The Ultimate Guide to Culling Photos Fast

In today’s world of virtually unlimited digital storage, photographers find themselves shooting an overwhelming number of images. It is not unusual for a wedding photographer, for instance, to end up with over 15,000 photographs from a single event. While having more pictures to choose from is good, selecting (culling photos) which pictures to edit can be daunting.

The process of sifting through a large number of images and deciding which images to keep is time-consuming. Valuable time is taken from other important steps in your workflow, affecting timely submission to the client.

But with a proper plan, you not only avoid spending hours, maybe even days, going through the images, but also eliminate the possibility of rejecting keepers. We recommend the three-step photo culling plan. With the three-step photo-culling workflow, you can quickly and efficiently cull your images, freeing up time to focus on editing and delivering images to the client on time.

Pre-culling and workflow plan

Culling photos starts before uploading the images to your computer. The first step is to understand the capabilities and limitations of your post-processing software. Not all post-processing software has the same capabilities. For example, some have a built-in culling tool while others don’t. If your software includes a culling tool, assess its capabilities and determine how reliable and sophisticated it is. Does it analyze only basic flaws -subject’s eyes are open or closed, or does it use complex AI technology to assess technical aspects of the image?

After evaluating your software, the second step is to determine the culling method: manual or software-based. Both methods have their own advantages and disadvantages, but the overall difference is speed. Culling software will do the job faster, but it is prone to making mistakes. Nevertheless, for initial culling, such as weeding out images that are out of focus or even where the eyes are not showing, automatic culling is ideal. If you want to maintain quality control and your artistic vision, manual culling is the way to go.

The final preculling step, and a good habit to have, is organization. Organizing your images as you import them makes it easier to search and retrieve specific images. A well-organized library also makes it easier to cull your images. For example, a wedding library organized by the day’s specific events (i.e., dressing, vows, etc) is itself a culling criterion. It gives you an overview not only of the number of images but also focuses your attention on the most important aspects of the event.

If using culling software, an organized library will make it easy to set specific criteria for the culling software to use based on the folder/event. How you organize your images is up to you, but the key is to make it simple and easy to retrieve images. If you find it challenging to organize your images, photo management software such as Lightroom can be helpful. They can help organize your images by date, event, or even the camera used.

With the groundwork done, you are now ready to use the three-step culling method to efficiently select the images you will work on.

The Three-Step Method

Culling photos using the three-step culling method is important to ensure that you accurately select only the very best images. Your eyes can cheat you into picking images that aren’t the best or cause you to overlook keepers. The three-step culling process forces your eye to be critical as you assess the images through the three stages.
By following this plan, your photo culling will be fast and efficient, minimizing rejects that should have been picks, and vice versa.
pace. Let’s dig into the three-step core culling plan.

Step One: The Purge

The purge is the initial look at the images. In this step, you are looking for obvious issues such as focus (blurred images), blinking or closed eyes, exposure issues, and images that don’t look right at first glance. There is no debate at this stage. The point is to get rid of images that show obvious flaws at first glance.

Step Two: Keepers

After you have removed technically flawed images, it’s time to review the images you have picked. Assuming you have completed your first step diligently, the remaining images will be technically keepers, so this stage is about finding ideal keepers—the best of the best, images which align with the client’s needs and your style. For example, if it’s a wedding, look for images that convey the emotion and joy of the day. You are also looking for technically sound images and weeding out duplicates. It is important to flag the images that you have chosen in preparation for the final culling stage.

Step Three: Yes

This step is the most challenging, and it should be because at this point, you should only have top-quality images. Therefore, when going through this stage, you should have editing and the number of images you need in mind. You are not only picking the best of the best, but you are also choosing images that won’t take too much time to edit, particularly if you have a deadline, and culling the number of images you need to submit to your client. Now you are ready to edit your images.

Pro Tips and Efficiency Hacks

Culling photos can be tedious and time-consuming. Luckily, there are some hacks you can use to speed up the process. AI is one such hack. Most editing software has AI culling, which can detect whether an image is out of focus or whether the subject’s eyes are closed. Incorporating these tools into your culling workflow will save time. A word of caution. AI culling is still in its infancy, and it’s prone to errors. So, double-check both the picks and rejects to make sure there are no mistakes.

Another time-saving culling hack is to utilize keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts offer the convenience of reducing steps to a single button. Instead of finding and scrolling through menus, keyboard shortcuts speed up your workflow by reducing the process to one button. For example, the flagging tool in Lightroom. Instead of moving the mouse to click the tool icon, simply press P to flag picks or X to flag rejects. Keyboard shortcuts are way easier and faster. Here are other handy keyboard shortcuts in Lightroom:

• Left and Right arrow: move to the next and previous image
• 1-5: star rating
• 6-9: colour label (red, yellow, green and blue respectively)
• P: flag as a pick
• X: flag as a reject
• U: unflag
• C: compare images

Note that these are the default (Lightroom) shortcuts, but as with most editing software, they are customizable. So, if the default shortcuts don’t make sense to you, customize them to your liking. This also goes to the default AI culling criteria. Twik it to suit your culling criterion.

That said, culling photos with the three-step method can be customized as needed. For example, you could use flagging in step one, star rating in step two, and the colour label in the final stage. The point is to adjust the method to your liking, including picking and setting the tools you want to use throughout the process. Tweaking will not only make the culling process faster but also intuitive and hence more efficient.

The art of letting go

The challenging aspect of culling photos is psychological. As in life, we get sentimental about things we have, which makes it difficult to let things go. Attachment is particularly true for photographers, especially when it comes to culling. The emotional connection between the image and the photographer can make it onerous to be self-critical. The result is wasted time debating the merits of the images or even picking mediocre ones. The availability of photo-editing tools that can salvage technically flawed images does make it even more challenging. The key to overcoming this barrier is to emotionally detach from the images by viewing them through the client’s eyes. This way, you can be self-critical and hence objective with your culling. Keep in mind the 80/20 rule.

Borrowed from the Pareto principle, the idea is that results come from 20 percent of our overall effort. When culling photos, keep in mind that most of your shots are unusable or subpar. Your initial culling should be this ruthless, picking only the super good images. Any image with a flaw or that requires significant post-processing should go to the rejects folder. Remember, only 20 of every 100 images are usable; the rest are rejects.

Final Word

Culling photos is a crucial step in your workflow; it can take a long time, but it shouldn’t. By following the three-step culling method, you will be efficient and ruthless in selecting only the very best images.
Culling will also help you keep a well-curated library, saving you time searching for images. Like any other aspect of photography, learning to cull images efficiently takes time and practice. The goal is to be as critical and ruthless as possible. Avoid wasting time debating the merits of an image; be resolute instead. This is what the three-step culling method is all about.