How to Cull Faster

Culling is a process that can be difficult for many photographers. It is hard to separate yourself from the experience of being at the shoot. Over the years, I have created a culling workflow that has led me to cull very efficiently.

First, I do what I call a quick cull. I go through the session and look for repeats, obvious out of focus, or other unusable images. This process is quite objective, I am essentially removing clearly unusable images. I mark these with the rejected flag. This process is quick, it clears out all of the images I would never use, and leaves me with only potential selects. Sometimes clients will do this quick cull before they sent a catalog to us to cull.

After all the unusable images are rejected, I will create a smart collection in Lightroom based on the criteria I use to identify my selects. This could be flags, star ratings, or color labels. When we cull for clients we use the flag system. Flags are selects and images that are unflagged are rejects. Here is an example of the criteria used to build our smart collections.

This smart collection provides an image count that updates in real time. This helps me determine how close I am to my target cull. It’s very useful to have this number in mind before you start culling. This provides a “finish line” for the culling process. It’s hard to know when to stop running in a race without a finish line. 😉

The key to moving through the final cull efficiently is to consider the end client while you are culling. What is important to the client? Why did they hire you? I’ve learned that if I have to force an image to work technically or emotionally, that usually means I need to take it out.

Let’s talk about the size of the final collection you deliver to your client. I believe there is greater value in delivering a smaller collection of excellent images rather than delivering a larger collection of mostly mediocre images with some excellent images throughout. Your clients hired you because they have an appreciation for your perspective, use this perspective to deliver the best of the best to your clients.

If you would like to take culling of your to-do list we’d be happy to help you out, get in touch today to learn more.