batch process sharpening?

[guitarkid]

using photoshop, currently CS2. i don't feel like adding a little sharpening to 800 wedding photos! can i batch process or do i have to open them up one at a time.

also, while i'm on it, how long would you say you spend average editing your photos. i usually do 2 or 3 passes to make sure i like what i see. i always shoot in raw with my 20D, do the histogram editing, color correction if needed, lighting, etc. then when i export to jpg, i don't know, the photos don't seem to POP out at me. not sure the is going on!

thanks for your help.
steve

 

[Flash Harry]

Yeah create a set and an action for sharpening etc, I usually use the hue/saturation tool prior to the sharpen/usm too, especially on a large number of files.

 

[guitarkid]

thanks for the help. looks like there is even more research to do. not sure what a SET is and not sure where in the mix to do it. i'm assuming after i convert from RAW to JPG....then do a set and then batch them, etc. i think someone else here converts to tiff, then batches, then convert to JPG is the final step.

thanks

 

[ksmattfish]

Go to the "Actions" window, usually by the history window. Actions are just recordings of a process so you can play it over again without typing eveything in again. Sets are like folders full of actions. I have a set of BW actions, a set of resizing actions, a set of sharpening actions, etc...

My workflow for weddings starts by synchronizing the time on my DSLRs before the wedding. Afterwards I can put everything from 2 cameras into a folder, sort by time, then rename them all 001 through whatever, and I have the whole wedding in sync. If one camera is off from the other by even a minute, it really mixes things up.

I use Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera RAW to sort through keepers, potential keepers, and tossers. Then I go through the keepers and potential keepers with Camera RAW and adjust white balance, adjust exposure, contrast, and saturation if necessary, and sometimes convert to BW. I've actually found I like the Camera RAW desaturate in many instances better than using the channel mixer later in PS. When I'm done in Camera RAW I save the files as 16 bit tiffs.

In Adobe Photoshop I look at each photo and work on it as necessary. For some photos this is minor color and contrast tweaking, some burning and dodging, etc... For other photos it can be more extensive manipulation such as removing blemishes, or adding soft focus, spot sharpening or blurring effects, merging different exposures, heavy burning and dodging, stitching panos, etc...

Anything that is going to be done the same way to a group of photos I try to use batch actions. For instance if I'm going to add a thin black border to all BW photos, I just save that for one of the last steps, and use the automate batch function.

Once I have everything finished, I make an action that sharpens (I've been using CS2 smart sharpening), and then converts the mode to 8 bit, and saves (still as a tiff). Then I use File->Scripts->Image Processor to convert the tiffs to jpg. Then rename again so the file list doesn't have numbers gaps where I deleted images.

Of course, at the beginning I back up the RAW files, and at the end I back up the jpgs.

 

[guitarkid]

damn, THANKS FOR THE IN-DEPTH INFO!!! i really appreciate it! i can only IMAGINE how much TIME it takes you to do that entire process.....especially with 700-1000 photos or more! and i thought i was taking a lot of time! i'm just getting the hang of CS2 and starting to like it now. i love messing with the histogram in RAW and then going back and fine-tweaking with the brighness and contrast but i have been starting with the histogram..very powerful.

i hate that you can't convert to jpg AND renumber at the same time. but i guess it's best that way....just seems like double work.

so how long does it take you to do a wedding! and that's the kicker....these brides wonder why it's so expensive! cuz you're shackled to your pc for days!

thanks again so much,
steve

 

[ksmattfish]

i can only IMAGINE how much TIME it takes you to do that entire process.....especially with 700-1000 photos or more!

I take about 700-800 shots for 8 hours of digital wedding coverage. 50% to 60% of those will be keepers, so I can weed out about half of them pretty quickly.

Sometimes it takes less time, sometimes more, but overall I estimate approx 2 hours of post-processing time for every hour of actual shooting. My background is mostly in the BW darkroom, so I'm used to spending lot's of time post-processing, and I like it. I'm sure it's completely possible to spend less time post-processing than shooting.

Some clients like more manipulation and effects, and some want the photographs pretty straight. Even when they want time consuming post-processing effects I usually limit my major efforts to a few dozen photos.

Besides shooting and post processing time, there is also all the rest of the time necessary to make the business actually run: maintaining websites, networking and advertising, meeting with clients, meeting with people who don't end up hiring me, continuing education, portfolio and product samples, taxes, hanging out on photography forums while PS is batch processing a bunch of files, etc...

 

[guitarkid]

yeah sounds like me. for me you have to add a 50-hour work week at a job downtown where i work as a "pc specialist, 2nd level enduser support" at the stock exchange....yeah, kinda busy. and then i also offer video production....who's the editor? ME. i also am a musician and trying to get time to record another album since the original dream was to be a rockstar. AHHHH SO BUSY BUT I LOVE IT. thanks again so much.
steve

 

[6Speed]

When you do a batch lightening through curves, or say, a batch vignette, does photoshop try to open every one of the images? I tried to lighten about 20 photos the other night using the batch feature, and it opened all 20 of them, which lagged my computer pretty badly.

 

[Flash Harry]

yes it opens, does it, saves, closes. Whatever you have recorded, some things though cant be done as a batch, once you get the hang of it go n make a cuppa, thats what these boxes are for.