Using Photoshop Actions

I LOVE Photoshop actions.

I make them up as I go and use them extensively for picture editing.

What I do is open up a few pictures and then I start the action 'recording'. I make the alterations to the pic - size, contrast, sharpen, and some other things, and then I stop recording. I close the pic and then test the action out on a few other pictures before I choose the BATCH option and let it loose on the whole folder of pictures. Then I can just sit back and watch it do a LOT of very hard work for me. It's really useful for correcting colors and for working on bought content, which is rarely usable without some editing work.

If you edit a lot of photos - you must, in my opinion, get Photoshop and learn actions.

Here's some links Diver recommended:

http://www.actionfx.com/index2.shtml
http://www.digitalthread.com/photoshopactions/
http://www.actionaddiction.com/
(a few pop-ups)
http://www.teamphotoshop.com/photoshop/actions/actions_download.php

If anyone has Photoshop, one thing I'd definitely recommend you look into would be 'Photoshop Actions'. I rarely do much in Photoshop without recording an action for it these days. Even if I've got 5 pics, I still find it's quicker to edit them using actions.

Introduction to Actions
http://www.digital-foundry.com/photoshop/workshop/actions_intro.shtml

You can also do BATCH jobs in Photoshop using actions. I feel it does it better than ANYTHING else out there.

1) Open a picture.

2) Go to WINDOWS > ACTIONS

3) Click the little black arrow on the top right of that box.

4) Click NEW ACTION

5) Press ALT I and then I again. Set the size. (% usually works best.

6) Press the STOP button on the actions panel. Close the pic and DON'T save!

7) Go to the arrow again and choose BATCH.

8) Choose your output folder and then override save and close and then when you click OK - it will do all your pics for you. Actions are a great feature in PhotoShop that not many people know about. Lemme know when you get stuck. It sounds harder than it is

Check out this page on Actions:

http://graphicdesign.about.com/msubpact.htm

I use Photoshop's actions for cropping too:

1) Use the rectangular marque to draw a box around the area you want to keep on the pic.
2) Start recording the action.
3) Go to image then crop.
4) Do any other resizing you want to do.
5) Stop recording the action.
6) Assign F2 or similar to this action.

From then on, all you have to do to edit the pic is draw a marque around the area and then press F2. Even hundreds of pictures can be edited in minutes. The problem with batch cropping is that it normally requires the human eye to decide which area should be kept