Photoshop Tutorial on Image Sizing

Resizing Multiple Images By Batch Processing Actions

Oct 15, 2009 Caroline Thompson

This is a simple tutorial on how to re-size images in volume by batch processing from the Actions Palette in Photoshop.

Many times photographers have files with multiple images that need to be re-sized for production or delivery to clients. This tutorial will walk through the steps of re-sizing multiple images by creating an action. After an action is created, blocks of images can then be batch processed.

Creating The Action

Make sure the original folder of images to be re-sized is on the desktop.
Make a destination folder for the images.
Make sure the Actions Palette is open.
Click on the Create New Action button on the bottom of the Actions Palette.In the dialog window name the action Web Sized. Click Record. (Figure 1)
Open one of the images in the original folder in Photoshop.
Choose Image > Image Size from the menu bar and in the dialog box put in the desired size for your images. Click OK. (Figure 2)
Choose File > Save For Web & Devices (This is for an Action to size images for the Web) and in the dialog screen that comes up put in JPEG, Quality 100, ICC Profile and 0 Blur. Click Save. (Figure 3)
In the dialog box, save the new sized image in the destination folder.
Close the original image and in the dialog box click the Don't Save button.
Now, go to the bottom of the Actions Palette. Click on the Stop Record button. (Figure 4)

This creates a new action in the Default Actions list. This action is for sizing images for the web. Actions can be created for any process.

Image Batch Processing With Actions

The next process is to re-size the entire original images folder automatically using the action that was just created.

Choose File > Automate > Batch from the Menu bar.
In the Batch Dialog box under Play. the Set menu should read Default Actions; the Action menu should read Web Sized. (Figure 5)
Under Source choose Folder and click on the Choose button and browse to the Original Images folder.
Check Suppress File Open Options Dialogs.
Check Color Profile warnings.
Under Destination choose Folder and click on the Choose button and navigate to the Destination folder.
Under Document name, it should read Document Name + extension.
Click OK.

All the images in the Original folder should now be sized and in the Destination folder.

Photographers who size multiple images on a continual basis can create a droplet on the desktop and just drag the folder to be sized onto the droplet icon. This will automatically perform this function. To find out more, read the next tutorial in this series on Creating A Droplet In Photoshop CS3.

The copyright of the article Photoshop Tutorial on Image Sizing in Photography is owned by Caroline Thompson. Permission to republish Photoshop Tutorial on Image Sizing in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.