I shot 1,200 photos at a recent event. Without batch editing, that would be 40+ hours of individual edits. With a solid batch workflow, I delivered the final gallery in under three hours.

Batch editing isn’t about cutting corners — it’s about making consistent, repeatable editing decisions and applying them intelligently.

The Three Batch Methods

Method 1: Sync Settings

Select your reference photo (the one you’ve already edited). Then hold Shift and click the last photo in the group you want to edit, or Ctrl/Cmd-click to select specific images. Click “Sync” at the bottom of the Develop module.

A dialog box lets you choose which settings to sync. This is important — you rarely want to sync everything.

Always sync: White balance, tone curve, HSL, color grading, sharpening, noise reduction, lens corrections, effects, calibration.

Sync selectively: Exposure (only if the group has consistent lighting). Crop (only if the composition is identical). Masking (only if subjects are in similar positions).

Never sync blindly: Local adjustments like spot healing, graduated filters, and brush adjustments. These are position-specific and rarely transfer well.

Method 2: Copy and Paste

Edit one image. Select it and press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+C (or right-click → Develop Settings → Copy Settings). Choose which settings to copy.

Navigate to another image and press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+V to paste. This is faster than Sync for applying settings to non-adjacent images scattered throughout a timeline.

Method 3: Presets as Starting Points

Save your frequently used editing foundations as presets. Apply the preset during import or in the Library module to every image at once, then fine-tune individually.

This is the fastest method for large batches. Create presets for common shooting conditions:

  • Outdoor daylight
  • Indoor mixed lighting
  • Flash/strobe
  • Golden hour
  • Overcast

Apply the matching preset to each group, then handle individual adjustments.

The Professional Batch Workflow

Step 1: Cull First

Before editing, select your keepers. Flag (P) the images you’ll deliver. Reject (X) the obvious misses. Filter to show only flagged images before you start editing.

Editing 400 keepers is dramatically faster than editing 1,200 images including the ones you’ll never use.

Step 2: Group by Lighting Condition

Sort your keepers into groups that share similar lighting. A portrait session might have three groups: outdoor shade, direct sun, and indoor window light. Each group gets its own batch edit.

Use color labels or collections to organize these groups. Red for outdoor shade, yellow for direct sun, blue for indoor — whatever system makes sense for your session.

Step 3: Edit One Hero Image Per Group

Pick the best image from each group. Edit it completely — global adjustments, color work, masking, everything. This is your reference edit.

Take your time here. Every minute spent perfecting the hero image saves ten minutes across the batch.

Step 4: Sync to the Group

Select all images in the group plus the hero image (select hero last so it’s the active image). Click Sync. Choose your settings carefully.

After syncing, scrub through the group quickly. Look for images that need individual attention — exposure outliers, white balance shifts, or compositions that need different cropping.

Step 5: Individual Touch-Ups

Most images will need minor per-image adjustments:

  • Exposure tweaks (+-0.3 stops typically)
  • Crop and straighten
  • Spot healing for blemishes
  • Masking adjustments for different subject positions

With the batch edit as your foundation, these individual adjustments take 15-30 seconds per image instead of 3-5 minutes.

Speed Tips

Auto Sync mode. Toggle the Sync button to “Auto Sync” (click the small switch next to it). Now any adjustment you make automatically applies to all selected images in real time. Useful for fine-tuning a group simultaneously.

Quick Develop panel. In the Library module, the Quick Develop panel applies relative adjustments. Clicking “+1” on exposure adds one stop to every selected image relative to their current exposure. This is better than Sync for groups with varied exposures.

Keyboard shortcuts. Learn these:

  • Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+C: Copy settings
  • Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+V: Paste settings
  • Ctrl/Cmd+A: Select all (in current filter view)
  • P/X/U: Flag/Reject/Unflag

The 80/20 Rule of Batch Editing

Batch editing handles 80% of the work. The remaining 20% — individual crops, exposure fine-tuning, spot corrections — requires per-image attention. Accept this ratio. Trying to batch 100% of your editing produces inconsistent results.

The goal isn’t identical edits across every image. It’s a consistent look with individual attention where it matters. That’s what professionals deliver.