Automating digital image editing in Photoshop – Part 1

If you sell online you know how time consuming photo editing can be.  This two part series will show you my process and how I’ve automated it with Photoshop actions. These instructions are for images on a white background.  Even if you don’t shoot your pictures on a white background, you may find that there are steps that you repeat in your own editing process…you can create your own actions and save yourself some keystrokes.  For an easy set-up to take your photos with a white background, read the tutorial I wrote for the Art Bead Scene.

My initial pictures are large because I like to keep the original, higher resolution, image for later reference.  The first step is to create an action so you can batch re-size the images all at once so they’re more workable.  Second, I’ll show you how to create an action to remove the background of your image with just one or two clicks.  In Part 2 I will walk you through using these actions and you will see for yourself how much time it can/will save you.

Creating a resizing action. (you can skip this if your images are already the size you want them).
My images are usually 1024 pixels wide.  I could easily edit at this size but when I have 20 or more images open, that size makes my Photoshop/computer run more slowly. So I resize them in a batch to 500 pixels wide.

1.  Open one image.
2.  Alt+F9 to open the Actions palette.  (or go to the drop-down menu Windows and choose Actions).
3.  “Create New Action” – At the bottom of the palette click the icon that looks like a pad of posts-its with a corner folded.  See location number 1 on image below.

4.  Type in a name for your action.  I call this one “Resize 500″. Choose where you will want to save your action in the drop down menu.
5.  Click “Record”.  The dot at the bottom (the record button) should now be red which means it will be recording every move you make in Photoshop.
6.  Press Ctrl+Alt+I (Cmd+Alt+I on Mac) to bring up image size screen.  Change the width to 500 and make sure ‘pixels’ is selected in the drop down menu to the right of it.
7.  Click OK
8.  Go back to your Actions palette and click the square icon next to the record icon, to stop recording.
9.  Your re-size action is complete.  You should see the title in the actions palette in the folder where it was created.

Creating an action for removing the background.  Again, this is for photos taken on a good white background.

We need to get the image to a certain point before we can make an action that will work on all images. These first few steps are manual so we’ll do them first and then turn on the action recorder for the rest of the steps we want to capture.

1.  Open the image in Photoshop and press Ctrl+L (cmd+L on Mac) which will bring up the  levels window.

2.  Click the little eye dropper tool bar right above where it says ‘preview’.  You are going to use this to turn the background white; it will also adjust the other colors accordingly.

3.  Click somewhere on the background of your image that should be white. You can click around in different areas to find the effect you like best.  Be sure not to get too close to the actual beads because you might click on a shadow, which should not be white. You will know if you do this because your image will be thrown all out of whack.  If that does happen, either click the cancel box (it shows above as “reset” but will really be “cancel” on your screen at this point) and start over, or press down the Alt button and the cancel box will chance to “reset”. Click on this and it will go back to your original image. Click OK.

4.  Either type W or click on the picture of the magic wand in the tool menu. If you hover over it, it will say ‘Magic Wand Tool (W)’. Make sure that the tolerance is set at 32 on your toolbar, then click on a white area of your background.  You will see what is called ‘marching ants,’ or the dotted line in your image. The magic wand has automatically outlined your image and its shadow, if there is one. If there are background areas that were not chosen, (like around the corners), or you want to get closer to the beads, up on the tool settings choose “add to selection” (see image below) and click those areas to add them.

We are going to delete everything the magic wand has selected, but we need to feather the edge first or it will not look realistic.  This is what your action can be used for to automate the process.

Magic Wand Tool Action

1.  With your image open and the marching ants showing, press Alt+F9 to open the Actions palette if it’s not already open.  (or go to the drop-down menu Windows and choose Actions).

2.  “Create New Action” – At the bottom of the palette click the icon that looks like a pad of posts-its with a corner folded.

4.  Type in a name for your action.  I call this one “Wand – Background Removal” because it is the actions I take after I choose my background with the magic wand.  You can always change the name later if something else is more intuitive for you.

5.  Click “Record”.

6.  Choose the drop down menu “Select>Modify>Contract”.

7.  Type in 8 pixels then click OK.

8.  Choose the drop down menu “Select>Modify>Feather”.

9.  Type in 8 pixels and click OK.

10.  Type the letter D, which will reset your foreground and background colors to black and white.

11.  Press Ctrl+x (Cmd+x on Mac) and your background will be deleted leaving behind a pure white background.

12  Press the square (stop recording) button on your actions palette.

You are finished making your magic wand action.  Part 2 tomorrow will show how to use these actions and save yourself time when editing multiple images in Photoshop.

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