Lots of pictures tagged and want to resize

[tjodork]

I'm sorry this is a photoshop elements question but hoping someone might know....
I'm doing an anniversary video and I have over 1000 pictures that I've scanned for potential use ...I won't use them all.
I've read that its good to resize the pictures to 1000 x 750 pixels and they should be .psd files.

So I've cataloged all the pictures and would really like if I could batch convert all the pictures per the specs above and maintain
the catalog information and be able to see these pictures in the catalog for easy locating (so I can send to PE4).
What is the best way to do this ?

Also when you resize ....does the resizer maintain the original photo shape or distort the picture to meet the 1000x750?
Or is the 1000 and 750 the max sizes and it will make sure the picture fits within those two values for x and y?
Thanks for all the help !!!

[Chuck Engels]

Using the 'Process Multiple Files' in Photoshop Elements will do exactly what you need.
Also, it makes copies of the originals and puts them in a separate folder if you want

I'm sure that Steve or some of the others will have other tips for you too.

[Barb O]

Which version of Photoshop Elements are you running?

You said that you wanted your resized photos to be in the Organizer catalog - this will add an additional step, but is doable. The concepts are the same across multiple versions of PSE but some specifics will be different.

[tjodork]

Hi, I have the latest PE4/PS6 : )

[JohnnyO]

I use the organizer to re-size. Just select the photos, then export to computer. There will be menus to select the format and the size. Choose where you want tosave it.

Then import the photos into the Photoshop Elements organizer (not the premiere elements organizer). That way they will maintain the date the photo was taken. If you import them into the premiere elements organizer, the date will be the date the photo was copied, not the date the photo was taken. (bug).

The photos will appear with the correct date inthe premiere elements organizer if you follow these steps.

Warning, it is best to have scale to frame size off. But if you drag the photos to the timeline from the organizer, they will be scaled. You wil need to right click on them (they will be all selected when you drag) and un-check scale to frame size. (Another organizer bug).

All in all I think the organizer is great. I hope they come out with a patch to fix the bugs though.

[Barb O]

Johnny, I agree with using the Organizer File > Export to do the resizing. If you are already working in the Organizer and have the photos you wish to use in your Organizer catalog, then I think it is easer to go Select photos based on their thumbnails without regard to their folder location and then do the Export command.

--What are you doing about the fact that after you import the decreased rez photo files, you now have 2 copies of those photo files in the thumbnail area of the Organizer ? I guess at some point you could make a stack of all the photos used in that video - or you could stack each one with the full rez.

--Someone suggested the alternative of making a version set (full rez and decreased rez), but that scenario requires resizing each photo individually. So I think that most people will not like that choice.

--What have done in the past is just not to put the decreased rez variation in the Organizer: the Output of the Export command places all the decreased rez photo for the current video in a specific folder. Then use that folder.

[tjodork]

The export function worked terrific to a different directory. I then did a file->get_photos and reimported the resized psd files.
One thing to make sure of ..is to before exporting make sure to perform the "write tags to file" task, which imbeds the tags into the actual files.
I'm pretty sure this is a must to maintain the tags.
When I did the get_photo's it told me about the tags and I selected to import the tags with the pictures.
Voila, all the pictures imported and have the tags associated with them.
I then added an albums's tag to this set of resized pictures.
Now when I want to see the resized ones, I select the album called "resized_anniv" and then the real tag I want and I dont see the duplicate thumbnails.
Without the album tag clicked I would see the original and resized.
All, in all, it worked great. Thanks for everyone's help.

[JohnnyO]

Barb:
I created an album called Current Project. After I import the downsized photos, I put them in this album.

In Premiere elements I can view just the current album if necessary.

After Ifinish my project, I remove the downsized photos, which is easy since they are in a unique album.

[tjodork]

can you explain why its best to NOT use scale to frame when using pictures ?

[tjodork]

if you have to zoom in on photos ..should they be resized to larger than 1000x750?
i.e. I zoom in 4x on a photo ..would I need 4 times that number or less ?

[Chuck Engels]

When using Scale to Frame Size Premiere Elements doesn't always do a good job, plus you can get an image that will not have very good quality.
It is almost always best to scale the image from its original size using the scale property. Using Scale to Frame Size on a very small image will blow the image up and it will look terrible. The same can happen with very large image that is scaled way down. This is a problem that many beginner Premiere Elements users make, and they think that Premiere Elements has terrible quality.

In most cases the 1000 x 750 will be fine. If you are going to zoom in to a small object in the photo you may need a bit more, I have used 1280 x 1024 and larger without any problems but I didn't use a lot of them.

[Haroldb49]

Question.....how many photos can you put in a slide show..I'm a first time user and digging in now!

[Wheat King]

Hi Harold,

First, its a good idea to start a new topic as you'll have a better chance of getting more people to read your post. As for your question. Hundreds for sure, maybe thousands? don't know never tried it, but I would think twice about adding that many pictures in a slideshow.

Jamal

[Chuck Engels]

I've used somewhere between 600 - 700 photos in a project, but built the project in about 6 parts of about 10 minutes each.
It is very important to optimize the photos for video also if you are going to be using more than a few dozen.