Photoshop Friday! Batch Processing in Photoshop Elements: Resize and Watermark

Hi there! Happy Photoshop Friday! 

Well, we have an incredible list to work from, don’t we? :D In the coming weeks I’ll be parsing out your comments and addressing the major topics in various ways, whether through online classes at my site, or through my column at CK, or here in Photoshop Friday (or some other way, still to be determined. ;)).

I nabbed one that seemed to come up fairly regularly in the first few hundred comments: how to process multiple files and add a watermark. This is a fun one, and while it’s not specifically about digital scrapbooking, there are lots of uses for PSE’s batch processing capabilities.

Batch Processing in Photoshop 

There are several reasons why batch processing is awesome. These include the fact that pretty much a lot of the resize and save procedures in Photoshop are exacly the same, and could be done by a smart button-pushing monkey as well as anyone else. And they probably make you feel about like that by the end as well.

The full version of Photoshop allows you to run ANY action on a folder of images, or on all your opened images. You can check that out under File > Automate > Batch. For example, I’ve created a “Web-i-size” action (using the Actions palette under Window > Actions) that resizes the file to 72 dpi, changes the color mode to sRGB, and runs a low-intensity sharpen on it. Most of the time that’s good enough for a web photo, and it’s quick and easy to run it on a bunch of files at once. Best part of CS3 is that the files remain open for you to tweak afterward (you’ll see that this isn’t the case with PSE).

Photoshop Elements, on the other hand, is somewhat more limited in the number of things it’ll let you do in a batch. These are:

• Rename files
• Resize files (that’s what we’ll do today)
• Add watermark text (text only, no graphics)
• Perform PSE’s “smart fixes”, such as Auto Levels, Auto Color, Auto Contrast, and Sharpen

As I mentioned before, if you are targeting a set of open images, PSE will force you to select a folder to drop them in, and will close them after the action is performed. Puzzling, but true.

Shall we explore the batch processing capabilities in Photoshop Elements? Yes! Lets! First we’ll go through what the whole thing does, and then I’ll show how I use it myself.

What Does This Thing Do? 

1. Open some photos. I always like to actually see the pictures I’m working with before I run them through the batch process.

2. Go to File > Process Multiple Files. You get this fancy dialog box here

:

For a full-size screen shot, click on this one: 

 
Click for Larger

 Okay. Let’s break down the areas of this box and what they do.

1. Process files from: Choose Opened Files (assuming you have actually opened photos at this point)

2. Destination: Here’s the part I warned you about, where Photoshop forces you to pick or create a folder to put these images in. I chose my desktop for ease of explanation here.

3.  File Naming: If you wanted to rename all your files in a sequence, you can do that in the File Naming area. For example, you could open all your Reunion pictures (or conceivably have them in their own folder somewhere on your computer), and you’ll tell Photoshop that this batch of Photos should all be called “Reunion”, and it will rename them and add a sequence number to the back. Nice if you work in batches and care about this. I never have, but who knows? :D

4. Image Size: This is the important one. Here is the equivalent of my “Web-i-Size” action I told you about earlier. You have some choices to make, though.

• If you’ve opened all horizontal or all vertical pictures, you can set them to be an exact height or width (say you know your blog width is 450 pixels wide), check the Constrain Proportions checkbox, and leave the height parameter blank. Then drop down the Resolution box and choose 72.
  
• If you’ve opened a combination of horizontal and vertical photos, and you simply want them to be sized more web-friendly, leave all the Height and Width parameters blank, and simply set the Resolution to 72.

5. File Type: If you’re dealing with digital photos, the Image Size area should be enough to make your photo web-friendly. If you still would like to compress it, you can set the File Type to give you a Low, Medium, or High Quality .jpg (this is the equivalent of the File Type dropdown you see when you go to File > Save for Web). Feel free to leave this checkbox unchecked and no change will be made to your file type (which is probably a .jpg anyway, so you’re good.)

6.  Quick Fix. This lets you apply any of PSE’s “quick fix” tools to your photos. Sight unseen, and without the ability to tweak or modify. Make you nervous? Makes me nervous, too. But if you typically don’t do ANY editing to your photos at all, or you’re just sending a quick batch of pics to Grandma, try these out to see how they work. Especially the Sharpening one, which is the only one on this list I’ll ever use, I think.

7. Labels: Click on the  word Labels to drop down PSE’s watermarking functionality. Set the type to Watermark, and then fill in the blanks with what you’d like printed over your photo. No images here - just text - but you get all your fonts, any color you want, and you can set the opacity.

My Workflow

So how do I actually use it?

Here is how I set up my batch processing.

1. I open and edit my photos. See #6 above if you never edit pictures.

2. Go to File > Process Multiple Files.

3. In the Process Multiple Files dialog box,  set the following parameters:

 

• Process multiple files from: Opened files
• Destination: A folder on my system that I’ve called WebPics, which (shockingly) I store all my Web-sized photos in.
• File Naming: Unchecked
• Resize Images: Width 300 (all of my photos in this batch are vertical, otherwise I’d leave this blank); Resolution 72 dpi; Constrain proportions is checked
• File Type: JPEG High Quality
• Quick Fix: Sharpen is checked
• Labels: Watermark; Custom text is my name; centered, Variex font, 24 pixels, 50% opacity, white.

When I click OK, Photoshop flickers for a few seconds, and then all my images disappear.

Disconcerting? Yeah. A bit. Not only am I sort of impatient and want to see the things already, I most likely want to keep fiddling with them too, right? Maybe this will prevent us fiddlers from fiddlin’. You can go into your Web Images folder and see what you get! It’s like Christmas, right? :P

Here’s what I got with these settings:

 

 

 

They came out nicely! The auto-sharpening even did a pretty nice job as well, I think.

The Tradeoff: Automation vs. Control 

How much automation you like probably depends on how much control you like - and there is the tradeoff. For me personally, I would never print or scrap a photo that I had only run through a batch process and hadn’t seen and tweaked myself. On the other hand, if you’re a busy scrapbooker and you’re looking for some quick ways to enhance whole groups of photos, the Quick Fix section of this Process Multiple Photos dialog box might be just the thing you’re looking for.

Remember that you don’t need to use this only to resize for the web - you can resize photos to 300 dpi 5x7s if you want. It’s all up to you. 

So, how is this useful?

If you’re a blogger, this tool as a web-resizer has instant usefulness. If you email pictures to anyone, again, pretty useful. You could even use this for printable files: just throw it at a folder you’re getting ready to upload to your online developer and convert them all to 5x7s, for example.

But what about pointing this at an entire folder of your printable .jpg digital layouts and creating a huge pile of web-sized files to share in an online gallery? Utter coolness, and in only a few seconds. (Just make sure you make your Destination a DIFFERENT folder than your original, ok? Ok.)

I think the watermark adds a cool, sophisticated touch (kind of that professional sort of feel. And so super easy with a batch process.

I hope you’ve found this information useful. There are lots of ways to use this tool, I think, to automate some of the smart-money processes we sometimes find ourselves repeating over and over in Photoshop. :)

Have a super, Phabulous Photoshop Phriday and a great weekend!

 

Comments

[Lynn C.]

All I can say is Wow! And thank you!! Lots and lots of thank you's for making this so clear! From our wishes to your brilliance and to a Photoshop Friday all in just a couple days!!! I can't tell you how much we all appreciate what you do and how you do it!!!

[Robyn]

You started with workflow! Yay!! This is awesome, Jessica. Thanks so much!

[Kirsten]

Thanks that is very helpful! One other thing that I thought of for info I would like to know (and I don't know if you do this) is the best way to process RAW photos in photoshop. I am unclear as to why my pics come in as 240 dpi (just started using RAW). Thanks so much for considering all our feedback.

[Jan Connair]

Thanks for the great tips. I am going to try these out later; at the moment I just had to comment that your little boy is totally adorable! That picture of him sitting at the counter with his little jammy-clad feet crossed just makes my heart melt.

[Debbie McNeill]

So very useful and the article was very easy to read. I was doing the watermark processing but not the rest. You just saved me 6 hours a month, where can I send you a check for the time savings? I'm going to attempt this right away although I have to transfer this to PSCS2 format.

Thanks again you are the digital diva.
Debbie

[Karen]

This is fabulous information. Sometimes we don't even know what we need to know!! Thanks for everything, Jessica. I have learned so much from you. I bought the new Computer Tricks early this week and have read it from cover to cover, turning down the corners of multiple pages. Can't wait to try it out!

[mer]

I just had to tell you something I was thinking about last week. The Regis and Kelly show and Parents Magazine (and Walgreen's) just had a contest to find the most beautiful baby. The winner won $125,000 scholarship for a four year college and a Parents Magazine cover. (probably other things also) When I saw the finalists, all I could think of was that with Jessica and Jared's beautiful children and Jessica's photography, that you should be able to win this. Unless you are considered to much a pro photog for this. Just my thoughts. Your children are so beautiful and your photos really show the charm of childhood. Love to you, both.

[Scrap Evangel]

Oh yeah!! I got it. Thanks so much!!!

[Jill]

JESSICA!! Thank you soooo much! This is so incredibly timely for me. I just got a brand new laptop and upgraded to PSE6 (edited my first pictures on it over lunch today). I am liking it SO MUCH better than PSE4. I am a blogger and this is something I really have a use for and you made it all so clear and simple!! This will be so much faster than what I have been doing to get my photos 'web ready'. You are wonderful!

[Angi]

This is fabulous! I was wondering how do you watermark on just one photo? I don't have that many good photos to share one line but I do have a couple I would like to put out there.

[Lynnette]

Wow, very cool. I had no idea. Blogging will be a snap. THANK YOU!!!!

[ohradiogirl]

Good info, though I'm a photoshop girl. Thanks much.

[Amy L]

These tips always just make my week! Thanks a million, Jessica. And I know you would give away all those books if you could--you are so generous with the gifts you have been given!

[Lisa Davolt]

Thanks Jessica! Love the photos of your boy! Now I'll have to go pose mine that way - lol

[Junebug]

You are my fairy digital godmother (well sister really). You have made my wish come true. I have wondered about batch processing and stuff. Thank you!
And I have to say it again. LOVE LOVE LOVE your kitchen. Do take more pictures of it so I can admire it some more.

[Fran]

Thanks so much!! just out of curiosity...I love the photos of your son in this blog, what do you have your dslr set at?

[Kat]

Thank you so much! I just got PSE6 on a new computer, and I'd been having trouble trying to figure this out. Can't wait to try it!

[lucy]

Wow, Jessica! This is so simple but so helpful to use on groups of photos. Your tips are the greatest. Thanks for the time you take out for us. I'm just getting into digital/hybrid & you are so awesome!

[Stephanie]

I always wondered how to do watermarks but couldn't figure it out. Thanks so much for giving us this valuable information!

[Terri Fullerton]

New Digital scrapper. I wanted to tell you that I have been reading your older Friday sessions and using them. I remembered reading about this Batch Processing, so went back and found the info. I use Full Photoshop, so the directions were scant, but it inspired me to look at my books and read your hints and I GOT IT TO DO WHAT I WANTED. Thanks for the wonderful hints. I've read your wonderful tutorials in lots of different places and have been using them over and over. I appreciate all you do for us new digital scrappers.

P.S. you do NOT have to answer this e-mail (I read you try to do that . . . way TOO MUCH for one person to do.) Just wanted to offer my THANKS and APPRECIATION.

[Rita]

Hi Jessica,

I have searched and searched for "how to's" on watermarking and appreciate this information so much. I have a question if you don't mind. A friend and I have a photography business and I shoot with nikon and she shoots canon. On photos taken with my camera (D300) the watermark is perfect and covers the entire width of the photo. On photos taken with her camera (30D) the watermark is tiny and barely readable - and the font size is set to 72 on both. Any suggestions as to what the problem might be. We are watermarking our photos and putting them on CD's for clients that request this and the batch processing is the bomb for this!! Thanks for your help.
Rita Nugent

[Lisa]

Thanks for the information. So it sounds like if I want to batch process a non auto fix, I wouldn't be able to do that. Is that correct. I like to adjust the lighting levels manually, but need to do this on 30-50 photos at a time. Wanting to speed up the process. Doesn't sound like PSE6 can so this. Is that correct? Thank you for your time.

[Joanie]

I bookmarked this article back in Feb so I would have it for future use! WOW! I love this. Thank you for more wonderful instruction and utter coolness!!!

[dora]

Thanks for the info. Here is the alternative way: http://watermarkz.net/

[Nes]

I was looking for watermark for the past couple of days...it was of great help and very simple thanks jessica :)

[Robert]

I just wanted to say, THANK!!! your step-by-step really took the guess work. You help with my learning curve.

[Sarah Moore]

great article! thanks for the tips!

[Brian]

Hi Jessica,

I have been using the batch command in Elements for a couple years now, but I have one big issue. Every time I set it up, it forces me to click save for each and every file. Today this amounted to 540 clicks to insert EXIF info and I am dreading another 540 clicks to resize for the internet (yes, I know I could have run it at the same time, but wanted originals with EXIF as well).

How can I keep from having to press save over and over again. Help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Brian