How To Batch-Process Hundreds Of Photos At Once

Digital photos can be a real pain in the butt. They’re individually small in file size when reduced in size, but a single large, high-quality digital photo can take up more room than a MP3 file. Photos also have a habit of sneaking up on you. Editing can be a problem, too, particularly when you need to alter a large number of photos at once. Changing each individual image takes forever.
The solution to this problem is known as batch processing, a process that makes it possible to change large numbers of images at once with minimal input. This can save you a lot of time, and SuntitGreen BatchBlitz is one of the best free batch processing applications around. Let’s take a look at how this software can help you.

Selecting Sources & Outputs

Once you’ve installed BatchBlitz the first thing you’ll need to do to batch process photos is select your source and your output. Before you do anything, however, you need to click on File and then New. This will open a new batch project. If you don’t do this you won’t be able to select or process anything.
The source is simply the files that you want to process, and you can begin selecting source files by clicking on the big source icon located on the left side of the program’s main window. This will open a file browser. The photos that you want to process will need to be drag-and-dropped from the upper right hand frame into the lower Source Images frame.

Next you’ll need to head to the Output section. There isn’t a lot to do here. The most important part of this step is selecting an output location, which is simply the folder where the processed photos will be sent. You can also choose to overwrite the original files, although I generally suggest keeping them unless you don’t like the way the batch process works out.

Taking Action

Next we have the Action section, which is the most complicated. This is where you actually choose what you would like to do to the images you are going to batch process. There are three categories of actions; pre-processors, processors, and post-processors. The only pre-processor is filter, which can be used to exclude photos from the batch process if they don’t meet the proper requirements. There are only two post-processors, as well, and they’re used to convert or rename files.
The meat of the actions are the processors, which actually change the photo content. The processors available include:

• Add Picture – Places a second image of your choice on all photos processed.
• Add text – Places any text you’d like on all photos processed. Great for watermarking photos!
• Auto Contrast – Adjusts contrast as specified.
• Auto Levels – Adjusts image levels as specified.
• Colorize – Adjusts image color as specified. Very good for adjusting a lot of photos that have a slight yellow tint due to lighting conditions.
• Crop – Can crop image to reduce the size of the canvas.
• Desaturate – Coverts color images to grayscale for that artsy look.
• Resize – Great for converting a large volume of raw digital photos to a more web-friendly size.
• Rotate – Spin that photo like a pizza!

Once you’ve selected some actions, you’re not done yet. You will need to click on each individual action in the Actions frame to specify what exactly you’d like to have happen when you batch process the photos. For example, in this image illustrates the window that opens when you open the Add Text process options. You’ll also need to click the Active checkbox on each process.


...