ve probably tried editing an image using a mouse at least once in your life and can appreciate it’s not the most natural way to ‘draw’. Since my reintroduction into the world of photography, I’ve found I’m doing lots of post-processing work and only having a mouse at hand was becoming a bit of a chore.

I decided to take the, not so great, leap and purchased a Wacom Bamboo graphics tablet (the black, serious, business-like model )

Editing images in Photoshop has never been easier! Granted, I’m still getting used to working with a pen instead of a mouse, but I’m reaping the benefits already. A hands-on tutorial is provided as part of the software bundle

Anything that is traditionally done with a pen e.g. drawing around an irregular shape when making a selection or painting long, natural strokes for dodging or burning is much easier with a graphics tablet than with a mouse.

Moving the cursor is done by gliding the pen nib above the surface of the 152mm x 96mm active drawing area of the tablet. Actions are carried out by tapping the nib against the pad and the two buttons on the pen shaft can be customised, but are set to scroll and simulate a right-click by default.

In Photoshop, for example, the second pen button brings up the brush size dialogue and the first button combined with the nib pressed against the active area pans around the image using the hand tool. This is similar to the mouse-based method, but panning would also require pressing the space bar with the non-mouse hand hand so using the tablet effectively frees that hand up.

The tablet is powered directly from the USB connection and features cool blue LEDs, two customisable function buttons, backward and forward buttons, and a touch pad zoom control.

Using the ubiquitous USB, installation is easy with Windows XP recognising the tablet straight away. Drivers were required for additional functionality, though. In ‘pen mode’, the entire screen display is represented by the active drawing area on the tablet, which means no need to lift off as you do with a mouse when it runs out of mouse mat.

Retailing in the region of £50-£60, the Wacom Bamboo MTE-450 really is cheap and cheerful and would make a worthy addition to any photographer’s tool kit.