Every finished image needs to exist in multiple formats. Your web portfolio wants 2000px JPEGs. Instagram needs 1080x1080 squares. Print labs want full-resolution TIFFs in specific color spaces. Manually exporting each format for each image is the most wasteful use of a photographer’s time.

Here’s how to build a complete set of export actions and batch process entire shoots into every format you need.

This action produces optimized JPEGs for website use — responsive-friendly sizes with web sharpening and sRGB color.

Record these steps:

  1. Flatten Image (Layer > Flatten Image)
  2. Convert to sRGB (Edit > Convert to Profile > sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
  3. Resize: Image > Image Size, set longest edge to 2400px, resample Bicubic Sharper
  4. Sharpen: Filter > Smart Sharpen, Amount 70%, Radius 0.5px, Reduce Noise 10%
  5. Export: File > Export > Export As, JPEG quality 82%

Why 2400px? It’s wide enough for full-screen display on most monitors while keeping file sizes under 1MB. The 82% JPEG quality is the sweet spot where compression artifacts are invisible but file size drops significantly compared to 100%.

Why sRGB? Web browsers default to sRGB. If your image is in Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB and you don’t convert, colors display incorrectly for any viewer without a color-managed browser.

Action 2: Social Media Export (Square Crop)

Instagram and Facebook favor square images. This action creates a 1080x1080 square with the subject centered.

Record these steps:

  1. Flatten Image
  2. Convert to sRGB
  3. Canvas Size: Image > Canvas Size, set to the shorter dimension for both width and height, anchor center (this crops to square)
  4. Resize: Image > Image Size, 1080x1080px, resample Bicubic Sharper
  5. Sharpen: Filter > Smart Sharpen, Amount 90%, Radius 0.4px (slightly more aggressive for small display sizes)
  6. Export: File > Export > Export As, JPEG quality 85%

Important note: The canvas size step works automatically for landscape images (crops the sides) but you may want to add a dialog stop here for portrait images where you want to control what gets cropped.

Action 3: Print Lab Export

Print files need full resolution, correct color profile, and proper sharpening for physical output.

Record these steps:

  1. Flatten Image
  2. Convert to Profile: Adobe RGB (or your lab’s required profile)
  3. Do NOT resize — print labs want maximum resolution
  4. Sharpen: Filter > Smart Sharpen, Amount 120%, Radius 1.0px (print sharpening is more aggressive than web)
  5. Save As: TIFF format, LZW compression, embed ICC profile

The higher sharpening values compensate for the inherent softening that occurs during the printing process. What looks slightly over-sharpened on screen typically looks perfect in print.

Action 4: Client Delivery Export

Clients often want high-resolution JPEGs — not TIFFs (too large) and not web-sized (too small). This action produces a quality-first JPEG at full resolution.

Record these steps:

  1. Flatten Image
  2. Convert to sRGB (clients rarely have color-managed workflows)
  3. Keep original resolution
  4. Minimal sharpening: Smart Sharpen, Amount 50%, Radius 0.5px
  5. Export: JPEG quality 95% (minimal compression, manageable file size)

Running Batch Exports

With all four actions built, here’s the batch processing workflow:

  1. Finish editing your images and save all PSD/TIFF master files in one folder
  2. Go to File > Automate > Batch
  3. Select Action 1 (Web Gallery)
  4. Set Source to your master files folder
  5. Set Destination to a “Web” subfolder
  6. Check “Override Action Save As Commands” so files save to your chosen destination
  7. Run
  8. Repeat for each export action, pointing to different destination subfolders

Faster approach: Create a master action that calls all four export actions in sequence, using “Insert Action” steps. This way, one batch run produces all four formats. Between each sub-action, insert undo steps to return to the full-resolution state.

Droplets for Drag-and-Drop

Convert your most-used export action into a droplet (File > Automate > Create Droplet). Keep it on your desktop or in your dock. Drag a folder of finished images onto it, and exporting happens without even opening the Batch dialog.

I maintain four droplets on my desktop, one for each export type. Finishing a shoot means dragging the master folder onto each droplet in sequence. Total interaction time: about ten seconds. Processing time: Photoshop handles it while I review the next shoot.

Handling Edge Cases

Mixed orientations: If your batch includes both landscape and portrait images, the square crop action needs a dialog stop. Alternatively, build separate portrait and landscape versions of the social media action and sort your files before batching.

Different print sizes: The print action skips resizing intentionally, leaving that to the print lab or your printing software. If you need specific print dimensions, add a dialog stop at a resize step.

Naming conventions: In the Batch dialog, use the File Naming section to standardize output names. I use “document name + serial number” for web exports and “document name + _print” for print files. Consistent naming prevents confusion when you have four versions of every image.

Build these four actions once, and every shoot you deliver from this point forward takes minutes instead of hours to prepare.