Tasmanian photolab technician, Phil Thom, has developed a suite of Photoshop Actions and Droplets that can provide significant time savings for professional photographers, particularly those working in the high-volume wedding and portrait markets.

 

April 27, 2007: Tasmanian photolab technician, Phil Thom, has developed a suite of Photoshop Actions and Droplets that can provide significant time savings for professional photographers, particularly those working in the high-volume wedding and portrait markets.
Six products are available, covering areas such as image editing, printing, adding captions and borders, watermarking and slideshow production. ZAPtions is a set of Actions that provide one-click access to Photoshop functions like Batch File Conversion, Rotate, Go Back, Go Forward, Half Undo, Start Again, Save As and Close. Usable with both JPEG and TIFF workflows, they are not designed to totally replace access to your favourite image adjustments. Instead, they supplement your workflow, becoming an important part of repetitive and time-consuming production. ZAPtions works on all full versions of Photoshop from 6 on; Mac or PC; and with most image file formats (except camera RAW formats). RRP is $88.
PrintZ is a set pf Droplets that adjusts full-frame 35mm images to standard Fuji Frontier sizes for printing. They will resize the file to a set format (in inches) at 300 ppi , including bleed then convert them to sRGB, save then at JPEG quality 12 and store them in a folder that is identified with the specified print size.


BordaZ 1 is another set of Droplets that adds borders to standard 35mm prints from Fuji Frontier minilabs, working with print sizes from 3.5 x 5 inches to 12 x 18 inches. Availabel for Windows only, it sells for $44. WatermarkZ is a similar set of Droplets that print watermarks on proof prints from Fuji Frontier printers. Users have a choice of three styles, all of which are editable by the photographer. Available for Windows only, it sells for $44.
ScriptZ is the final set of Droplets designed for proofing. It allows photographers to imprint the file number, the photographer’s name/business name and a copyright notice on the front of proof prints and provides a choice of background, text and line colours. Assistance will be provided to help users record part of the action before using this application. Windows only, RRP $55.
Secure SlideshowZ is a new service being offered to wedding photographers. The finished product is a DC which:
– Runs on any PC or Mac computer,
– Cannot be printed or altered,
– Includes your contact information,
– Displays each image with its file number for ordering prints,
– Has links to Colour images, B+W images if needed.
Photographers submit the shots from the wedding, along with the names of the bride and groom and date of the wedding and the photographer’s name and contact details. The final slideshow will be emailed back to the photographer within two days of receipt of the order for burning to CD or DVD or sent by Express Post. The most popular version includes: A menu page with bride and groom’s names plus date of wedding; Photographer’s contact details; a white outline round the images on black;image rotation and resizing; links to colour images, links to B+W images: links back to menu page; slideshow settings options; Exit. There is no limit to the number of image files and the inside cover for CD describes how to run the slideshow. Prices range from $33 to $77.