![]() The "Folder Monitor" functionality in the Enterprise edition is particularly effective, running as a Windows service that polls a specified (or multiple) folder's contents at set intervals. The FTP upload worked flawlessly (although it would be good to have a "Test Connection" button to make sure the FTP element is working before running the process) and could be a useful way of automating delivery to a news organization or if you have client galleries that allow FTP access. When I saved my settings as I went along, I had no problems. A word of warning: when I was setting up the graphic filters for my test, BatchPhoto would crash. In effect, all you are doing is selecting your photos and specifying the processing options before detailing the output. Step 3 then allows you to set core processing options before starting the processing. Start off by adding your photos (step 1), then go to Edit Photos (step 2), adding the graphic filters you want to apply for some of these, you will need to specify options. Don't let that fool you, though, as the simplicity follows a wizard approach that is designed to turn what could be a complex set of operations into a manageable workflow. The interface is clean, simple, and well laid out however, the icons drag it down, reminding me of the garish Windows programs of old. It looks dated, and initially, I couldn't put my finger on why, but I think it's the icons that just goes to show how important high-quality icon sets can be. Starting BatchPhoto will present you with an unassuming, even boring, interface. View and cull in the former, then bulk import to a watch directory and automate their processing and upload. In fact, there is a case for using BatchPhoto in conjunction with Photo Mechanic. The obvious use case for BatchPhoto is with time-sensitive jobs such as news, events, and weddings where you need to get photos off the camera, perform some initial processing, and then deliver to the client. It's time-saving capabilities then increase the more you repeat the same task. Whether this matters is up to you however, BatchPhoto is designed to be hands-off once you've set it up. Of course, these require some kind of intervention to a greater or lesser extent. Remember, Lightroom has lots of features that allow bulk processing, such as copying and pasting image edits or bulk exporting images. My interest in using BatchPhoto was to see how useful it was in terms of easing my workflow and saving time. ![]() Some of these - rotate, crop, contrast, and gamma - come with automatic versions that can apply some logic to their processing. ![]() So, what sorts of features does it have? As you'd expect, import, convert, rename, rotate, and resize, but then also folder watch, FTP upload, date stamps, borders, watermarks, crop, contrast, gamma, sharpen, sepia, black and white, and solarize. ![]() While XnView is an image viewer that has powerful batch editing and scripting functions, BatchPhoto is built from the ground up to process large quantities of photos and undertake complex, repeatable tasks that can be left to complete unattended. In this sense, Photo Mechanic isn't really a competitor, whereas the freemium XnView ( which I've reviewed before) is. In their own words:ĭo you have repeatable and predictable actions to apply to your massive photo collection? Since 2005 we've been working to make BatchPhoto the best tool for automating those repeatable actions! Enter BatchPhoto, which narrows its focus to one specific area: batch editing. It is blisteringly fast at reviewing photos, allowing you to review, import, and then perform some gross batch editing tasks (such as exporting, renaming, and uploading). Perhaps the most well known (and oldest?) product in this area is Photo Mechanic, with many pros using it to cull and rank images, which is where it really shines. The one area which Adobe hasn't targeted is what I broadly term rapid asset management (RAM), probably because it is a relatively small market of pro photographers who need to quickly process large quantities of images to deliver to a paying customer. With the world awash with image editors of varying degrees of competency and cost (Serif Affinity Photo,, Corel Paint Shop Pro, and GIMP), Adobe's move to a subscription model caught the DAM market off-guard. Editing functionality was originally more limited (and tended to be global), with pixel-based editors such as Photoshop doing the heavy lifting when needed, round-tripping them back to the DAM when finished. DAMs are epitomized by Adobe's Lightroom and are intended to bulk import photos from a memory card and then provide a way of cataloging them for better photo management. Software to accomplish this generally falls into one of two broad categories: digital asset management (DAM) or image editing. Once you've captured images on your camera, you need to produce some kind of end product from them.
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