Daily batch process of 1000s of RAW files

[mattu206]

I have a camera that takes pictures of the sky every 15sec which produces about 5700 DNG raw files per day. I have a custom camera profile and a set of white point and a few other params that I want to process with. I want to automate this processing the run once or twice per day through ACR. There will be subsequent processing outside of ACR to generate videos and other artifacts. Any suggestions on how best to implement this automation.

[Conrad_C]

To do this with Camera Raw:

1. Set up Camera Raw in advance by setting up the combination of camera profile and edit settings that you want, and save that as a Camera Raw preset. 

2. Start Adobe Bridge, and use the Folders panel to select the folder containing the 5700 DNG files so that their thumbnails appear in the Content panel. 

3. Choose the command Edit > Select All. 

4. Choose the command File > Open in Camera Raw. All of the images you selected appear in the Camera Raw filmstrip. 

5. Choose the command Edit > Select All (this time you are selecting all images in the Camera Raw filmstrip, step 3 was in Bridge).  

6. Apply your Camera Raw preset. You should see images update in the filmstrip. 

7. When it’s done applying the preset to all images, click the Save Images button (or choose the Save Images command from the More Image Settings menu, the menu with the … icon). 

8. Set up your save settings, and click Save. This saves a copy of all images with the edits and the save settings you chose. You can save time by creating a save preset of all the settings you like. 

After you become familiar with this process, you can streamline it with shortcuts. For example, after the preset is set up, and if you added a folder to the Favorites panel as a shortcut to where you need to process files, you can do it in a few keystrokes and quick clicks:

1. In Bridge go straight to the folder containing all the images. (On a Mac, you can drag a folder from the desktop and drop it on the Bridge app icon, and Bridge will open directly to that folder.) 

2. Press the keyboard shortcut for Select All. 

3. Press the keyboard shortcut for File > Open in Camera Raw. 

4. Press the keyboard shortcut for Select All. 

5. Open the Presets panel and click your preset to apply it. 

6. Press the keyboard shortcut for Save Images. 

7. Apply your custom Save preset. 

8. Press Enter or Return to start the batch save. 

I did not list what the keyboard shortcuts are because they aren’t the same in all languages, but you can find them on the menus.

I prefer to do this using Lightroom Classic, but it works just as well in Camera Raw through Bridge. 

I haven’t tried automating these steps with scripting, but it might be possible.

If you want to vary any edit settings over time, use this technique together with software such as LRTimelapse, which can animate Camera Raw or Lightroom Classic edit settings by modifying Adobe XMP metadata.

[mattu206]

Thanks @Conrad_C  this sounds close to want I'd like. One additional thing is that I need this to run unattended. I can't run it manually every day. I know that there are various python libraries I can use to script demosaic, denoise, color process, but as an Adobe/Ligthroom customer I'd rather use those higher quality engines.

[mattu206]

@kimaldis it looks like your plugin (https://buggeringabout.com/tak-a-utility-set-for-interfacing-with-lightroom/) might support this, would you recommend it for my application.

[ExUSA]

You'd be better off scripting this to run in ImageMagick than ACR, it would likely be a lot faster.

[mattu206]

I know that there are various python libraries I can use to script demosaic, denoise, color process, but as an Adobe/Ligthroom customer I'd rather use those higher quality engines.

[ExUSA]

ImageMagick is arguably equal or higher quality than Adobe's libraries. I doubt that you will see any visual difference.

The other thing you should do is invest in a high-end computer. I'd be looking at a loaded Mac Studio for this kind of use daily, but a Boxx or Puget Systems setup on the PC side would probably work well too.