Dealing with large batches of pictures

[Ted Richards]

I just returned from a vacation in the Canadian Rockies with 2700+ RAW D30 pictures, and I'm a bit overwhelmed with how to process them all. There are obviously some duds in there, and not many really superb ones [OK, probably none :-)], but a lot of shots that I'd like to keep for personal viewing.

I have both Breezebrowser and Yarc Plus, and they do a reasonably good job of batch conversion to JPEGs. I have found, though, that creating linear TIFFs and running Pekka's LinearSharpen does a better job on the pictures, but takes a long time (I'm aware of, but haven't yet tried, a batch version of LinearSharpen). It doesn't help that I have a somewhat underpowered PC (600Mhz PIII with 256Mb of memory). It also doesn't help that a lot of the pictures are exposed for the sky, so that the foreground is underexposed, and will need manual adjusting in Photoshop 7.

What do you people do in a situation like this?

a) Batch process everything as JPEGs, then go back and reprocess only the best pictures as TIFFs?

b) Run everything through LinearSharpen (and take a week or two to do so)?

c) Something I haven't thought of?

[Roger_Cavanagh]

Ted,

Only 2700? You weren't really trying. :D

I've been in this situation. My recommendation is bite the bullet and accept that it will take a while before everything is completed. This is what I do:

1. Burn CD copies of the originals. Two copies, if you're really paranoid.

2. I download my images files with Downloader into date folders, so each day is separate. If you haven't done this already, I'd split up the images as best you can. BreezeBrowser will cope, but can slow down with hundreds of images in a folder.

3. First pass through the images - delete the real crappy stuff. Anything that has no artistic or sentimental value - fuzzy, pointed at the sky, etc., etc.

4. At this stage, I would use BB batch rename facility so that all files have name yyyymmdd-nnnn.CRW/THM, where nnnn is a sequential number for pictures shot on the same day.

5. These are now your real digital negatives. Burn two copies of these. If you haven't got a proper archiving system sorted out, you might like to give some thought to this issue now.

6. At this point, you've got a choice. Work though the images systematically from start to finish or satisfy the demands of the family for some quick wins by picking out some choice images and processing those first.

You can use BB to tag "prime" images, and then convert only selected images. Don't forget to save save the tag files, if you have multiple folders.

7. Now we're into conversion. For big batches, I still use BB. The ARF in YP does does a better job, but it's not worth for all images. I would go back afterwards and reprocess really good images, with more complete edits, crops, etc.

LinearSharpen does take a long time, but I do big batches overnight. I guess that the "batch version" of LS you mention mist be my LinearSharpenMenu http://www.rogercavanagh.com/scripts/lsm0.htm. The core conversion is the same that is in Pekka's original LS342, I've added some extra options. It isn't hugely complicated to use, but I suggest you have a play before launching into big batches, if you do decide to give it a try. It does include an optional levels adjustments that can help images that are low contrast.

As you've noticed LS does give better results, and I reckon it's less hassle to do full processing on everything at the cost of extra time.

One of the options in LSM is to create a separate JPG image. I then use WinXP Explorer to browse these rather than the PSD's to choose images for further work or building galleries.

Regards,

Roger

[henkbos]

Understand how you feel. Have the same with only 300 pictures (just JPEG) from my holiday. Disaster if you don't have a workflow or all the software. Just starting here myself. My wife looks at me like I'm crazy as she hardly sees the difference between reasonable and great. Get the family out of your hair first, buy a few six packs and lock yourself in.

Have fun.