Photo editor batch processing. A Guide to Batch Image Processing Software

Batch file processing is indispensable when working with a large number of images that require the same type of editing. Almost any routine operation related to processing (batch mode) can be completed much faster this way.

For graphic formats possible various options transformations: from changing the image size and format, adding a watermark and text to applying effects and filters. It is noteworthy that many image viewing programs already have similar functions built into them. In addition, as an alternative there are individual programs for processing - converters.

Methods will be discussed next batch processing images by level of complexity from the simplest to using the functions of packages such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom. At the end of the review - comparison table(Table 1) and conversion performance test (Diagram 1).

Image Tuner

A simple program that works on the “one window” principle and is not too complicated with settings. Files for processing are added on the left side of the window, and conversion parameters are indicated on the right. A preview is available by clicking on the image thumbnail.

Transformation options include changing the hue, size, orientation of the image, and adding a watermark. There are filters available, but they are so simple that they don’t even have settings and for some reason are hidden in the “Resize” section. Half of the settings are in English, the rest is translated into Russian.

The number of formats for saving is small - only 5. At the input, Image Tuner supports such popular formats as JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF, as well as RAW, NEF and others.

So a very simple converter for very basic image processing.

The IrfanView viewer, while free and small size, supports and includes converter functions accessible through the “Batch Conversion/Rename...” menu. There are three modes to choose from: batch renaming, conversion and mixed.

About 20 formats are available for saving (the “Output format” menu), although the parameters are not available for each of them.

The selection of other transformations is possible only by activating “Use advanced options...” by clicking the “Advanced” button. Settings allow you to resize, crop the image, flip horizontally or vertically, add a watermark - standard set for graphics viewer.

However, in practice it becomes clear that the “advanced” options are not at all intuitive: the thing is that there is no preview window (the preview in the main window refers to the original image). Of course, you can crop a photo or change its size pixel by pixel. How to deal with filters for adjusting brightness, balance and other color parameters when you need to specify numbers? Based on the above, after applying the transformations and exiting “Advanced”, the changes can only be seen after the conversion is complete. But for batch renaming files, test mode is available.

Thus, IrfanView cannot be called a convenient image converter. It can be used only for basic transformations that do not require advance planning: changing the image orientation, size and saving format.

AVS Image Converter is part of the AVS4You suite of image processing programs. Apparently, that’s why the 27 MB distribution kit (which is not so small for a converter) includes auxiliary utilities Software Navigator and Update Manager.

There are 8 supported image formats for recording, and a little more than 20 for reading. For processing, you can import photos from Flickr or Facebook accounts (after prior authorization).

The graphical interface is friendly to the inexperienced user: some functions are simplified or replaced by presets. When resizing an image, presets are available for different monitors and standard photo proportions, which is especially useful when publishing on the Internet.

There are few conversion settings (the “Correction” tab): changing brightness, contrast, color temperature; blur/sharpen effects, adding texture. The last tab is “Watermark”, which allows you to overlay an image or text on a photo.

FastStone Photo Resizer

Most of all, the batch conversion here is reminiscent of IrfanView. But, unlike the latter, FastStone Photo Resizer is not so “hostile” towards the user and provides convenient advanced options.

The interface is divided into two parts - which is not very rational, since the area for selecting files takes up most of the workspace.

After adding images to the conversion queue, you can specify the output image format (“Output Format”) and the saving folder (“Output Folder”).

To access transformation tools, the “Use Advanced Options (Resize...)” option is activated. The set of transformations is purely basic: resizing, perspective, adding text, a watermark, a frame. Settings can be saved or loaded from a configuration file, just like in most reviewed programs. There is no viewing window.

A separate “Batch Rename” tab contains a tool for batch renaming files. In addition to the standard name change using a mask, the “Search” function is interesting and Replace", with its help it is easy to correct the names of files without completely changing the name.

XnConvert is a spin-off from the popular image viewer XnView. In fact, all the same actions performed in the XnConvert environment can be performed in XNView (as discussed below), however, the standalone converter has a number of differences. First of all, it is not intended for viewing. On the one hand, nothing distracts from the functionality. On the other hand, if you need to find out the most basic information about the source file, you have to turn to another viewer program.

To begin working with the program, you need to specify the files to be processed (drag and drop is supported, you can also specify using buttons). Please note that at the top there are columns for sorting. When you click on any of them in context menu There are many other options to choose from - the list is huge. However, it would be more convenient if the files were displayed in the form of a table rather than thumbnails - then it would be convenient to view information about source files, otherwise it simply does not exist, and the sorting is somewhat “conditional” in nature - it is not clear what it is for.

The main tab where the list of transformations is collected is “Actions”. For free program The number of settings is pleasantly surprising. Transformations are divided into 4 groups:

• Image - for the most part, working with transformation and file properties.
• Correction - working with levels, color.
• Filter - applying blurring, sharpening, and changing focus effects.
• Miscellaneous - for the most part, all the same effects.

The output data tab specifies options for saving processed files: name mask, location and graphic format. For popular formats(JPG, GIF, PNG, etc.) it is possible to specify additional saving options. There is an inconspicuous, but very useful option for export - you can upload processed photos to a Picasa or Flickr account, package or send via FTP or email.

Import/export of scripts (transformation settings) are available at the bottom of the window, the “Load script” button.

Also available for reading great amount formats - more than 500 (of those supported by the XNView viewer), with the caveat that specific ones require the installation of GhostScript or a CAD plugin.

Briefly about the possibilities of batch photo processing in XnView. The settings window can be called up through the “Tools - Batch Processing...” menu.

First of all, the interface is different from XNConvert. It consists of only two tabs, the first one specifies the format and saving options. In the second tab there is a list of transformations that, to activate and configure, need to be added to the right side of the window. The ability to save scripts is also provided, but the format is not compatible with XnConvert: here XBS, in XNConvert - BAT.

Setting up conversions in Photo Converter

Adobe Photoshop

Download page

Of course, Adobe Photoshop graphics package has built-in necessary tools By batch conversion photo. Current on this moment version - CS6, this review covers CS5. Processing can be done using actions, a Batch operation (“File - Automate - Batch…”) or an Image Processor script (“File - Scripts - Image Processor…”).

First way

First, through the Actions palette, an action is recorded that will be applied to each image. It is best to take a “test sample” for this purpose. At this step, the list of possible transformations is limited only using Photoshop. Next, the Action is saved to a specific Set. Once finished, the action can be edited anywhere: for example, optimized by removing unnecessary actions.

To mass-apply an action, after recording and editing it, you need to go to the “File - Automate - Batch...” menu. In the “Play” settings group, the desired action is selected, the source and destination folder are determined. Additionally, you can specify a mask for naming files.

Second way

Most often, the second processing method using the Image Processor script will be more acceptable. It is convenient for performing such simple actions, such as changing the format or resizing the image. You can access the settings through the menu “File - Scripts - Image Processor...”. The convenience of the approach is that there is no need to record the action. All other settings are almost the same as the above method. Saving is only possible in JPEG/PSD/TIFF.

Program	Terms of distribution	Functionality		Formats
		Filters/effects	Preview	Reading	Record
Image Tuner	Freeware	Yes	Yes	30+	5
IrfanView	Freeware	Yes	No	80+	20+
AVS Image Converter	Shareware	Yes	Yes	20+	8
FastStone Photo Resizer	Freeware	No	Yes	30+	500+
XnConvert	Freeware	Yes	Yes	500+	30+
XnView	Freeware	Yes	No	500+	30+
Photo Converter (Pro)	trial	Yes	Yes	400+	30+
Adobe Photoshop	trial	Yes	No		JPG
Adobe Lightroom	trial	Yes	No		3

Converting images 4288×2848 → 1024×680, JPG format 100% (all settings are set to default, quality 100%), conversion algorithm and progressive method are disabled.

Diagram 1. Comparison of processing speed in image resizing mode

It was not possible to determine the speed of operation in the Photo Converter program, since the shareware version only allows processing of 5 images.

Hi all! This time I'll show you some of the basics of automation in Photoshop, as well as their practical use. We will create complex action, based on it we will build a Droplet and perform a batch editing operation with the entire folder.

Part I - How to Create an Action in Photoshop

Step 1 - Let's get started!

Not every Photoshop user is a designer. There are many people who need graphical tools that can make their life easier. If you are a photographer or webmaster, this tutorial will help you.

First, place all the photos you want to process in separate folder. Then open any of these pictures.

We will use it to create Actions in Photoshop.

Step 2 — Setting up actions in Photoshop

To begin, open the Actions window (select Window> Actions or press Alt + F9). Let's create new group Action.

After creating the group, let's create a specific action. Click on the leaf at the bottom of the Action panel. Let's call the new action "Vintage Halftone".

Once created, pay attention to the three small icons: stop, record and play. For the next step, the recording icon must be active.

Step 3 — Resizing the Image Using Image size

Let's build an action. I will explain how and what to do. Be careful and follow the instructions.

Once you have your photo open and the recording icon is active, start recording your steps.

The first step is to resize the image. Since I'm going to use photos in a web gallery I need to make them smaller. For this I choose Image> and set the width to 700px and check the box to keep the proportions. In addition, a checkbox is required Resample Image and choose Bicubic Shaper (best for reduction).

Do not resize the image using other methods (such as Free Transform). Because this will not work on vertical images.
Click OK and go to the next step.

Step 4 - Copy the image.

Now, it would be good to reset the colors with which we draw. To do this, you can simply use D on your keyboard.

Do not change colors using the color picker or eyedropper.

Then double click on the "Background" layer in the Layers palette. And click "OK"
Drag the layer to the icon "Great new layer", a copy of the layer will be created.
Make sure "Layer 0 copy" is selected and move on to the next step.

Step 5 - Add Diffuse Glow

The "Layer 0 copy" layer is selected and we are going to add a Diffuse Glow filter to it. This will increase the lighting and give a dramatic look to the image. Go to Filter>Filter Gallery and select Distort>Diffuse Glow. Set the values ​​as shown below and click OK.

Step 6 — Changing Opacity and Merge Layers

Don't use the slider to change the opacity value because Photoshop will record each step at each percentage (100, 99, 98, 97...75) and we don't want that.

The resulting layer should be called “Layer 0 copy”.

Step 7 - Gaussian Blur Filter

Duplicate the “Layer 0 copy” layer as described above.

Make sure "Layer 0 copy 2" is selected and go to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur, set the radius to 2 pixels and click OK.

Step 8 - Change the Blending Mode of the copy.

Change the Blending Mode of the “Layer 0 copy 2” layer to Overlay.

If you want to try different modes mixing, click on the Stop button in the Actions window and experiment! Then click Record, and select the desired blending mode.

Finally, set the Opacity value to 70%.

Step 9 - Create a layer fill

Now, let's add a black background to our work.
To do this, go to Layer >New Fill Layer > Solid Color, click OK and select color #000000.

Move the “Color Fill 1” layer to the very bottom.

Step 10 - Add a Layer Mask

Click on the "Layer 0 copy" thumbnail and select Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All.

Step 11 - Select the Layer Mask

Now we're going to create a random stroke on our photos.
After creating the layer mask, you should click on its thumbnail and then select everything by clicking Ctrl+ A on keyboard.

This important step, if you don't click on the layer mask thumbnail, you will end up with an ugly result =)

Also, when you select everything, you cannot use the Marquee Tool and make a random selection. If you do this, Photoshop will only store the coordinates as exact numbers for that specific photo, and it won't work for any other.

Step 12 - Selection Transformation

Now select Marquee Tool in the tool palette. Right-click on the selection and select the option Transform Selection.
pay attention to top panel, there are two values ​​W and H (this is the width and height, it should be 100%). Click on the small chain in the middle and change the values ​​to 95%. This way you will reduce your allocation by 5%. Click on the checkbox and apply the transformation.

Step 13 - Create a Custom Border

Let's change the selection arbitrarily.

Make sure the "Layer 0 copy" mask is selected.

Then go to Select>Refine edge, and set the value as in the screenshot and click OK.

You should end up with something like this.

If you are working with a different image size, you should play around with the Refine edge values ​​a bit.

Step 14 - Fill the Selection

Now fill the selection with white.

Reset the colors with the D key. Then select the Marquee tool from the Tools palette, click right click mouse and select Fill... In the dialog box, set the settings as in the screenshot.

Finally, press Ctrl + D to deselect it.

Step 15 - Copy the actions

Now let's repeat the process of creating a custom border (steps 10 to 14), but this time on the "Layer 0 copy 2" layer.

These actions can simply be duplicated in the Actions window.
To copy steps, first select "Layer 0 copy 2". Stop recording.

Then select (in the Actions window) all the steps in the boundary creation process, i.e. from “Set Selection” to the step before Select “Layer 0 copy 2”.

Click the button on the right and select Duplicate. They will be copied.
Now simply drag the selected actions below the "Select "Layer 0 copy 2"" step. Start playing the selected fragments.
Finally, click on last step in the Actions window and start recording.

Step 16 - Processing with Halftone Pattern

Then click on the layer mask thumbnail “Layer 0 copy.” Next, log in Filter>Filter Gallery, and go to Sketch>Halftone Pattern and set the values ​​below, and then click OK.

Step 17 - Add a Photo Filter

Select "Layer 0 copy 2" in the Layers palette and then go to Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter, select a color (#957345) and set the Density to 100%. Click OK.

Step 18 - Hue/Saturation

Afterwards, let's go Adjustment Layer > Hue Saturation, select the values ​​as in the screenshot and click OK.

Step 19 - Fill a New Layer

In the layers palette, create a new layer and place it above all the others. Let's leave it as "Layer 1." Then Ctrl + A (select all) then select the Marquee tool, right click and select "Fill..." use the foreground color. Everything should be filled with black.

Step 20

Now add a Pattern Overlay effect to “Layer 1”. I use "Gray Granite" from the Grayscale Paper pack.

Step 21 - Rasterize the Layer Effect

Create another layer.
Then Shift+click on the “Layer 1” layer in the Layers palette to select both layers. And press Ctrl + E to combine them.

Step 22 - Change the Blend Mode and Opacity

Now change the Layer 2 Blending Mode to Multiply and the Opacity to 75%.

Step 23 - Flatten image

In the layers palette, select all layers. Right-click and select Flatten image. Finally, in the Actions window, you can click Stop.
That's all! Now we can apply these actions to any photos.

End of Part I – check!

Now it's time to check if your steps work correctly on another photo. To do this, open the photo, find our action (Vintage Halftone) and press the play button.

Before moving forward, it's a good idea to save the action itself.
To do this, select the “site” action set in the “Actions” window, and then go to additional parameters(icon at the top right) and select Save Actions... Enter a name for your action and save it anywhere.
Now you can move on to batch editing.

Part II - Batch processing of photos in Photoshop

Step 1 — Create a Droplet for Batch Processing

Droplets apply actions to one or more images, or even a folder if you drag them onto the droplet icon.
You can save the droplet anywhere and use it as many times as needed. To create a droplet, go to File > Automate > Create droplet... There you can see all the many options.

First select the source photos folder and save the droplet there.. For the destination folder I will select a different folder.

You can also customize the name of the resulting image by adding custom text, number sequence, extension, and clicking maximum compatibility. Once you have configured the droplet, click OK.

Step 2 - Working with the droplet.

Now open your images folder. Select and drag the desired images onto the droplet icon. You will see that Photoshop will automatically edit the selected images and save them to the specified folder.

Conclusion

Automating actions in Photoshop can sometimes save a lot of time. Future designers, webmasters and photographers should be able to use it.

I recommend trying these techniques with your photography =)

When a novice photographer is faced with the need to process large quantity photographs, the question inevitably arises: How to reduce the time spent on processing, how to automate routine operations?

For this purpose in the arsenal Adobe programs Photoshop has several tools: operations or actions, scripts or scripts, and droplets.

Operations, otherwise called action games, macros or macro commands are recorded and saved actions on an image that can be applied to another image and also used in batch processing. Actions are also the basis for creating droplets.

Droplet is a small application, a kind of program that automatically processes all images dragged onto it. The droplet icon can be placed, for example, on the desktop and folders with images can be dragged onto it for processing.

Scripts or scripts are also programs, but written in one of scripting languages programming. The use of scripts allows you to automate operations for which it is impossible to write an action, that is, the capabilities of scripts are much wider. The only negative is that to write scripts you need to master certain programming languages, for example, Java Script.

In this article we will record a simple action and look at how to use it in batch processing using the command Image processor

As an example, let's take the method of toning photographs using color fill in blend mode Hard light. Here is the original photo

First, let's create a set into which we will place the operation to be recorded. To create a set, click on the folder icon in the Operations palette. In the dialog box that opens, enter the name of the set.

Now, with active typing, click on the icon for creating a new operation

In the dialog box that opens, enter the name of the operation. If necessary, assign a color and keyboard shortcut so that you can quickly start the operation. Click Write down to start the recording process. Now in the palette Operations The recording icon will be active and turn red.

Before you start recording, it is advisable to plan all the steps and write them down on paper. A well-planned action works without errors and the stability of its operation does not depend on which version of the program is used, Russian or English. A properly recorded action will work in any environment. If this is not the case, it means that methodological errors were made during planning and recording, for example, the names of layers or channels were written down.

Now let's create an adjustment layer Color. To do this, click on the icon for creating an adjustment layer in the palette Layers, then select a layer from the list Color.

In the dialog box that opens, select the desired color. It is necessary in advance, even when preparing for recording, to write down the values ​​of this color along the RGB channels, so that you can then enter it and immediately get the desired color.

Change the layer blend mode to Hard light

We will get something like this

Now you need to weaken the effect of the correction layer on the skin. Skin is known to be lightest in the red channel of the image. Let's make the adjustment layer mask active. To do this, press the key combination CTRL+\. The active layer mask will be surrounded by a frame

Now let's load the red channel of the image onto the mask. To do this, go to the menu Image - External channel. In the dialog box that opens, set following settings Layer - Background, since it is from the background layer that we will use the red channel. Channel - Red, you need to check the box on the right Invert, since for the mask we need just the inverted red channel, Overlay - Normal, Opacity - 100%. After completing the settings, click OK. The adjustment layer's effect is now rendered through a mask based on the inverted red channel, which looks like this:

We got a slight toning effect on the image

You can now stop recording the action. Then, returning the image to its original state using the palette Story, you need to check the operation of the action. Now it can be used for batch processing.

Batch processing is best done using a script Image processor. It can be found in the menu File - Scripts - Image Processor.

Or, which is much more convenient, you can run the image processor from the module Bridge, having previously selected photos for processing in it. In Bridge Image processor is in the menu Tools -Photoshop - Image Processor.

Set Batch Processing Options in the Dialog Box Image processor is not difficult. You need to select the location to save the files, the format and quality of saving, as well as a set of actions and the action itself that needs to be applied to the selected images.

Often you have to process a large number of images. In this case, each subsequent one is processed in the same way as the previous one. It is not at all necessary to do everything manually with each new photo. It is enough to record all your actions once in the action and start batch processing.

Step 1

First of all, you need to prepare. Source images put it in the "Originals" folder. It's better to save them just in case. We also create a “Results” folder.

Step 2

Step 3

Note! No processing can be done during processing individual areas images, including highlights. This will result in the same places being selected and processed in all images.

Step 4

You can now use the recorded action for all photos in the Originals folder. Go to the menu File - Automation - Batch Processing (File - Automate - Batch). Now select our folder with the originals and set other settings.

Note!!! If you have a very large number of photographs to process, it is better to divide them into small groups.

Batch processing of photos in Photoshop is a function that greatly simplifies the lives of people who, due to the nature of their work, are often faced with the task of processing a large number of images/photos (designers, photographers).

In one of the previous lessons, I told you what actions are, how to create them, and how they can be used to facilitate the process of image processing.

When we're talking about about the same type of processing of several pictures, we can simply apply a specially recorded action several times. But when there are a huge number of images, even a partially automated process can take a lot of your time.

Batch processing is used in cases where it is necessary to perform a number of sequential identical operations with a large number of images. For example, when you need to unify in size, perform the same type of color correction, increase sharpness, add a signature/logo and save several hundred photographs taken.

At its core, batch photo processing in Photoshop is the process of mass application of an action to a library of images.

You can use absolutely any actions that you recorded or downloaded from the Internet.

Let's see in practice how batch photo processing works in Photoshop.

Preliminary preparation

Let's say we have a folder that contains n number of photos, each of which we want to subject to the same type of processing using the selected action. My folder with photos is called “Sources”, it contains 30 photos (initially there were 6, I just multiplied them for clarity).

We also need to create a final folder in which the finished processed photos will be saved. I named the output folder “Processed”.

I'll record a simple sequence of operations to reduce the size of an image and do some color correction, and then we'll try to apply the resulting action to all the photos in the Sources folder.

Let's get started

Stage 1 - Create an action

Launch the program, open the “Actions” palette – Alt+F9.

Create a new action by clicking on the icon at the bottom of the Actions palette (similar to the new layer icon).

We give the action a meaningful name. Click “Record”.

A red circle will light up at the bottom of the Actions palette, which means that recording has started and all your further actions will be recorded by the program.

Open one of the photos from the “Sources” folder – Ctrl+O.

Reduce the image size. The original size of the photo was 7776*7456, which is a lot for web graphics, for example.

Go to the menu: Image – Image size, or press Alt+Ctrl+I.

Let's say I want the width of all images to not exceed 500px. Set the image width to 500px.

Notice in the Actions panel that as we perform actions, they are recorded as part of the action we created.

Now let's convert the image to black and white and set a slight tint of color.

Switch to the layers palette “Layers” – F7.

Create a new adjustment layer by clicking on the black and white circle at the bottom of the layers palette.

Select “Black and White” from the context menu.

Hold Ctrl and select both layers in the “Layers” palette.

Right-click on the selected layers and select “Convert to smart-object”.

Right-click again and select “Rasterize layer”.

Soften the contrast a little - go to the menu: Image – Correction – Hue/Saturation (Image – Adjustments – Hue/Saturation) (Ctrl + U).

Increase the brightness by about +25.

Now go to the menu: Image – Corrections – Variations (Image – Adjustments – Variations).

The two upper windows show the source and the future processing result, which changes depending on your actions, that is, you can immediately see what will happen after applying color correction, without applying any settings yet.

Click, for example, “More yellow”, then “More blue” and “Lighter” in the column on the right - “OK”.

That's it, now save the image: File – Save for web & devices (Save for web).

I chose Jpeg format, I set the quality to 70 to compress the photos by weight.

Specify as the save directory finished photo the “Processed” folder, which was previously created.

After saving the photo to the final folder, stop recording the action by clicking on the “Stop” button (the leftmost square) at the bottom of the operations palette.

Our action is ready. Now all that remains is to apply it to the remaining 29 photos.

Stage 2 – Batch photo processing

We can close the first photo.

Go to the menu File – Automate – Batch Processing (File – Automate – Batch).

Select the action you just created (or any other) from the list.

We indicate the path to the folder with raw photos, in another line we select the directory where we want to save the processing results (we created a folder for finished photos in advance).

In our specific case, we put checkboxes as in the picture so that during photo processing we are not disturbed by unnecessary dialog boxes.

I draw your attention to the fact that you check the box “Ignore “Open” commands” only when an opening command is recorded in your action.

Since actions can be completely different and may not contain commands for opening an image and saving it, carefully read the program prompts when checking boxes.

After setting all the settings, click “Ok”.

If you have a lot of photos, you can go have a coffee while the program does all the work for you.

Processing 30 photos took about 1 minute, and in the end I ended up with a folder with automatically processed photos.

Thus, the method of batch processing photos in Photoshop is that you edit just one photo, record the action, and then you can apply this action to hundreds of photos without any intervention on your part and very quickly.

You can make it even simpler - download ready-made actions, if they meet your tasks, there are a lot of them on the Internet, and then the process mass processing taking photos will be even easier and faster.

That's all!

In this lesson, we learned what batch photo processing is in Photoshop and how to use it to simplify the routine process of mass image processing.

I hope you learned something new and interesting for yourself from this lesson!