Digital Focus: Manage Mounds of Photo Files

Is your hard drive crammed with photos? Organize and clean it up.

Dave Johnson

Feature: Batch Processing--Digital Imaging for the Lazy

Because "film" for digital cameras is free, you've probably noticed that you take more pictures with your digital camera than you ever did with a 35mm camera. That's great, except for one nagging little problem--you inevitably stack up an awful lot of images that need looking after.

You know what I mean. First and foremost, your pictures need to be named. When browsing file names, "pc067818.jpg" is not likely to remind you that it's a picture of your nephew holding a really big fish from last summer's camping trip. So you've got 20 or 40 pictures to name after every camera outing.

You might also want to convert all the images to a different file format, or save them as small, e-mail-friendly files to send to the folks. Or how about this common scenario: Half of your pictures are sideways because you took them by turning the camera vertically. It's time to save yourself some effort with a bit of batch processing.

Batch It in Windows

Windows, unfortunately, has very little ability to perform batch processing. Even in Windows ME and Windows XP, operating systems supposedly designed with digital photographers in mind, you can't select a bunch of photos and edit them together.

There's one important exception, however: If you're using one of those two versions of Windows it's easy to rename a bunch of photos in a single action. Open a folder that has some digital images and select several of them. (I like to select photos by clicking on each photo while holding down the Ctrl key.) Once they're selected, right-click on the last image you selected and choose Rename from the menu. Type a new name for the image and press Enter.

What you'll find is that these versions of Windows will rename all the selected files, but attach a number to the end to tell them all apart. What good is that, you ask? Well, if you don't intend to rename each and every image as soon as you transfer them from the PC, at least you can name them all after the trip you just took (like "Yellowstone") so they'll be easy to find when you do get around to naming or editing them.

That's not all. Do you have images that need to be rotated? Select them, then right-click on the last image. Choose Rotate Clockwise or Rotate Counter Clockwise from the menu, and they'll all be transformed before your very eyes.

If you're having trouble, keep in mind that the rotate trick works only from the drop-down menu that you get when you right-click. If you've set your folder to Windows XP's Filmstrip view and are trying to click the rotate button in the top half of the folder, it won't work. You'll rotate the last image selected only.

While we're on the subject, have you ever wanted to know the total file size of a bunch of photos? Select them, right-click, and choose Properties from the menu. Even in Windows 98, the Properties dialog box will tell you how many megabytes the images are taking up on your hard disk.

Let Software Do It

For more advanced batch processing, you'll have to rely on software that has batch capabilities built in. Adobe PhotoShop and PhotoShop Elements have some basic batch tools. PhotoShop Elements is a full-featured image editor that has a simple batch mode for converting images to a different file format, renaming images, and resizing them all to a specific resolution. To find that feature in both programs, choose File, Automate, Batch from the menu.

You can find Adobe Photoshop Elements for less than $80 at PCWorld.com's Product Finder.

Another option is ACD Systems' ACDSee. ACDSee is a relatively inexpensive image manager that displays thumbnails of your photos and helps you locate and edit pictures. It has image correction and editing tools built in, and supports standard PhotoShop plug-ins. It's available at our Product Finder for less than $40.

If, like me, you use Paint Shop Pro, consider my favorite tool for batch processing: a program from Jasc Software called Image Robot, which sells for about $89 from the company's Web site.

This tool works in conjunction with Paint Shop Pro to automatically perform a slew of edits on any number of images. You can "program" Image Robot to do just about anything that Paint Shop Pro is capable of doing while you go get a bite to eat. I have used this program to take a batch of 30 or 40 images and convert them all from JPEG to TIFF, to change them from color to gray-scale, and to increase the gamma by a few percent. You can also use it to sharpen a batch of images for printing, or add a copyright mark to the bottom corner of every picture.

Whatever program you choose, you'll find it's a lot more fun to watch TV while your PC toils than to perform the same edits on 30 different files yourself.

Dave's Favorites: Guide to Online Photo Albums

In recent weeks I've written about online photo albums--Web sites where you can store your digital images for friends and family to see. Wouldn't it be great, though, if there were one place you could go to get the skinny on all of the photo-sharing sites on the Web? This place would answer questions about what kinds of services each site provides, if there's free photo storage, and whether the site could make prints from your digital images.

I've found such a site. The Guide to Online Photo Albums is really handy, and I've found that it's fairly up-to-date as well--that's a serious concern since photo sites seem to have a higher turnover rate than Mike Tyson's publicists.

Q&A: Getting the Most From Rechargeable Batteries

I have several rechargeable batteries, and I want to make them last as long as possible. I have heard that some kinds of batteries develop a "memory" if not charged properly. Also, will overcharging them affect their lives? Some say you can't overcharge a battery, but others seem to disagree.

--Phil Lee, Pueblo, Colorado

First-generation rechargeable batteries were based on Nickel and Cadmium, and hence were known as NiCads. NiCad batteries were notorious for their "memory effect," which means that if you consistently recharged the battery at about the same point in its discharge, say, when it had 50 percent of its charge left, then it would begin to think it was completely discharged at that point and you'd end up with a battery that ran out of power way too soon after each charge.

These days, NiCad batteries have been largely replaced by NiMH (Nickel-Metal Hydride) batteries, and these don't suffer as badly from memory effects as old-fashioned NiCads once did. Like all rechargeables, though, NiMH batteries have a limited lifespan of about 500 charges or so, and they'll die more quickly if you aren't careful about your charging technique.

If you own a smart charger--which automatically shuts down when the battery is charged--you don't have to worry so much about this problem. But most less-expensive battery chargers tend to leave the battery in trickle-charge mode even after it's fully charged. That keeps the battery hot, and the heat causes the battery's internal components to break down and not work as well, eventually affecting the battery's ability to hold a charge. So if you leave your batteries in a charger for days at a time, you're taking months or years off of their life. Bottom line: It's a good idea to get them out of the charger as soon as they are charged.

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 $10 and $100.

A gentle reminder, folks: We disqualify some really wonderful pictures every week because the submissions don't follow the rules. Be sure to include everything we ask for in your e-mail message, including a description of your picture and your complete contact information, or your entry is wasted!

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 regs.

This week's Hot Pic: "County Fair," by Jerry Yandell, Las Vegas, Nevada

Jerry captured this photo at the L.A. County Fair. Though it has a casual, fun snapshot sort of appeal, the photo also has excellent composition. In addition to the nicely blurred portrait-style background, Jerry arranged the kids so they offered an ascending stair-step arrangement to lead your eyes through the photo.

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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