Lots of Photos to Edit? Save Time

Use the batch processing features in your image editor.

Dave Johnson

Feature: Save Time With Batch Processing

I'm lazy: I'm always on the lookout for ways to do more while expending as little energy as possible. And I get the feeling that many of you share my penchant for time savers. Reader Laura Koch, for instance, recently asked me about a better way to resize images for the Web: "After our wedding last month, I posted lots of pictures on our Web site, but first I had to spend many hours re-sizing each digital image individually. I could have used that time to write thank-you notes instead! Do you know of any program that will allow you to re-size multiple images simultaneously?"

Absolutely. Several image editing programs, including Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2, and ACD Systems' ACDSee 6.0 all have batch processing features that allow you to run the edits on a whole slew of pictures at once. A batch session can be a real time saver--and that means you should master the art of batch processing, even if you're not as lazy as I am.

Batchin' It in Paint Shop Pro

So how does this whole batch thing work? You just use an image editor like Paint Shop Pro to create a script that the program can use to edit your images. A script is easy to create, since there's no typing required--you just edit a picture and Paint Shop Pro memorizes everything that you did. All those mouse clicks and menu selections are recorded into a script file that you can use again later.

Let's try a simple example in Paint Shop Pro. Suppose we want to do exactly what Laura had in mind: resize a slew of digital images for the Web. Start by opening any picture in Paint Shop Pro. The choice of picture is unimportant, since all we're doing is creating a script. We won't even save the changes.

Lights, Camera...

With an image open in Paint Shop Pro, choose File, Script, Start Recording from the menu. That's like shouting "action!" on a movie set: Paint Shop Pro is now recording everything you do.

Since we want to resize the picture, choose Image, Resize and enter the appropriate width and height in the Pixel Dimensions boxes. For the Web, I'd stick with as close to 640 by 480 pixels as you can get without distorting the image. Make sure that Pixels is selected (rather than Percentage) in the Width and Height section and that the Lock aspect ratio box is checked at the bottom of the dialog box so you don't accidentally stretch your picture into a funhouse scene. Also, make sure that all the pictures that you want to resize are at the same aspect ratio. A 640-by-480 photo is at an aspect ratio of 1.3333 to 1, for example. (If all of your pictures were taken with the same digital camera, this will never be a problem.) Click OK to resize the image.

That's all we needed to do for this example, but you can expand the script as much as you like. You might want to run the One Step Photo Fix, for instance, so that the script both resizes and enhances your Web-bound images. With the script completed, choose File, Script, Save Recording. Give the script a name and click Save.

Running Your Script

You now have an "image resizing script" that you can apply to a whole bunch of photos at once. To use the script, first make sure that all of the images you want to edit are in a single folder on your hard disk. Then go to the File menu and choose Batch, Process. At the top of the Batch Process dialog box, open the folder that's home to your images, and then select all the images you want to process. Then click the Browse button in the script section of the dialog box and pick your script from the list.

We're almost ready to roll. We now need to tell Paint Shop Pro how and where to save the edited images. Since we don't want to overwrite our original pictures with smaller versions, make sure that New Type is selected from the Save Mode section, and choose JPEG. Finally, at the bottom of the dialog box, specify a folder (different from the original folder) in which to save your new, edited images. Ready? Click Start and watch the magic. After a few moments (depending upon how many images you want to edit), you'll have a folder of resized images ready for use.

Dave's Favorites: Free Image With OfotoNow

A few months ago, I wrote about various methods for cropping an image to a specific print size, like 8 by 10 or 5 by 7 inches. Since then, readers have suggested a few other ways to crop images for framing. And since I love free tools, I figured you'd want to know about OfotoNow as well.

OfotoNow is a simple image editing utility that's associated with the Ofoto online photo sharing site. You don't have to belong to Ofoto to use OfotoNow, though--you can download it for free.

You won't want to uninstall Adobe Photoshop, of course, but OfotoNow is great if you don't already have a full-featured image editor. The free program includes a slew of handy tools like image rotation, red eye removal, and cropping. The crop tool lets you choose from common frame sizes, just like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop Elements. OfotoNow is a handy way to get the job done--and all it costs you is a few minutes to download the application.

Q&A: What Is a "Front Curtain" Flash?

I have a Nikon CoolPix 5000 and I have had a run of severely underexposed photos. When I open these pictures in Nikon View, the info panel tells me that the flash mode is "front curtain." I have read all about flash modes in your newsletters, but I found nothing about "front curtain." Can you explain this and tell me if this could cause severe underexposure?

--Jamie Shafer, Ridgefield, Connecticut

Certainly, Jamie. It's worth mentioning that you can get a lot of information about your photos--resolution, exposure setting, flash mode--from your image editor after the pictures are back on the desktop. In Paint Shop Pro, choose Image, Image Information, and click on the EXIF Information tab; in Adobe Photoshop Elements, choose File, Image Info and pick the EXIF section. As you can see, your digital camera records a lot of data about your photo with your JPEG images.

Not all cameras record detailed flash information; but if yours does, you might see an entry called "front curtain." That's a fancy way of saying the flash fired normally. "Rear curtain" flash fires the flash at the end of an exposure, while "front curtain" fires the flash right away.

That said, the front curtain mode is not responsible for your underexposures, since it's just another way of saying you had the flash set to its ordinary mode. I suspect you're shooting at subjects that are too far away (most digital camera flash units are only good for about ten feet) or you're using a programmed exposure mode that's not leaving the shutter open long enough. The least likely possibility is that there's a problem with your camera and it needs service.

Hot Pic of the Week

Get published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality and technique. Every month, the best of the weekly winners gets a prize valued at between $15 and $50.

Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format, at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before entering, please read the full description of the contest rules and regulations.

This week's Hot Pic: "September Snow," by Greg Friese, Plover, Wisconsin Greg took this photo on at the end of September in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

"Frequent snow showers passed over us that day, rarely with little accumulation, but it made for beautiful paddling," says Greg. "That is my wife, Amanda, in the bow of the canoe. Believe it or not, she is smiling from ear to ear. I took the photo with a Nikon CoolPix 885."

We want your feedback! Send your comments, questions, and suggestions about the newsletter itself to comments@bydavejohnson.com. If you have a question that you'd like to see answered in the weekly Q&A, send it to question@bydavejohnson.com.

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