Batch Editing Without Photoshop

Batch Editing Without Photoshop

Adobe’s Photoshop has been a benchmark in the photo editing field for quite some time. For years it has been a central pillar for both professionals and amateurs in the search of optimal image enhancement techniques. And still is, because it remains one of the most powerful programs when it comes to image manipulation.

Nevertheless, the online environment abounds today in tops and lists of Photoshop alternatives. There are plenty of tools that can rival with Adobe’s software when it comes to advanced image editing, batch editing, features, ease of use or price. Because let’s face it, Photoshop is great, but it does come with a certain learning curve and a hefty price tag.

Batch Processing Made Easy

Some resort to photo editors for aesthetic reasons, as they want to create a certain type of artwork or perhaps improve the aspect of an image. Others are determined to improve productivity, as they have to apply repeatable actions like converting, resizing or watermarking to dozens of photos. If you happen to be in the position of having to constantly edit numerous files at once, then you definitely need a tool to automate the operations for you.

Photoshop does allow you to batch edit images through the Actions feature, but the process isn’t the most straightforward. In order to accomplish this task, you have to record an action and then apply that specific action to your group of images.

An alternative would be to use a tool particularly designed to batch edit photos, such as BatchPhoto for example. The software is powerful enough to handle hundreds of images at once and, in comparison to Photoshop, it’s significantly easier to use thanks to its intuitive interface. All you have to do is follow a simple, three-step process:

  • Step 1 (Add Photos) – this is where you add the photos you wish to edit
  • Step 2 (Edit Photos) – this is where you apply the desired filters to your images
  • Step 3 (Setup) – this is where you select the destination of your images and the output image format

Batch Editing Without Photoshop

And that’s it. Next simply click on the Process button and the tool will automatically apply your edits to all the images.

But what exactly can you do with BatchPhoto? Well, the editor places at your disposal a multitude of filters that you can easily apply to your pictures. You can resize, automatically crop and rotate, watermark or date stamp images. At the same time you can apply numerous artistic effects or retouch your photos by adjusting the contrast, brightness and saturation, sharpening or reducing the noise.

Resize Multiple Images Easy and Fast

Let’s say you have a collection of one hundred images that need to be resized in the same way. All you have to do is add your photos and then select the Resize filter by going to Add Filter > Transform > Resize. Next simply enter the desired dimensions for the width and/or height and hit the OK button. 

Additionally you can resort to an advanced tool for resizing, which enables you to adjust the document size and DPI resolution.

Batch Editing Without Photoshop

Batch Crop Photos

If you’re dealing with numerous photos that need to be cut the same way, BatchPhoto makes your task super easy. The editor places at your disposal two options to crop photos: Auto Crop and Crop.

The Auto Crop filter will automatically crop photos based on a preset aspect ratio, such as 16:9, 4:3 or 1:1. At the same time you can define your own aspect ratio. The Crop filter gives you the possibility to manually remove unwanted elements by selecting the exact cropping region. You can enter the coordinates in pixels or percentage, as well as take advantage of the drag & drop interface.

Batch Editing Without Photoshop

Add Text or Logo Watermarks

Watermarking is a necessary step to protect your original photography.

If you want to batch watermark in Photoshop, the same principle applies. You have to create a watermarking action. With BatchPhoto, the process is considerably simpler: add your chosen pictures, apply the Watermark-Text or Watermark-Logo filter and make the desired customizations.

You can position the mark where you want, resize it, rotate it to a certain angle, adjust its transparency and many more. 

Batch Editing Without Photoshop

Date/Time Stamp in Bulk

At first view this may seem something pretty basic, because almost all modern digital cameras have the capacity to stamp the date and time on a photo. This is actually true, but there are some drawbacks. For starters, you can’t really do anything about the color, size or placement of the stamp. Second of all, once you add the information on the image, it stays there. You can’t remove it if you want to.

So the best solution is to resort to an editor able to date stamp photos in bulk like BatchPhoto. The software will read the original date/time information for each image from the EXIF/IPTC records and allow you to fully customize the stamp. You’ll have the chance to set the position, choose its size, select the font style and color, adjust the opacity or apply special effects. Moreover, you will be able to customize the date and time format by choosing from a wide range of preset formats.

Batch Editing Without Photoshop

Automatically Enhance your Photos

Sometimes, when you analyze the shots taken, you realize that the lighting may not be ideal or the colors are too flat. There’s no need to worry though if your photos don’t look exactly as you expected. You can make various improvements to them in a post-processing software. 

BatchPhoto places at your disposal various filters to enhance your photos. In that sense you can automatically improve the contrast, the gamma and color levels or manually adjust the brightness, increase the saturation or sharpen your pictures. At the same time you can apply artistic effects such as black & white, sepia or oil paint. 

Batch Editing Without Photoshop

Rename Hundreds of Photos Simultaneously

Professional or amateur photographers, we all feel the urge to rename our images sometimes. Some do it because they just can’t stand seeing those meaningless numbers assigned by the digital cameras. Others because they wish to associate the pictures with a certain event or place.

Regardless of the reason, you can easily give your photos significant names using a specialized tool. With BatchPhoto you can choose to rename your images with their date, with the folder’s name or you can just type the preferred file name.

Batch Editing Without Photoshop

Convert to the Right Image Format

Bulk conversion is many times required, especially for those who shoot in RAW. Images in this format are not suitable for printing or online use and therefore have to be converted to a more popular format like JPG or TIFF for example.

This can be easily done in one single session with the aid of a software designed for this type of operations like BatchPhoto. Simply add your images and go directly to Setup (you can skip Edit Photos if you don’t want to add any filters). Here you can choose the desired output format and then just start the batch processing.

Batch Editing Without Photoshop

Save your Settings as Profiles

BatchPhoto’s main mission is to help you improve your workflow and use the gained time and energy for other tasks. In addition to batch processing, the tool offers another useful feature to boost productivity.

The program gives you the possibility to save your settings and then easily load them in future editing sessions. Let’s say your typical workflow implies resizing, watermarking and converting to JPG a different set of photos at certain intervals. Instead of making these edits every time, you can save your current configuration as a Profile and simply load the saved profile in other projects.

You can download the fully-featured trial version of BatchPhoto here.

One Response

  1. I have a question. Something has changed on my Mac. I used to be able to batch photos in to
    Photoshop with the action of my choice. I could run 50 through while I was able to work on something else. Now when I try to batch. I have to press open image and ok before every single image. Do you have any idea how to stop that?

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