A program for mass cropping of photos. Batch processing

When a novice photographer is faced with the need to process a large number of photographs, the question inevitably arises: How to reduce the time spent on processing, how to automate routine operations?

To do this, in the arsenal of the Adobe Photoshop program there are several tools: operations or actions, scripts or scripts, and droplets.

Operations, otherwise also called action games, macros or macros are recorded and saved actions on an image that can be applied to another image, as well as used in batch processing. Actions are also the basis for creating droplets.

Droplet is a small application, a kind of program that automatically processes all images dragged onto it. The droplet icon can be placed, for example, on the desktop, and folders with images for processing can be dragged onto it.

Scripts or scripts are also programs, but written in one of the scripting programming languages. Using scripts allows you to automate operations for which it is impossible to write an action, that is, the capabilities of scripts are much wider. The only drawback is that to write scripts, you need to master certain programming languages, for example, Java Script.

In this article, we will write a simple action and see how to use it in batch processing using the command Image processor

As an example, let's take a method of toning photos using a color fill in blend mode. Hard light... Here is the original photo

First, we will create a set into which we will place the operation being recorded. To create a set, click on the folder icon in the Operations palette. In the dialog box that opens, enter a name for the set.

Now, with an active set, click on the icon for creating a new operation

In the dialog box that opens, enter the name of the operation. Assign a color and keyboard shortcut as needed so that you can quickly start the operation. Click on Write down to start the recording process. Now in the palette Operations the recording icon will be active, it will turn red.

Before starting the recording, it is advisable to plan all the steps and write them on paper. A well-planned action works without errors and the stability of its work does not depend on which version of the program is used, Russian or English. A properly recorded action will work in any. If this is not the case, it means that methodological errors were made during planning and recording, for example, the names of layers or channels were written down.

Now let's create an adjustment layer. Colour... To do this, click on the icon for creating an adjustment layer in the palette. Layers, then select the layer from the list Colour.

In the dialog box that opens, select the desired color. It is necessary in advance, even in preparation for recording, to write down the values of this color in RGB channels, in order to then enter it and immediately get the desired color.

Change the Blend Mode of the layer to Hard light

We will get something like this

Now we need to weaken the effect of the adjustment layer on the skin. The skin is known to be the lightest in the red channel of the image. Make an adjustment layer mask active. To do this, press the key combination CTRL + \... The active layer mask will be outlined.

Now let's load the red channel of the image onto the mask. To do this, go to the Image - External channel menu. In the dialog box that opens, set the following settings Layer - Background, since it is from the background layer that we will use the red channel. Channel - Red, on the right you need to check the box Invert, since for the mask we need just the inverted red channel, Blending - Normal, Opacity - 100%... After completing the settings, click OK. Now the effect of the adjustment layer is through the mask based on the inverted red channel, which looks like this

We got a subtle toning effect on the image.

You can now stop recording the action. Then, resetting the image to its original state using the palette History, you need to test the action of the action. Now it can be used for batch processing.

Batch processing is best done with a script Image processor... It can be found in the menu File - Scripts - Image Processor.

Or, which is much more convenient, you can run the image handler from the module Bridge, having previously selected in it photos for processing. In Bridge Image processor is in the menu Instruments -Photoshop - Image Processor.

Configuring Batch Options in a Dialog Box Image processor is not difficult. You need to choose the location for saving the files, the format and quality of saving, as well as a set of actions and the actual action that must be applied to the selected images.

Sometimes there is a need for mass, batch processing of graphic images. Paste on digital images watermark, place text, resize, perform image correction- contrast, histogram equalization, lightening or darkening, apply filters to images, add masks to photos, apply mosaic, painting or warp effects, delete and save metadata. All this and much more is handled by a wonderful and free program XnConvert. The utility is easy to use and the result of stream processing of graphic images is achieved in a few mouse clicks. XnConvert supports over 500 graphic file formats including PSD, PS, PPM, IFF, ICO, GIF, EMF, BMP, JPG, JPEG2000, PNG, TIFF, WebP, OpenEXR, and Camera RAW.

Change many images

The program supports many languages including Russian. Easily and quickly, a photographer can easily apply an author's watermark to all photographs and drawings before posting them on the Internet. The program will help a web designer to massively resize images and convert them to another format, apply a filter and an interesting effect (for example, sepia or an old camera) for a harmonious combination with the design of the site. If you need to process a group of images quickly and as functional as possible, take XnConvert to helpers.

The image cropping function is present in many viewing programs. But mostly single file processing is supported. And if there are a lot of images, it is necessary to tinker with each one in turn. To save a lot of time, you can use a program for batch (that is, bulk) cropping images. In this article, we will figure out where to download the required program and how to work with it ...

So the program is called FastStone Photo Resizer... On the official website of the developer, you can download the English version of the program.

Please note that the program is not only for cropping images. You can also resize, rotate the image, adjust the color depth, make various adjustments, add text and watermarks, create a frame for the image.

Download, install and run the program. First, add a folder with images. To do this, click on the button " A source"And find the folder on your computer.

When the images are ready, take a look below. We select the extension (parameter “ Output format"), In which the future image will be saved. You can choose the source format, or specify any other. Configuring the output parameters (the button to the right of the list of formats) for the best image quality:

jpg: set quality to 100%, chroma subsampling - no.
bmp: do not change the default parameters.
gif: if the image contains transparency, enable the corresponding parameter.
png: disable compression.

jp2: set the maximum quality to 1000.
tif: do not change the default parameters.
pdf: we set the maximum quality - no loss.

It is not necessary to make changes, here as you want!

Next, select the folder that will contain the processed images. You can uncheck the option so that the program saves images to the original folder. You can also turn off confirmation of file replacement. True, this is necessary if you are saving to the original folder, with the original name and with the original format. Turn on additional processing parameters and click on the button " Customization«.

In the additional options window, go to the " Frame"And set a check mark on the activation parameter. Below we enter the new size (width and height) of the image.

To help you understand how the program performs trimming, I will give you a simple example. Let's say the size of the original image is 604 (width) by 378 (height). I enter a new size - 400 by 300. If we calculate, it will crop 204 pixels in width and 78 pixels in height.

Initially, the main point is in the center, trimming is performed along the edges. In this case, 102 pixels will be cropped from each edge in width (204 divided by 2), from each edge 39 pixels will be cropped in height (78 divided by 2). You can also set the coordinates of the point of the upper left corner. Only cropping will be done slightly differently. And press the button " OK“To close the additional options window.

Now we run (the button “ Convert«) Processing of added images.

After some time (depending on the number of images), processing will be completed. Click on the button " Ready«.

Everything, images are cropped! I just have to post an example of the original and processed image:

Be sure to consider other functions of the program, maybe they will be useful to you too!

Batch processing of files is indispensable when working with a large number of images that require the same type of editing. Almost any routine processing operation (batch mode) can be performed much faster this way.

For graphic formats, various transformations are possible: from resizing and formatting an image, adding a watermark and text to applying effects and filters. It is noteworthy that many image viewing programs already have such functions built in. In addition, as an alternative, there are separate processing programs - converters.

Next, we will consider methods of batch processing images in terms of complexity from the simplest to using the functions of packages such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom. At the end of the review, there is a comparison table (Table 1) and a test of the conversion performance (Diagram 1).

Image Tuner

A simple program that works on the principle of "one window" and is not too complicated by the settings. Files for processing are added in the left part of the window, and conversion parameters are indicated on the right. Preview is available by clicking on the thumbnail image.

Conversion options include changing the hue, size, orientation of the image, adding a watermark. There are filters available, but they are so simple that they don't even have settings and for some reason are hidden in the "Resize" section. Half of the settings are in English, the rest is translated into Russian.

The number of formats for saving is small - only 5. At the input, Image Tuner supports such popular formats as JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF, as well as RAW, NEF and others.

So a very simple converter for the most basic image processing.

IrfanView, while being free and small in size, supports and includes converter functions available through the "Batch Conversion / Rename ..." menu. You can choose from one of three modes: batch rename, conversion and mixed.

About 20 formats are available for saving (menu “Output format”), while parameters are not available for each of them.

Selecting other transformations is possible only when you activate "Use advanced options ...", by pressing the "Advanced" button. The settings allow you to resize, crop the image, flip horizontally or vertically, add a watermark - a standard set for a graphics viewer.

However, in practice, it becomes clear that the "advanced" options are not intuitive at all: the point is that there are no preview windows (the preview in the main window refers to the original image). Of course, you can crop or resize a photo on a pixel-by-pixel basis. But how to deal with filters for adjusting brightness, balance and other color parameters when you need to specify numbers? Based on the above, after applying the transformations and exiting "Advanced", the changes can be seen only after the end of the conversion. But for batch renaming of files, a test mode is available.

Thus, IrfanView cannot be called a convenient image converter. It can be used only for basic transformations that do not require preview: changing the orientation of the image, the size and format of saving.

AVS Image Converter is part of the AVS4You suite of image manipulation software. This is probably why the 27 MB distribution kit (which is not so small for a converter) includes the auxiliary utilities Software Navigator and Update Manager.

Supported image formats for writing - 8, for reading - a little more than 20. For processing, you can import photos from Flickr or Facebook accounts (after preliminary authorization).

The graphical interface is friendly to the inexperienced user: some functions are simplified or replaced by presets. When resizing an image, presets are available for different monitors and standard aspect ratios for photos, which is especially useful when publishing on the Internet.

There are few conversion settings (the "Correction" tab): changing the brightness, contrast, color temperature; blur / sharpness effects, adding texture. The extreme tab is "Watermark", which allows you to superimpose an image or text on the photo.

FastStone Photo Resizer

Most of all, the local batch conversion resembles IrfanView. But, unlike the latter, FastStone Photo Resizer is not so “hostile” towards the user and provides convenient advanced options.

The interface is divided into two parts - which is not very rational, since the area for selecting files takes up most of the workspace.

After adding images to the conversion queue, you can specify the output image format ("Output Format") and the save folder ("Output Folder").

To access the transformation tools, the "Use Advanced Options (Resize ...)" option is activated. The set of transformations is purely basic: resizing, perspective, adding text, water images, frames. Settings can be saved or loaded from a configuration file, just like in most of the programs being monitored. There is no preview window.

A tool for batch renaming of files has been placed in a separate tab "Batch Rename". In addition to the standard name change by mask, the “Search and Replace” function is interesting, with its help it is easy to correct the file name without completely changing the name.

XnConvert is a spin-off from the popular XnView image viewer. In fact, all the same actions performed in the XnConvert environment can be performed in XNView (see below), but the stand-alone converter has a number of differences. First of all, it is not meant to be viewed. On the one hand, nothing distracts from the functionality. On the other hand, if you need to find out the most basic information about the source file, you have to turn to another viewer program.

At the beginning of working with the program, you need to specify the files for processing (drag and drop is supported, you can also specify using the buttons). Please note that there are columns for sorting at the top. When you click on any of them in the context menu, you can choose from many other options - the list is huge. However, it would be more convenient if the files were displayed in the form of a table rather than thumbnails - then it would be convenient to view information about the source files, otherwise it simply does not exist, and the sorting is somewhat "conditional" - it is not clear what it is for.

The main tab where the list of transformations is collected is "Actions". For a free program, the number of settings is pleasantly surprising. Transformations are divided into 4 groups:

Image is, for the most part, working with transformation and file properties.
Correction - work with levels, color.
Filter - Applying blur effects, sharpening, changing focus.
Miscellaneous - for the most part, all the same effects.

The output tab contains options for saving processed files: name mask, location and graphic format. For popular formats (JPG, GIF, PNG, etc.), it is possible to specify additional saving parameters. There is a subtle, but very useful export option - you can upload the processed photos to Picasa- or Flickr-account, pack or send via FTP or email.

Import / export of scripts (transformation settings) are available in the lower part of the window, the button "Load script".

A huge number of formats are also available for reading - more than 500 (of those supported by the XNView viewer), with the nuance that specific ones require the installation of GhostScript or a CAD plugin.

Briefly - about the possibilities of batch processing of photos in XnView. The settings window can be called through the menu "Tools - Batch processing ...".

First of all, the interface is different from XNConvert. Consists of only two tabs, the first one specifies the format and parameters of saving. The second tab contains a list of transformations, which, for activation and configuration, need to be added to the right side of the window. The ability to save scripts is also provided, but the format is not compatible with XnConvert: here XBS, in XNConvert - BAT.

Configuring conversions in PhotoConverter

Adobe photoshop

Download page

Of course, the necessary tools for batch photo conversion are built into the graphics package Adobe Photoshop. The current version is CS6, CS5 is considered in the review. Processing can be done using actions (English "actions" - actions), Batch operations ("File - Automate - Batch ...") or the Image Processor script ("File - Scripts - Image Processor ...").

The first way

First, through the Actions palette, an action is recorded that will be applied to each image. It is best to take a "test sample" for this purpose. At this step, the list of possible transformations is limited only by means of Photoshop. Then the Action is saved to a certain set (Set). When finished, the action can be edited anywhere: for example, it can be optimized by removing unnecessary actions.

For mass application of an action, after recording and editing it, you need to go to the "File - Automate - Batch ..." menu. In the "Play" group of settings, the required action is selected, the source and destination folder are determined. Additionally, you can specify a mask for naming files.

Second way

Most often, the second processing method using the Image Processor script will be more acceptable. It is handy for simple actions such as changing the aspect ratio or resizing an image. The settings can be called through the menu "File - Scripts - Image Processor ...". The convenience of this approach is that you don't need to record the action. All other settings are almost the same as the above method. Saving is possible only in JPEG / PSD / TIFF.

Program	Terms of distribution	Functionality		Formats
		Filters / Effects	Preview	Reading	Recording
Image Tuner	Freeware	Yes	Yes	30+	5
IrfanView	Freeware	Yes	No	80+	20+
AVS Image Converter	Shareware	Yes	Yes	20+	8
FastStone Photo Resizer	Freeware	No	Yes	30+	500+
XnConvert	Freeware	Yes	Yes	500+	30+
XnView	Freeware	Yes	No	500+	30+
Photo Converter (Pro)	trial	Yes	Yes	400+	30+
Adobe photoshop	trial	Yes	No		Jpg
Adobe lightroom	trial	Yes	No		3

Converting images 4288 × 2848 → 1024 × 680, JPG format 100% (all settings are set by default, quality is 100%), conversion algorithm and progressive method are disabled.

Diagram 1. Comparison of processing speed in the mode of resizing images

In the program "Photoconverter" we could not find out the speed of work, because in the shareware version only 5 images can be processed.

Means of automating actions in Photoshop can significantly reduce the time spent on performing the same type of operations. One of these tools is batch processing of images (photographs).

The point of batch processing is to record actions in a special folder (action), and then apply this action to an unlimited number of photos. That is, we do the processing manually once, and the rest of the images are processed by the program automatically.

It makes sense to use batch processing in cases where it is necessary, for example, to resize photos, raise or lower the illumination, and perform the same color correction.

So let's get down to batch processing.

First, you need to put your original images in one folder. I have three photographs prepared for the lesson. I named the folder "Batch processing" and placed it on the desktop.

If you noticed, then in this folder there is also a subfolder "Finished photos"... The results of processing will be saved there.

It should be noted right away that in this lesson we will only learn the process, so many operations with the photo will not be performed. The main thing is to understand the principle, and then you yourself will decide what processing to perform. The procedure will always be the same.

And one moment. In the program settings, you must turn off warnings about the mismatch of the color profile, otherwise, each time you open a photo you will have to press the button OK.

Go to the menu "Editing - Color Settings" and remove the jackdaws indicated in the screenshot.

Now you can start ...

After analyzing the pictures, it becomes clear that they are all a little darkened. Therefore, we will lighten them and tint them a little.

We open the first snapshot.

Then we call the palette "Operations" on the menu "Window".

In the palette, you need to click on the folder icon, give the new set some name and click OK.

Then we create a new operation, also call it somehow and press the button "Burn".

First, let's resize the image. Let's say we need images no more than 550 pixels wide.
Go to the menu Image - Image Size... Change the width to the desired one and click OK.

As you can see, there have been changes in the operations palette. Our action has been successfully recorded.

For lightening and toning, we will use "Curves"... They are called by the keyboard shortcut CTRL + M.

In the window that opens, set the current on the curve and pull towards the lightening until the desired result is achieved.

Then go to the red channel and adjust the colors a little. For example, like this:

At the end of the process, click OK.

When recording an action, there is one important rule: if you use tools, adjustment layers and other functions of the program, where the values of various settings are changed on the fly, that is, without having to press the OK button, then these values must be written manually and press the ENTER key. If this rule is not observed, then Photoshop will record all intermediate values while you drag, for example, the slider.

Let's continue. Let's assume that we have already completed all the actions. Now we need to save the photo in the format we need.
Press the key combination CTRL + SHIFT + S, choose the format and location for saving. I selected a folder "Finished photos"... We press "Save".

The final step is to close the image. Do not forget to do this, otherwise all 100,500 photos will remain open in the editor. Nightmare…

We refuse to save the source.

Let's take a look at the operations palette. We check if all actions were recorded correctly. If everything is in order, then press the button "Stop".

The action is ready.

Now we need to apply it to all the photos in the folder, and automatically.

Go to the menu "File - Automation - Batch Processing".

In the function window, select our set and the operation (the last created ones are automatically registered), write the path to the folder with the sources and the path to the folder in which you want to save the finished images.

After pressing the button "OK" processing will begin. The time spent on the process directly depends on the number of photos and on the complexity of the operations.