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When taking pictures with a digital camera a common occurrence may happen in which your digital camera's flaws show up on every picture. In order to fix these flaws you need to have some sort of editing software, and manually change settings until satisfied. With Adobe Photoshop CS3 you can create a template that will apply to all your photos in one single edit technique. The edit technique is called batch processing.
What is Batch Processing and Why do I need to use it?
That is a great question 'little Billy.' Simply put batch processing is a feature inside Adobe Photoshop (among other programs) that can duplicate the editing process done to one photo and copy it to another. In photoshop you can assign filters, adjustments, and other changes to a photo, which is referred to as an action. Then you can repeat the action on to another photo automatically without inputting the parameters again.Why is this important? Billy you are on a roll with the questions. Batch processing is important for many reason but there are some specifics that directly apply to digital photographers. Lets say that you take 100 hundred pictures with your new Canon camera. But you notice that your camera has a general defect of giving you too much gray or not enough focus in your photos. You can fix all one hundred photos in one swift action, which saves you a ton of time. Another reason batch processing is handy is when you desire your photos to have a certain cleanness or look to them (something often wanted when selling stock photos). Before submitting them to a stock photo site, your website, or any other professional medium you have to make sure they are all evenly fine tuned. With batch processing you can resize, sharpen and add whatever you need to make them presentable. Very quickly I want to remind everybody that this tutorial applies to Adobe Photoshop CS3, older versions or different editing software may have different methods of completing a batch process.
Using the Action Window
The first thing you need to do in order to start a batch process is to open the first image you want to work on or change. Now you want to go to WINDOW in the navigation bar and go to ACTION (if it doesn't already have a check mark by the word action). You should see a little window pop up somewhere in the program.
To start an action you need to open a new action folder by clicking on the 'NEW FOLDER ICON', you need to name you folder then click OK. Then make a new action by clicking on the 'NEW ACTION ICON', name your new action and hit record. By hitting record you are going to start the process of recording every action you make on your photo. It does not record in time but rather in steps or processes.
Recording a Batch Process
Now that you have started recording (you can tell your recording because in the batch process menu there will be a little red dot) you need to record some actions. You can start simple, such as adding the filter SHARPEN, (go to the filters menu and add the sharpen filter). You can change whatever you want about the picture and the process will be recorded.
Once you are satisfied with the photos look hit the stop button located in the action menu at the bottom (it is a square right next to the red circle). After you click on the stop button you can edit your actions or leave them as they are. To edit or change an action all you need to do is double click on the action you want to change inside the action's menu. If you want to delete an action drag the said action to the TRASH CAN ICON.
Playing Back a Batch Process
Now that you have successfully recorded a process, you need to play it back. Open a new picture that you want to change with the similar effects. Now all you have to do is press Play in the actions menu. All the effects and changes should be applied to the new photo in exactly the same way. That's all you need to do to make an action process but what if you want to change a whole bunch of photos at once? That is where the real batch processing comes in.
Batch process many pictures at once
If you want to apply an action to several different photos you are going to need to do something a little different. You still need to have your already recorded action ready. Go to the top navigation menu and click on FILE - AUTOMATE - BATCH. The window below should pop up. Now you need to set the action you want to use (whatever you named your new action). After that select whether you want to open a folder or files from your computer. I suggest opening a whole folder to save time. For the destination choose FOLDER and choose where you want to store the new photos (store them in a new folder so you don't make a mistake and ruin your old photos). Click OK and watch the magic happen. Depending on how many photos and how big they are it may take some time to finish the job.