Why Aperty is the Best for Batch Editing Portrait Sessions

If you are a portrait photographer, this stage can take a considerable amount of time. In fact, it can be so demanding that you may feel tempted to limit how many images you select. There are pros and cons to that approach, but it is worth remembering that some photos that appear unremarkable in their RAW state can suddenly become much stronger once edited. The difficulty is that manual portrait editing involves a great deal of pathing, masking and retouching. Before long, your calendar is filled with editing sessions instead of shooting time.

This is exactly where Aperty steps in. The portrait-focused editing software speeds up your workflow efficiently while maintaining professional results. One of its most valuable features, and something photographers may feel relieved to hear about, is batch editing. It has cut my editing time down significantly, and I am going to show you how it can do the same for you. Let’s take a look.

Why Batch Editing Matters for Portrait Photographers

As mentioned before, portraits are extremely time consuming, and this leaves the photographer incredibly busy with editing work when they should be booking more clients. But there are other reasons why batch editing can matter particularly for portrait photographers.

One advantage that portrait photographers have over, let’s say street photographers for example, is that they often have consistent lighting across all of their photos. This means that when it comes to batch editing, they aren’t dealing with a wide range of extremes, and therefore adjustments made to one photo can easily be applied to others. 

Consistency also comes into play in another sense. Clients don’t tend to want a wide range of styles across the finished deliverables. You may have even agreed to a style and talked this through with the client beforehand. So instead of manually repeating the same adjustments over and over, you can simply opt for batch editing for a uniformed style.

So it certainly makes sense for portrait photographers to take full advantage of the power of batch editing, saving them a great deal of time, freeing up their schedules to book more clients, and deliver consistent images.

How Aperty’s Batch Editing Works

Let me show you the power of batch editing and how Aperty handles it in an efficient and painless way to help you finish your edits and get back out there with your camera.

Creating a Project
To batch edit in the quickest and easiest way possible, start by setting up a project folder with all of your selected images from the session. This keeps everything organised in one place, and all of the photos will appear on the filmstrip at the bottom of the screen, which we will be using shortly.

Start with One Edit
My approach is to complete a full edit on just one image first. I make sure I am completely satisfied with it because this will become the source for all of the other edits in the project. I even like to take a break once I think I am finished, come back a few hours later with fresh eyes, and check that I am genuinely happy with it. This little reset is invaluable, as you will either say to yourself that it looks great or wonder how you missed something earlier. Once I confidently approve that first image, I am ready to apply its adjustments to the rest.

Paste Adjustments to the Batch
When you are fully satisfied with the edit, click the Copy Edits button at the bottom of the screen, just above the filmstrip. The filmstrip contains every image in your project folder. Select all of the photos you want to apply the edit to (shift and click across the images), then click Paste Edits. All of your adjustments are now applied to the entire batch. It really is that simple. This includes basic edits, retouching and even masks.

Give your photos a quick review and you are ready to send them to your client or share them online. 

When to Use Batch Editing (and When Not to)

The trick with batch editing is knowing exactly when to use it and how to use it, so let’s take a look at some scenarios.

Lighting is the most important factor when deciding whether batch editing will work for your session. If you have shot in a studio or outdoors where the conditions stayed consistent, batch editing will most likely be ideal. When I shoot neon portraits, batch editing doesn’t work well for me. That is because I move between darker alleyways and bright neon signage, which creates huge variations in the quality and direction of light.

This then leads into the next point, the colours in the scene. Neon signs not only produce inconsistent lighting but a wide range of hues that each need separate treatment. These differences have a huge impact on skin tones, so individual edits become essential. However, if your entire set has consistent skin tones from start to finish, you will have no issues using batch editing.

Multiple environments during the same session, even outdoors in daylight, can still create different qualities of light and colour that influence your subject’s skin. Changes in outfits can also make batch editing more complicated.

Does this mean batch editing is off the table whenever these issues appear? Not at all. It simply means you need to be strategic. Group together images that share similar lighting qualities. Do the same with outfit changes. You can also apply only your base edits through batch editing to save time and then fine tune individual shots afterwards.

How Else Aperty Can Save You Time

Let’s see how else Aperty can speed up your workflow and get you back out shooting much quicker.

Masking
One of the most time consuming parts of portrait photography is masking and drawing intricate paths around subjects. Hair is particularly painful to deal with. Aperty removes all of this effort and handles it with just one click. You can instantly select a mask for the subject or the background, allowing you to move straight on to your next steps.

Retouching
Skin smoothing, blemish removal, brightening features and much more each have their own dedicated tools. Aperty automatically detects the areas you want to work on, so there is no need to mask anything manually. If you want to brighten your subject’s eyes, for example, you can use the eyes tools where you can brighten, enhance, and even adjust the colour of the iris. Many of the skin tools also include a details slider, which helps you keep natural textures and avoid the overprocessed look. This is a huge part of achieving professional-standard edits.

Reshaping
Adjusting facial features and body proportions is incredibly easy with Aperty. You can slim faces, reshape eyes and work on other features without having to worry about masking. You also get a lot of control over how the changes appear. The nose reshaping tool, for example, gives you X and Y axis controls so you can make very precise adjustments.

You also have access to all of the essential photo editing tools you would expect, meaning you can complete your entire edit in one place without switching between software. This helps you apply your personal style consistently and efficiently.

The Bottom Line

So if you are often overwhelmed with a backlog of editing work, then look no further than Aperty. With batch editing and tools that speed up your process considerably, you will be sending shots back to clients in no time, freeing up your schedule for more bookings and more time behind the camera. Clients will also appreciate quicker turnaround times, which can lead to repeat work and stronger relationships. Individual manual editing, masking and other tedious, time consuming tasks can finally be a thing of the past. Give Aperty a try for yourself and enjoy a faster, more efficient editing experience.