Automation

Beyond Record and Play: How Automation Scripts Actually Transform Photoshop Workflows
Workflow Automation

Beyond Record and Play: How Automation Scripts Actually Transform Photoshop Workflows

The job that broke me was a Tuesday in February, maybe eight years into my career. I had 200 product images that all needed the same crop, the same canvas resize, and a filename with a specific SKU prefix. Eight hours later, I had finished them. Eight hours of clicking the same five buttons, in the same order, 200 times. I went home, opened my laptop, and spent the next four hours learning JavaScript for Photoshop.

How I Built a Batch System That Processed 500 Product Shots in One Afternoon
Workflow Automation

How I Built a Batch System That Processed 500 Product Shots in One Afternoon

A few years back, a mid-size e-commerce client called me on a Thursday afternoon with a problem. They had 500 product images, a Monday deadline, and a retoucher who’d just quit. The files needed background removal, color correction to match their brand standard (a very specific warm neutral, roughly 245/238/228 in RGB), resizing to four different output dimensions, and sharpening optimized for web. Four distinct operations, 500 images, 72 hours.

Beyond Actions: How Automation Scripts Actually Work in Photoshop (And Why the Difference Matters)
Workflow Automation

Beyond Actions: How Automation Scripts Actually Work in Photoshop (And Why the Difference Matters)

The job that broke me was 200 product images, all needing the same crop-and-resize sequence for a client’s e-commerce catalog. I sat there for six hours clicking the same four menu items in the same order, watching my afternoon dissolve into a kind of professional purgatory. By image 140, I made myself a deal: I would spend whatever time it took that weekend to make sure this never happened again.

Photoshop Droplets: The Batch Processing Tool You're Probably Ignoring
Workflow & Automation

Photoshop Droplets: The Batch Processing Tool You're Probably Ignoring

A few years back, I had a Monday morning that I still think about. An e-commerce client needed 500 product images resized, sharpened, and exported to three different specs before end of business. It was the kind of job that makes a less-organized person stare at the ceiling. I had a batch system I’d built the previous weekend, pointed a Droplet at a folder, walked away to get coffee, and came back to 1,500 finished files sitting neatly in color-coded output folders.

The Workflow Tools That Actually Earn Their Keep (And the Ones I Stopped Using)
Workflow & Automation

The Workflow Tools That Actually Earn Their Keep (And the Ones I Stopped Using)

I learned to script because I spent an entire day doing the same crop-and-resize operation 200 times. Not exaggerating. It was a Tuesday in 2009, I was working in a commercial studio, and by hour six I had developed a genuine personal grievance against the rectangular marquee tool. The next morning I sat down and learned enough JavaScript to build an action sequence that handled the whole job in about four minutes.

The Workflow Tools I Actually Use After 15 Years of Commercial Post-Production
Workflow & Automation

The Workflow Tools I Actually Use After 15 Years of Commercial Post-Production

Why I Stopped Trusting My Own Hands for Repetitive Work A few years into running my own post-production consultancy, I had a client send over 500 product shots on a Thursday afternoon. White background, consistent lighting, but every image needed a clipping path, a levels adjustment, an output sharpen, and an export at three different pixel dimensions for web, print, and Amazon listings. Five hundred images. Three exports each. That’s 1,500 output files.

Beyond the Hype: Why AI Integration Could Actually Strengthen Your Creative Workflow
News

Beyond the Hype: Why AI Integration Could Actually Strengthen Your Creative Workflow

Beyond the Hype: Why AI Integration Could Actually Strengthen Your Creative Workflow I’ve been paying close attention to how photographers are talking about artificial intelligence these days, and honestly, the conversation feels one-sided. Everyone’s focused on worst-case scenarios—machines replacing creatives, algorithmic art flooding galleries, the erosion of what makes photography feel authentic. It’s understandable anxiety, but I think we’re missing something important. The Real Opportunity Most People Overlook Here’s what I’ve noticed: the most productive photographers aren’t scared of AI.

Automating Solar Eclipse Photography: How Smart Apps Are Changing Our Workflow
News

Automating Solar Eclipse Photography: How Smart Apps Are Changing Our Workflow

Automating Solar Eclipse Photography: How Smart Apps Are Changing Our Workflow I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the intersection of photography and automation. We spend considerable energy in the presets and actions space optimizing post-processing workflows, but what happens when we can automate the capture itself? A new tool has me reconsidering that balance. Photographer Steven Madow recently launched Umbra, an automation app specifically designed for solar eclipse photography. With major eclipse events coming—including a total eclipse crossing Greenland, Iceland, and parts of Europe in August 2026—this kind of specialized software deserves our attention.

The Workflow Stack I Actually Use: Honest Notes from 15 Years of Studio Post-Production
Workflow & Productivity

The Workflow Stack I Actually Use: Honest Notes from 15 Years of Studio Post-Production

The first time I spent an entire day cropping and resizing the same image 200 times, I wasn’t frustrated. I was embarrassed. I had been working in commercial photography studios for years at that point, surrounded by people who talked about efficiency constantly, and there I was, manually typing pixel dimensions into the Image Size dialog like it was 1997. That afternoon I went home and learned just enough Photoshop scripting to make sure it never happened again.

The Workflow Stack I Actually Use After 15 Years in Commercial Post-Production
Workflow & Productivity

The Workflow Stack I Actually Use After 15 Years in Commercial Post-Production

There’s a specific kind of misery that comes from doing the same Photoshop task 200 times in a row. I know this because I lived it, about nine years ago, when a client handed me a folder of 200 product images that all needed the same crop, resize, and export sequence. I did the first thirty by hand before something in my brain snapped. I spent the rest of that day learning how to script the whole thing.

Beyond Actions: How Photoshop Automation Scripts Actually Think (And Why It Changes Everything)
Workflow Automation

Beyond Actions: How Photoshop Automation Scripts Actually Think (And Why It Changes Everything)

The first time I spent an entire workday doing the same crop-and-resize task 200 times, I told myself it was a one-off. It wasn’t. Three weeks later I was back in the same chair, same file naming convention, same repetitive hand motion, watching the clock. That afternoon I opened Google and typed “how to automate Photoshop.” It took me about 48 hours of fumbling through forums to write something useful. That was fifteen years ago, and I have not manually repeated a batch task since.

Beyond Actions: How Automation Scripts Turn Photoshop Into a Production Machine
Workflow Automation

Beyond Actions: How Automation Scripts Turn Photoshop Into a Production Machine

The day I finally learned to write a Photoshop script, I had just spent seven hours doing the same crop-and-resize operation 200 times. Same canvas size, same anchor point, same export settings. Two hundred times. By hand. I was a working photographer with a decade of studio experience, and I had burned an entire Tuesday doing something a decent script could have finished before my morning coffee cooled down. That was the turning point.