Both photographers and those who publish content online know how often it’s necessary to make quick and repetitive adjustments to batches of images, or to watermark photos and graphics before publishing. Eltima Software recently overhauled their batch editing tool, PhotoBulk, bringing several new features and a refreshed interface.
Full-featured image editors like Photoshop or Pixelmator are often overkill for simple batch operations- and they can be pricey, too. PhotoBulk 2’s new two-column interface is simple. The left column allows you to choose which settings you’d like to apply to your photos, including watermarks, postprocessing options, and export settings. The right column allows you to tweak your applied settings. Detailed controls are available for each module, letting you dial in exact specifications. On the right side of the screen you’ll see a preview image, and a filmstrip along the bottom will show you all of your photos in the batch.
To test PhotoBulk, I opened a set of images I took this summer- a burst of 46 photos documenting the demolition of a building. I wanted to apply sequential filenames to these photos, reduce their file size, and watermark the images. PhotoBulk handled the task well, with multi-watermarking support and the ability to rotate, scale, and move text.
You can even import a graphic to use as a watermark. Reducing the file size of my images was just a matter of clicking a few boxes. PhotoBulk now supports HEIC files in macOS High Sierra for improved compression.
After you’ve adjusted your image parameters, PhotoBulk will do the rest of the work, processing your batch and exporting the images to the location of your choosing. You can even save your bulk settings as a preset to use again later. The export process was quick and efficient, and PhotoBulk automatically created a new folder to store my images in, keeping them all in one place.
PhotoBulk 2 is available for $9.99 in the Mac App Store, and requires macOS 10.10 or later. Owners of the previous version may upgrade for 50% off.