I track my editing time. Not because I’m obsessive, but because time is money when you’re running a photography business. Last year I automated five recurring tasks and recovered roughly 12 hours per week. Here’s each one and exactly how to set it up.

1. Multi-Format Export (Saves ~2 Hours/Week)

Every delivered shoot needs files in multiple formats: full-resolution TIFF for the client, 2000px JPEG for web galleries, 1080px JPEG for social media. Doing this manually means running three separate export sequences per image.

The automation: One action that exports all three formats in sequence.

Record an action that:

  1. Saves the current document as TIFF in a “Print” subfolder
  2. Resizes to 2000px (longest edge), sharpens for web, exports JPEG at 85% to a “Web” folder
  3. Undoes the resize (Ctrl/Cmd + Z), resizes to 1080px, sharpens for screen, exports JPEG at 80% to a “Social” folder
  4. Undoes back to the original state

Run this through File > Automate > Batch on your finished images folder. Three formats, one click, every image processed while you handle other business.

Key detail: Use Edit > Undo History steps rather than manually reverting. Record the exact number of undos needed to return to the full-resolution state between exports.

2. Contact Sheet Generation (Saves ~1 Hour/Week)

Clients want to see proof sheets for selection. Photoshop’s built-in Contact Sheet II (File > Automate > Contact Sheet II) handles this, but the default settings never match what you want.

The automation: A saved contact sheet configuration wrapped in a droplet.

Set up Contact Sheet II with your preferred layout — I use 4 columns, 5 rows, 300 DPI, with filenames below each thumbnail. Create a droplet (File > Automate > Create Droplet) with these settings. Drop any folder of images on the droplet and contact sheets generate automatically.

3. Consistent Color Grading Across Sets (Saves ~3 Hours/Week)

Matching color grades across a multi-look shoot is tedious when done image by image. Camera Raw presets handle the bulk, but Photoshop-specific adjustments (curves, color lookup tables, selective color) need actions.

The automation: One action per color grade that builds the adjustment layer stack.

For each signature look in your portfolio, record an action that creates the complete adjustment layer stack: curves for tone, selective color for hue shifts, color balance for mood, and a luminosity mask for highlight protection.

The difference between this and a simple preset: every adjustment is a separate layer. After running the action, you can dial each layer’s opacity independently. Image too warm? Lower the Color Balance layer to 40%. Shadows too crushed? Ease back the Curves layer. The action builds the scaffolding; you fine-tune per image.

4. Automated Backup Copies (Saves Headaches, Not Hours)

This one doesn’t save time per session, but it prevents catastrophic time loss when files corrupt or you make irreversible mistakes.

The automation: An action that runs at the start of every editing session.

Record an action that:

  1. Saves the current file (Ctrl/Cmd + S)
  2. Uses File > Save As to create a copy in a “Backups” subfolder with a date suffix
  3. Returns to the original file

Assign it to F2 and hit it periodically during long editing sessions. I’ve recovered from accidental saves over originals three times thanks to this habit. Each recovery saved hours of re-editing.

5. Print-Ready File Preparation (Saves ~2 Hours/Week)

Preparing files for print labs involves a predictable sequence: flatten, convert color profile (usually to Adobe RGB or the lab’s custom ICC), resize to print dimensions at 300 DPI, apply output sharpening, and add a canvas border if required.

The automation: One action per print lab, each configured with that lab’s specific requirements.

My main lab needs Adobe RGB, 300 DPI, no border. My fine art printer needs ProPhoto RGB, 360 DPI, 0.5" white border. Each has its own action. Select the image, run the lab’s action, and the file is ready to upload.

Include a dialog stop at the resize step so you can enter specific print dimensions per image (8x10, 16x20, etc.). Everything else runs automatically.

Implementation Strategy

Don’t try to build all five in one day. Pick the automation that addresses your biggest time sink and build it this week. Use it for two weeks, refine any rough edges, then build the next one.

Each automation is simple individually — none requires more than 20 minutes to set up. But compounded across hundreds of images per week, they transform your post-production from a grind into a streamlined system.

The photographers who stay profitable aren’t the ones who edit fastest by hand. They’re the ones who figured out which parts of editing don’t need human judgment and automated those parts away.