CreatingActions/Batch Processing

The following summarizes how to create basic actions and how to apply the action to many images at once (batch process several images)

Photoshop Actions

1) An “Action” is a series of commands that are repeated each time you activate the Action.

For example: Let’s say you wanted to add the title “New Orleans 2004” onto several pictures that you took while on vacation. If you want to do this to 20 pictures, it can take a very long time if you have to repeat the steps for each picture. You can set up an Action that will repeat the steps for you.

2) Setting up an action is similar to using a tape recorder, only it records the Photoshop commands instead of sound.

3) You can set up an Action so that it is applied to only one photo, or you can set it up so it will be applied to many photos (this is called “Batch” processing).

4) Because you may want to create an Action that is used many times, you can save it in a “Set” and name it so you can identify it easily.

The following are three examples. The first sets up an Action to resize a photo. The second will use an action to resize the photo and add a white border. The third example will describe how to “Batch” process several photos.

Example 1

You must record the steps like a tape recorder, so you must have an image to work on while recording. First open an image to start the process. In this example, I am using an image that is 8 inches by 5.33 inches, and I want to change it to 6 inches by 4 inches. (Note: these are in landscape mode, you would need to have a separate action for any images in portrait mode.)

a) Open the 8 inch image

b) Make sure the Actions window is open (go to Window, Actions)

c) The buttons at the bottom of the Actions are “Stop Recording”, “Begin Recording”, “Play Selection”, “Create New Set”, “Create New Action”, and “Delete”

d) First create a new “Set” where you can store the action. Move the cursor over the “Create New Set” button and click. A window will pop up where you can name the set. I will name this one “Test Set”.

e) Next move the cursor to the Create New Action button and click. A new window will pop up where you name the new action. I will call this action “Resize”, and make sure it is in the set called “Test Set”.

f) Next click the “Record” button on the window. REMEMBER, your commands are now being recorded.

g) This action will only resize the photo, so go up to Image, Image Size. Make sure Constrain Proportions box is checked. Then change the document width to 6 inches. Since my image was originally 8” x 5.33”, it changes to 6” x 4”.

h) Click OK.

i) Since this is all I want this action to do, click the “Stop Recording” button at the bottom of the Actions window.

j) Test this on another image. Open another image, click on the “Resize” action in the Actions window, and then click on the “Play Action” button on the bottom of the Action window. The image should now be changed to 6 inches wide.

Example 2

This Action is similar to the first example, except it also adds a white border. This uses a white image that is 6.4” x 4.4” and then places the resized picture on a new layer over this image. Once the layers are flattened, it is an image with a white border. We will use keyboard commands to select, copy and paste the image.

a) Move the cursor to the Create New Action button and click. A new window will pop up where you name the new action. I will call this action “Border_Resize”, and make sure it is in the set called “Test Set”.

b) Next click the “Record” button on the window. REMEMBER, your commands are now being recorded.

c) This action will FIRST resize the photo, so go up to Image, Image Size. Make sure Constrain Proportions box is checked. Then change the document width to 6 inches. Since my image was originally 8” x 5.33”, it changes to 6” x 4”.

d) Click OK.

e) Next select the entire image using “Control A”

f) Next copy the entire image using “Control C”

g) Next get the white image. Go to File, New. The size window will open and you need to set several selections. First set the width and height to 6.4 inches and 4.4 inches. Set the resolution so it is the same as the photo (72 in my case). Set the color mode and bit depth so it matches the picture, (RGB and 8 bit in my case). Last, make sure the background color is white. Even if the settings are already what you want, set each one individually.

h) Next place the image onto the white background by hitting “Control V”.

i) Next flatten the image (Layer, Flatten Image).

j) Since we are done, click the Stop Recording button on the bottom of the Actions window.

k) Test this on another image. Open another image, click on the “Border_Resize” action in the Actions window, and then click on the “Play Action” button on the bottom of the Action window. The image should now be changed to 6 inches wide and it will have a small white border.

Note: Some processes performed with a mouse, may not be recorded in the action (for example, grabing and draging a layer). Try to use keyboard commands/shortcuts whenever possible when recording an action.

Batch Processing

Batch processing allows you to apply the same action to several images. This can be very helpful, and time saving, if you need to apply the same effects to many images. For example: You just came back from vacation and you have 100 photos that you took in high quality resolution mode so that they could produce good quality prints. Now you want to also make a copy at a reduced resolution so they can be e-mailed.

If you do this one image at a time, it will take an hour or so. You can set up an action to reduce the resolution and Batch process it so it will make a copy at the reduced resolution for all 100 images.

The only tricky thing to remember when you want to batch process, is that you must put all the images you want to process into one specific folder (source folder), and you must set up a folder to receive all the images after they are processed (destination folder). When you use an action in the Batch Process, it will try to apply the action to all the images in the source folder.

You should test the Action on a few images to make sure it works, before you start the batch process.

For this example, I will name the source folder “Batch_Start”, and I will name the destination folder “Batch_Finish”. Make sure the folders are empty when you start. I will apply a border and resize the images as we did in the second example above.

a) Place all the images you wish to process into the empty source folder.

b) Make sure the destination folder is empty.

c) Go to File, Automate, Batch

d) The Batch window will pop up. You must tell it what "Set" the action is in and what action to apply. For this example, Select Test_Set as the Set, and Border_resize as the action in the drop down menus.

e) Select “Folder” for the Source and then click “Choose”. You will need to browse to get the folder with the images you will start with. Our folder is the “Batch_Start” folder.

f) Select “Folder” for the Destination and then click “Choose”. You will need to browse to get the folder were you will place the images when they are finished processing. Our folder is the “Batch_Finish” folder.

g) For this example, you can click OK to start the process. It will apply the action to all the images in the Batch_Start folder.

h) You also can make several selections in the batch window regarding error warnings and file naming if desired.

i) The Batch_Finish folder will have all the adjusted files (resized with borders).