Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Batch editing in Photoshop - a flawed premise?

One of Photoshop's capabilities is batch-editing ... that is, running an action on a lot of photos at once.  You can record your action, then use the Batch function to apply it to a whole set of files very quickly.

At face value, this seems like an efficient thing to do, right?  Adding speedy automation has to be great for your workflow ... doesn't it?

Unfortunately, in most cases, no.  In fact, this approach might reveal serious problems with your workflow.  Let me explain ...

The ideal workflow goes like this:
  1. Make "global" adjustments to the photo in Raw.  This may or may not include white balance, exposure, etc, etc, to the whole photo.
  2. Make various "local" adjustments in Photoshop.  This might include cloning and other pixel modifications, and/or tonal and colour adjustments to various parts of the photo using layers and masks.  At the end of this process, the result is a nice clean-processed image.
  3. Finally, add artistic effects to the photo, if desired (at the time of writing this post, the "matte look" is popular, for example.)
Steps 1 and 3 are where batch processing can be performed.  No matter which raw software you use, it has excellent functions for applying your adjustments to whole sets of images, very quickly, where the lighting was the same.  If you're not harnessing the power of batch-processing in raw, I urge you to embrace it right away.

And at the end of the workflow, you can definitely set up a batch process in Photoshop to apply your artistic actions to multiple photos at once.  Again, it's a very good idea to do so, if you can.

But batch-processing is impossible at Step 2.  The whole point of Step 2 is that it is unique for every photo.  No two layer masks will ever be the same from photo to photo.  No pimple is ever going to be in the same place for you to batch-clone it out.  Step 2 is entirely manual.

What if there are any global adjustments that you consistently make in Photoshop?  Eg ...
  • "I always brighten my photos a bit with Curves"
  • "I always run a defog action"
  • etc
... then slap yourself upside the head.  HARD.  There are no global functions that should habitually performed in Photoshop as part of the clean editing workflow.  ALL of the global functions can and must be done in raw.  Photoshop is for local work, period.

So I need you to take a good hard look at your raw processing.  That's where you can save yourself time and effort by working smarter, not in Photoshop.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Increasing Bit Depth in Photoshop - Myths and Truths

It is widely accepted that there are benefits to working in 16-bit rather than 8-bit mode for some - repeat some - editing tasks.  Inevitably, there are some incurable nerds who say it's important to work in 16-bit mode for everything, but of course that's not true.  8-bit is perfectly fine for most people, most of the time.

If you're not familiar with bit depth, read this article.

Two scenarios come to mind where 16-bit mode is helpful.  First, those times when you unavoidably need to make aggressive adjustments to your photo in Photoshop, rather than in raw.  And second, when there is risk of banding in your photo (eg a smooth backdrop, or a blue sky).  If you'd like to know more about these scenarios, please visit me in my Facebook group.

In this article I wish to discuss the concept of converting 8-bit data up to 16-bit for editing.  I'm sorry to say there's almost no benefit to this.  Yes, Photoshop does allow you to convert your 8-bit file to 16-bit, but it doesn't truly turn it into 16-bit data.  It just puts the 8-bit data into a 16-bit wrapper, if you know what I mean.

Comments or Questions?

If you have anything to add or ask about this article, please visit me at my Ask Damien page.