BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: New Answers

Changing File Sizes Using Photohop 7

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September 20, 2002

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September 23, 2002

You want to look for a thing called Actions. Browse through the User's Guide and the Help files and look for Actions. Or look on our desktop for a palette called Actions (which is Photoshop's word for "automated processes").

The way it works is that you will create a new action and then go through the steps that you would like to record. For example, in your case, you would open up one of your images, create a new action and name it, and then save your image as a TIFF. Then downsize it and save it as a smaller TIFF... and so on. When you are done recording (i.e. right after you close the image), you hit the "Stop" button and, viola! you have a Photoshop action.

You can then use the Automate/Batch menu option in the File menu to run this Action on a group of images - while you are washing the dishes or out shooting more photos :)

We explore this concept much more in-depth in my Photoshop course.

For now, I hope this helps get you started in the right direction,

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September 24, 2002

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September 24, 2002

ACTIONS:
1 Open the actions pallete under window, show actions.
2 Press the new action button and give the action a name, when you press OK, Photoshop will start recording your action.
3 Perform the steps that you want your action to do.
4 Press the stop button in the actions pallette to stop recording
5 Then to check run the action, select the actions tile in the Actions pallette and press run.

Tip: Save your work first, very important, because if you run an action on a file and you dont like what it did, you may not be able to undo it. If you save it first, you can use the revert command in the file menu.

After you have created the action you want, you can save it to your actions pallette to be used over and over.

Next to apply this new action to an entire folder:

Automated workflow:

Under the File menu, you will find the automate submenu. Off that you will find the batch feature which will let you run an action on an entire folder of images.
To automate an action, select batch and the dialog box will pop up. Here you will find the Play, Source, and Destinations option. I would start by playing it out on a smaller number of images before attempting a large batch process.

As I said before, I am a second year student, not an expert, but I hope this helps to get you going. If you have any other questions that I can help with, let me know, I have some great reference books and have (at least tried) to use alot of the Photoshop features.

I hope this has helped.

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September 24, 2002

i.e. New Action >call it small .jpg> assign a key (F1 or shift F3 - what ever), do the process to one image...press stop

Now have a image open and press that key you have assigned. This will show you if what you have done works. REMEMBER if you are wanting to email this size as part of the action you need to go into Image Size (in Edit I think) and change the pixels to not greater than 800 x 600 pixels - this is the size of your computer screen - so you can view it without scrolling up and down (which is very annoying)

Anyway then you do a totally separate Action for the next size>call it medium 2MB file etc etc.

Then go on and do the Automate Batch thing explained by other person.

Actions are great to set up for any purpose and assign a key. i.e. size changing, changing to B&W, fix and underexposed image etc. They are basically a "macro" - one key which has all the steps to perform a tedious job you do regarly. Have fun.
Rhonda
www.portraitsbyrhonda.50megs.com.au
(Student Photographer from Australia)

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September 26, 2002

Rhonda also reminded me of one great tip. When you go to Image Size to reduce file size when creating an action, there are serious limitations. You can only reduce by a percentage (thus ending up with variable pixel dimensions, depending upon the size your original). Or you can change the pixel dimensions of the width and have the height automatically determined (or vice versa). This latter method makes it so that you have to separate all your horizontal images from your verticle image before batch processing. I.e. if you were to make both a portrait and a horizontal image 500 pixels wide, the former would be much larger than the latter.

You can solve this by using the Fit Image command in the File/Automate menu. When recording the action, go to this menu option and enter 750 and 750 if you want all your images to be no larger than 750 pixels wide or tall. This will cause typical horizontals to be about 750 wide by 500 tall and typical vertical images to be 500 wide by 750 high.

Rhonda, I am puzzled by one thing - why do you make separate actions for each size. I simple start with my large file, Save As, then downsize and Save As again, and then downsize again and Save As again. I save each version to a separate folder and usually apply the Unsharp Mask filter a bit before saving. This method seems to work well for me - without any quality problems.

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September 26, 2002

This is what is so WONDERFUL about your site. I have learned stuff too by this discussion. I haven't actually done the "batch thing" but have done a few actions and have just explained what I know - You're right, why not do it all in one action (didn't think of that as I never have had the need) I don't do large quantities of images but one day if I start doing wedding etc may need to....

I have heard that you can also do Automate / Batch for vignetting etc. but don't ask me how....something for you to mull over and perhaps tell me.

Why do you change the sizes Robert??

There are so many different ways to do one thing in Photoshop and you can bet someone else knows a faster way which gives a better result.

A question for you Jim? I have done an Action on bringing up history palette and sizes in view, they don't work (why)?? all my other actions I have set up do. It annoys me there is no shortcut to history/view - or is there?? I use history and the 3 Views (Fit image to page, Actual Pixels and Prints size) a lot and cannot find a faster way to view this. I have P/S 7.0.

Anyway chow for now.

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September 27, 2002

I'm responding mainly to the comment from Doug "PS 7 is such a powerful tool that Adobe doesn't tell us how to use it. Things are passed on through magazines, or by oral tradition, like neanderthals around a campfire."

In Photoshop, any version, and in fact in nearly any window program, pressing the F1 key when you get stuck will bring you to Context Sensitive Help. Usually the page you are on, or the specific tool you are attempting to use will be explained. Also, http://studio.adobe.com/explore/features/main.html?product=photoshop and http://studio.adobe.com/learn/main.html both address many features, and offer tutorials to better use Photoshop's capabilities. All supplied courtesy of Photoshop. :) They want you to be able to use their product, because otherwise, you won't buy it. Sometimes software manufacturers and programmers forget though to make things intuitive and easy to find help for. For the record, I have PS6, and don't get along with it. I have a book called "Special Edition Using Photoshop 6" that sits intimidatingly on my desk, and taunts me. I use photoshop only for touching up dust that always seems to get scanned when I scan negs. I use a program called Irfanview for resizing and resampling my photos. And it's free. :) I hope this helps you, and good luck.

stormi
former software designner and programmer
current photography student.

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September 28, 2002

You are absolutely correct in that there are often numerous ways to go about doing a single task in Photoshop. This must be one of the reasons why Photoshop is the industry standard - each user can "make it his or her own".

There are a number of tasks that are not "Actionable". If I understand you correctly, you cannot bring up the history palette or change the magnification level. These are indeed two things you cannot record. I am not sure why. Most of what I have read explains that you cannot create an Action out of a totally user-controlled action, like drawing a selection with the Lasso tool. Since this is different with each image, there is no reason to make it Actionable. The other thing they say is that most tasks that are available via the Menu options can be recorded.

As far as changing the magnification level or view, you can do this without Actions. Simply double-click the Hand tool to make your image fit in the screen and double-click the Magnifying Glass tool to view the image at 100%. I am not sure how I would see the Print view - but you can type in a magnification level into the percentage box in the lower left corner of your workspace. Not quite Actions but these methods will allow you to get the effect quickly.

Hope this helps :)

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October 02, 2002

Thanks for that Jim, (yes you interpretted me correctly). Now back to you Robert.

Sorry I butted in for a minute there.

Until next time,
Rhonda

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October 02, 2002

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October 02, 2002

I know how annoying this can be, Rhonda. But all you have to do is double-click the magnifying glass - that is somewhat of a shortcut.

Happy Holidays!

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December 04, 2002