Photo Banter: Actions and Batch-Processing

[jlykins]

I think that some have a problem with the fact that other people will just download actions made by other people, to get specific effects. Like 'Midnight Sepia' for example. It's not really all that creative to just get and run that action on your photos.

I think we shouldn't judge an image by it's process. Look at the final image and take it for that. If we want to discuss or judge the process itself, that's fine too...but remember that the process is different from the image itself.

Good point.

 

[ksmattfish]

If it gets the job (whether its paying or personal) done then it's good. If it hinders getting the job done then it's bad. Actions are just software commands. Not very different than what's already built into the hardware and software. You either know how to use the tools, or you're winging it. In general I find that I do better when I understand what's going on, but I've met plenty of photogs and artists who are quite successful winging it.

A month ago I was using CS2. I often liked to mask out the highlights and shadows, and run a low percentage/high radius unsharp mask on the mid-tones. It took a while to go through all the steps manually, and I typically used only a couple of different settings, so I made a set of actions that turned it from a 5 minute step into a 5 sec step. Today I'm using Lightroom 2 and CS4. They have a slider bar called clarity that does the same thing. I love that slider bar! It's even faster than my action. Of course if it ever fails me I can fall back on my knowledge of how it works to make my own custom action. I even know how to do the same in the traditional darkroom, although it would take me all day, if not days to accomplish.

I think custom white balance is great if color accuracy is important. I don't care so much about color accuracy as getting color I like. Even were I to set a custom wb at the time of exposure I'd probably fiddle with it later anyway.

 

[rufus5150]

Speaking of white balance and batch processing, I went through great labors to get a good white balance set in camera before shooting our company Halloween party only to, mere seconds before the event started, one of the overhead lights went out. Now these were terrible lights and getting a good WB was very difficult but that one light going out changed the overall color cast of the available light. Batch fixing the WB for the first 300 photos was really the only way to do that. I'm not sure there'd have been much artistic merit in visiting each one individually.

 

[iflynething]

Wow, I read all the posts.

I tried actions once for watermarking, and just couldnt do it. I get as close to what I want in camera first and worry about everything else in PS. I agree with the OP when he says that each image is like a writing. There are subtle differences from one photo to another. I believe I have a form of CDO (that's, OCD in the order it should be) that makes me want to look at each individual shot and adjust it.

Mainly the white balance in landscapes. If I'm shooting something with the same lighting the whole time, I would get the kevlin degrees right and batch watermarks or whatever needed to be done. As for most everything else I shoot, I adjust white balance later, picture by picture, minute by minute. Sometimes, for a certian picture, i want 4500 and another I want 6000, even though they are in the same lighting. I found myself doing that more and more for fall pictures. I may want to enhance the reds or something in one shot, so I increase the kelvin degrees to get that effect.

~Michael~

 

[notelliot]

I believe I have a form of CDO (that's, OCD in the order it should be) that makes me want to look at each individual shot and adjust it.
~Michael~

DOC's unite! :mrgreen:

 

[ksmattfish]

I love the presets in Lightroom 2. You can save any individual processing setting/effect or combinations of settings/effects, and then apply it/them with one click.

 

[JerryPH]

I love the presets in Lightroom 2. You can save any individual processing setting/effect or combinations of settings/effects, and then apply it/them with one click.

That is a real time saver. I do the same in the Camera Raw settings of CS3 as well... on top of using actions for the things that I do the same from pic to pic.

 

[jlykins]

That is a real time saver. I do the same in the Camera Raw settings of CS3 as well... on top of using actions for the things that I do the same from pic to pic.

Same here.

 

[jlykins]

I just heard (from photoshopusertv.com) that the new updates for camera raw will have more presets for more cameras. So you will be able to get the same starting point with a raw file as if you shot in jpeg and had the camera apply settings. If this makes any sense at all.

 

[Ryan Morgan]

For me it depends on the use of the photos. If I am taking pics of family and friends and they are just going to be used for the web, then batch saves a lot of time. Generally though, the lighting is so variable in any situation that batch processing isn't very effective.

http://www.biologicalimages.com