The Photoshop CS4 Companion for Photographers

Chapter 2. Importing Your Images

THE POWER OF PHOTO DOWNLOADER

Everyone has to move pictures from their camera to the computer. My question is, "How efficiently are you going to do that?" The theme of this chapter is to work smart so that you can get back behind the lens and take more great shots. The secret to our success is an application that's included in the Photoshop package, called Photo Downloader. Even though you can transfer pictures to your computer in many different ways, most of them aren't as efficient as Photo Downloader.

Photo Downloader is a nifty helper that lets you batch-rename your photos, put them exactly where you want them, and even create backup copies at the same time. These are tasks you'd have to do at one point or another anyway (hopefully!), so why not do them when you first download the pictures?

Here are some of the options you have when you use Photo Downloader:

• Download only the photos you want. You get to preview the images right off the memory card and decide what gets downloaded and what doesn't.

• Generate subfolders to store your pictures in the location you choose.

• Rename files in batches.

• Convert your raw files to DNG as an option if that's a format that you use.

• Back up to a separate hard drive at the time of download.

• Customize metadata and add it to your pictures—important stuff such as author name, copyright, and contact information.

Before You Start ...