Creating and Saving a Multi-step Task

Sometimes, we tend to forget to adjust the settings of our digital camera when shooting under a different lighting condition, which may then leave us with a lot of photos that need to be corrected or enhanced. We may also need to stamp them with dates, business logos, copyright and other information for protection. It can be tedious to edit and stamp your photos one at a time if you have a lot of them.

Using the Quick Command Panel, you can record a series of steps, which can be a sequence of menu commands, toolbar actions, and other adjustments, as a task, then apply it to multiple images in just one click. (Click here to know which actions are recordable and not recordable in a task.) In this tutorial, you will learn how to record a task in the Quick Command Panel, save it to the EasyPalette, and then apply it to multiple images. When creating the task, we will illustrate how to record steps for enhancing the lighting of images and for adding a photo frame, logo and text.

Part One: Preparing your Files

For this tutorial, you may use your own photos and logo or click here to download a zip file that contains the following image files: brook.jpg, cliff.jpg, coastal road.jpg, forest.jpg, hikers.jpg, tower.jpg, valley.jpg, andlogo.ufo.

Create three folders in your hard drive and name them as Source Images, Edited Images, and Logo respectively. Unzip and save the photos in the \Source Images folder and the logo in the \Logo folder.

Tips:

• If you are using your own photos, make sure that they have similar dimensions and resolutions to achieve consistent results.
• If you are using your own logo, check its proportion to your images and make sure it has a transparent background. To make the logo's background transparent, hide the base image by pressing [Ctrl] + [F5]. Then save it as .ufo file.

Part Two: Creating and Recording a Task

As an example, we will record a five-step task that can brighten and add warmth to dark images as well as add a frame, copyright text, and a logo to the images.

To begin, open brook.jpg, maximize the Quick Command Panel and click the Task tab.

NOTE: You can show (or hide) the Quick Command Panel by clicking in the Panel Manager.

Step One: Create a New Task

To create a new task, click .

Enter a descriptive name for your new task in the New dialog box. You may also put a short comment to describe it. This will come in handy when you find yourself with a number of similar tasks producing slightly different results.

Click Record. The new task is now added to the Tasks list. The name of the new task is disabled or grayed out until the task is completed.