General upgrade to RAM and Hard Drive

I have a MacBook Pro 15" Core 2 Duo Model A1211 2.16 GHz 1GB SDRAM that is my company computer that I can pick up for very cheap. Rather than buy a new mac for home use, I want to upgrade this one a bit.

I think I want to upgrade the hard drive to a 500 GB drive and the RAM to 4GB. That seems to be what pops up for options.

Are there any concerns or limitations that should make me change my mind? Can I install a larger hard drive or even more RAM, or will my processor limit the gains at some point?

Are there better (more effective) upgrades that I should consider? The use of the computer will be photo editing, movie editing, etc.

Thanks!