After years of working with computers and a degree in information systems I have devised a procedure to shorten the processing time to just moments per images. How do I do this? I am glad you asked.

Phase 1.
a. I download the images from the camera to a folder on the desktop of my computer.
b. Rename the file to Disneyland and date, Disneyland 10-12-08
c. Open the folder and double click the first image. This opens the Windows Photo Viewer & displays the image
d. I browse the images and all images fall into one of three criteria.
   1. Delete the ones that are blurry, back of head, or otherwise useless.
   2. Skip forward to next image for ones that may be used or may not.
   3. Rotate the image only if it to be used.
       i. the image is usually taken in the vertical orientation, but displayed horizontal, so needs to be turned.
       ii. the image is taken horizontal, turn it anyway there is a reason.
       Select Next image and the computer will save the image in the rotated format. Repeat for all images.
e. After last image, close Windows Photo Viewer, which returns you to the open folder of thumbnails.
f. Right click on the "Date taken" tab above the pictures and select "Date modified"
g. Click on the new "Date Modified" button that just appeared and the images will sort so that the most recently rotated images are on top.
h. Look through the thumbnails and rotate any images that are turned vertical that should be horizontal, of the images you just modified.
i. Select all of the images by clicking on the first one, scroll to the last one and while holding the "Shift" key on the keyboard click the last one. All should highlight that they are selected.
j. Right Click on any of the selected images and select "Open with >" and then Adobe PhotoShop (or whatever program you use. I prefer PhotoShop 7, all of the following instructions are based on PhotoShop 7 and may have to be adjusted to work with any other program.)

After all of the images load, may take 15 minutes or longer depending on how many pictures you are opening, WARNING: Computer may say Adobe PhotoShop is not responding. Let it continue. It is a huge project. If a dialog box opens asking if you want to wait or close PhotoShop choose "wait".  If a dialog box opens that says you are out of memory select Cancel and work with what has opened. Then after completing all phases select all of the images that did not load when memory ran out and continue. Repeat as necessary.

Phase 2.
a. Select the Crop tool and draw the box in your picture as desired, press enter to complete the crop.
b. Click on "Window" in the menu bar and ensure there is a check mark in front of "Actions", if there is none click on Actions to open the Actions box on the workspace.
c. There should be a box on the workspace that says "History/Actions/Tool Presets >>"  If there is nothing under these tabs, click the _ box next to the red X to expand the box.
d.
   4. Click "Image" in the tool bar and select "Image Size" then in the Dialog box that opens select the standard height you want your images to be by changing that number, other numbers in the box will change, that's good. I use 1024 for this. Then click "OK"
   5. That is the end of this Action tool, click the first little square at the bottom of the Action box to stop recording.
e. Click onto the next image showing behind the now shrunken image and repeat the process until all of the images are cropped and scaled to the desired size.

Phase 3.
a. Select File and Open the Watermark image you want placed on all of your images and click OK
b. Select the "Select" tool in the tool bar.
c. Draw a box around your watermark image and click Edit on the Menu Bar and click on Copy.
d. Close your watermark image.

Phase 4.

a. Select Edit on the Menu Bar and click on Paste, your watermark should now be in the center of your image.
b. Select the "Move" tool from the tool bar and move the watermark to the desired location for this image.
c. Click the >> and select "New Action" from the drop down menu. This will open a dialog box.
   1. Name the Action, can be anything, even leaving it Action 1. The purpose of this action is to watermark, so I call mine Watermark.
   2. In the drop down menu to the right of Function Key select the button on the keyboard you want to push to automatically watermark the image. I use F5 for this function.
   3. Press Record.
   4. In the "Layers" box on the desktop select "Opacity" and set it to the desired level of transparency  for the watermark. I use 50%.
   5. Select Layer from the Menu Bar and click on "Flatten Image"
   6. Select File from the Menu Bar and click on "Save as..."
       i. Choose Desktop to save the file to the desktop. Leave the filename the same and click OK
      ii. Click OK for each of the next boxes that appear regarding image quality.
   7. You should be back at your image again. Hold down Control and press "W" to close this image.
   8. Hold down Control and press 0 (Zero) to fit the the image you have open to the screen
   9. Select Edit on the Menu Bar and click on Paste, your watermark should now be in the center of your image.
  10. Move the watermark to the upper right hand corner of the image.
  11. That is the end of this Action tool, click the first little square at the bottom of the Action box to stop recording.
d. Now move the image to where you really want the watermark for this image.
e. Press F5 and the newly created Action tool will automatically reduce to opacity, save and close the file, then paste the watermark into the next image. When the watermark is where you want it Press F5 again and repeat for all remaining images.

Phase 5.
a. Minimize or close all windows to reveal the desktop. Select all of the files you just processed onto the desktop which are the same category, Right Click and choose "Properties"
b. Select the Details Tab and complete the EXIF information:
   1. Title: the title of your images... ie. Pixar Play Parade, Parade of Dreams, Princess Fantasy Faire, etc
   2. Subject: the subject of the images... I usually use the same
   3. Comments: DisneyCharacterPics.com Photography by (Your Name Here)
   4. Authors: (Your Name Here)
   5. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
c. Click ok and repeat for other categories of images, if any.

Phase 6.
a. Select All Images that you processed on the Desktop
b. Right click on one of the images and move the mouse to "Send to..." an extension box will appear and select "Compressed (zipped) Folder"
c. The new folder with a zipper on it will appear on the desktop waiting for a filename
d. Type in "Your Name - Date" like this - "Brian Bergstrom - 10 October 2008" and press enter
e. Right click on the new folder and move the mouse to "Send to..." an extension box will appear and select "Mail recipient" this will open a new email message from your default email program, I use Outlook, with the folder of pictures attached to it.
f. Send this email to Brian@DisneyCharacterPics.com and I will process the thumbnails and post the images online for the date they were taken, usually within a couple days of receiving the email.