Mac workflow using Automator

Stustaff

Ok here is the idea...

First process would be to use automator to import files from my camera, Rename them, add itpc data, put them in a folder for working on, create a burn folder/s for backing up and then create a catalogue in Iview.

Then next part would be to go through images in Iview to get rid of those I dont want and select the rest into two groups 'manual post proccessing' and 'Automated post proccessing'.

Then put the 'automated post proccessing' images back into automator and use the CS2 actions to sharpen etc the images.

Manually work on the other images.

Then select what images to post to my Blog, and what images to post to smugmug, then use automator to create resized versions of the images for my blog and put those in a specified folder.

Then upload relevant images to smugmug and my blog.

So... Anyone have any suggestions to add to that? or any automator tips?

anyone interested in me posting the final work or what I end up with?

Stustaff

hmm bit more complicated than I thought! but definitly do-able just found something that allows me to edit exif too!

Currently at the stage where I can

Import photos from camera/memory card/folder to chosen folder
Rename files sequentially
Add spotlight comments
Edit Exif/ITPC data
Import into Iview catalogue
Insert keywords in Iview
Edit Iview data such as 'add people' 'set category' etc etc
Save Iview Catalogue

Copy photos to burn folder
Burn back up
Delete copies from burn folder

Thats where Im at now!

Next I will manually select and delete some photos, then select what to edit manuall and automatically.

Then edit the manual ones and put the others through an automator edit to sharpen etc.

Then select all images for posting to web site(personal not smug mug) again into automator to create new copy resize them and add watermark and put in web folder.

Think thats about job done by that point.

Not done yet so would still appreciate any tips suggestions advice etc.

DavidTO

Wow! Impressive. I would definitely be interested in keeping up with your progress.

Stustaff

DavidTO wrote:

Wow! Impressive. I would definitely be interested in keeping up with your progress.

Thanks, It kind of suprised me to be honest! Im hoping to have something definite by the weekend and will post updates to here, If there is any interest I'll do a tutorial.

DavidTO

Stustaff wrote:

Thanks, It kind of suprised me to be honest! Im hoping to have something definite by the weekend and will post updates to here, If there is any interest I'll do a tutorial.

Great. When you're ready to do a tute, let me know and I'll give you the ins and outs and wherefores of where and how we put them up.

Harveylevine

Stustaff:
It sounds like you are exploring some efficient ideas using Automator. i've used it to automate a variety of tasks, especially for backing us files to my iDisk using iCal to schedule them.

In your workflow, don't overlook the potential of Lightroom, which is currently in public beta. Any Mac user (but not PC users) can download and test Lightroom. My own tests indicate that it's fairly crash-proof, if a bit slow on my 3 year old iMac. The current beta version is fairly powerful, although by no means in the Photoshop class. Stil, it would appear you can process some images faster than in Photoshop and that might improve your workflow. It links to Photoshop if needed.

You mgiht look upon Lightroom as an updated Camera Raw processor combined with an updated Bridge and some pretty good printing and slide show capabilities. The "Camera Raw" portion processes JPEGs (and Tiffs) as well as Raw and is called the "Develop" module. Some things, such as adjusting the tone curve are more intuitive than in Photoshop.

At any rate, using Lightroom in your workflow might or might not improve your processing. It's worth looking into.

Harvey

silica

There is a good discussion of automator and Aperture on the Automator web site:

http://www.automator.us/aperture/

Included are some sample workflows.

Ben Long has created an automator module that transfers images between Aperture and Photoshop. Check it out at
http://www.completedigitalphotography.com/index.php?p=413

Stustaff

Thanks Harvey and Siclica for the info that will all be useful info for me.

Stustaff

Ok well I now have a few workflows and no will be testing them.

It seems like some stuff works just as it should...but occasionally get ramdom errors during the process so now need to spend some time trying to work out why and cleaning it up.

David Im pretty much ready to start putting some stuff down on 'paper' for a tutorial, can yp PM me or point me to a how to create tutorials in the relevant style way for Dgrin.

Thanks

mattjones99

Is the automator action you describe available?
Hello Stustaff,

I'm very interested in your automator action, as I'm trying to write my first automator action, which will behave very similar to yours. I'm particularly interested in the first step, where you are able to download the photos into a specified folder rather than just the Pictures folder.

Thanks,

Matt

Stustaff

Matt I gave up! I found a program called "Image ingester" its free and downloads my files adds ITPC data converts to DNG and copies them into a dated folder(creating a new one when neccesary) and then puts a duplicate into a backup folder for me.

Go check it out its very good.

mattjones99

Thank you!

Stustaff wrote:

Matt I gave up! I found a program called "Image ingester" its free and downloads my files adds ITPC data converts to DNG and copies them into a dated folder(creating a new one when neccesary) and then puts a duplicate into a backup folder for me.

Go check it out its very good.

It does look pretty good. I'll do some experimenting with it this week!