Learn How to Cull Thousands of Images Quickly

For those who own Lightroom when importing your images, in the file import window top right next to Build Previews select Sidecar & Embedded which will show the embedded Jpeg and it should cycle through the images quicker. You can then rate the images directly in Lightroom. Thanks to @budriunas for the tip. Cheers, Duade

I use Faststone for culling, which is better than the Adobe sorting software. I find that distance from the photo session also clarifies my ability to cull. If I have an amazing photo session I am inclined to run home and want to see if I got THE SHOT. If it is the first time photographing a subject, it is harder for me to cull as severely as I should. If I wait a week or more and go back to these same images, I am more objective. I do not think you can ever make too many videos about your culling process. It is vital to photographers. Maybe more than the equipment. Without selective culling, we can drown in a sea of images and be paralyzed to move forward and process our images. I often will say to myself while culling "I will never use this", delete it and move on. Rating our images is vital to being able to process the very best and review our metadata so that we are constantly improving our photographic abilities.

Hi Duade, I use Lightroom to cull my images. I download them into Lightroom and then use the flag keys (MAC) 'X' to delete later, and 'P' to keep. I have Lightroom set up to auto advance the images so that I can quickly scan my images at 100 % and select my keepers. As I am doing that, if I see an image that is a real standout, I will mark it with a 1-5 rating at that time. In the end I delete all the images that I don't mark as keepers as you do. Once you get use to the keyboard shortcuts It moves very quickly. Depending on the number of images, I may cull them a few times to weed out obvious multiple duplicate images to save more hard drive space. If you are already using Lightroom, it can save time. Great video as always.

I use Faststone Image Viewer. I love that you can scroll the images with the mouse wheel (right hand), and tag with the left hand. It’s very fast. I find decision making difficult, so I try to keep it binary. First pass is just yes or no, and delete the no s. Second pass I then chose the ones I like as I then have an idea of what I have taken and am better able to judge. And maybe a third pass to pick the very best. I keep some images that aren’t particularly good, but tell a story, or make me smile. I never delete straight from the card . . I know I can’t be trusted! So I always transfer to the computer for culling, and only when I am done do I delete the images on the card. I also rename all my photos to include the place and name of the bird, as I think there’s no point having that lovely photo if you can’t find it. Love your videos Duade and greetings from Brisbane.

I’m an absolute amateur, but this is so helpful, because I’m overwhelmed by the number of photos, even if it’s just 100-200. You explained it so well.

Duade, you sure do make the exact videos i am looking for. Its marvelous how well you pick topics, absolutely splended. Thank you for your most sincere education🙂‍↕️🤚

I have a syndrome that i don't have the heart to delete most photos thinking i might use it later even if i know that it is garbage, anyone has the same syndrome as me? 😂😂

I like it Duade, always appreciate the great tips and tricks. Cheers.

Hi Duade, been following your channel for a few years now and you are one of my favourite wildlife photographers out there! I’ve always been clumsy at culling my photos, so I’m glad I got to watch this photo before my wildlife photography trip to the UK next week. Thank you!

Fine video, duade. I am in the process of choosing a way to cull my images. I have been struggling to find a good work flow. This video, along with the comments from other viewers, is helpful. Thank you for addressing this topic.

Thanks Duade for showing your photo culling technique!

Super helpful vid! You laid out your process so clearly

Excellent video with so smart use of tools. Will save tons of time for me. Thanks a lot

Thank you! This is great info. I appreciate it.

Great video. When i get back from holiday, i will do it the way you do to. Thanks Duade

Hi Duade, great video, thanks for the tips and your shortcuts.keys file.

This is a fantastically useful video!

This sounds like a better system than I’m doing! I’ll definitely have to give it a try, thanks for the tips!

I'm old school, very old school! I learned to try and make my first couple of shots count, colour print and transparency film was expensive back then & I did all my own wet processing and printing in a darkroom, of course. It wasn't possible to to fire off the multiple shots as it is today and so I, very fortunately, learned to make each shot count, or at least aimed to. I managed, on average, to have a keep rate of 20 - 30 shots out of a roll of 36. Not bad considering no auto-wind and no image stabilisation! I am now well into the 21st century and take advantage of all the new tech and I have my dream "darkroom in the light", a computer! Along with more up to date cameras and lenses that allow me far more flexibility. However, I still have managed to maintain the ability to hit a high keeper rate without having to continually use high speed bursts. Please don't misunderstand me, I do use the high frame rate shooting occasionally, but I like to keep it to a minimum. My preferred genre is wildlife and primarily birds, so I can appreciate that high frame rates has a place and most certainly anyone shooting professionally may well require it. Many thanks Duade for your channel & it's content. Regards from the UK - Ken.

Great and informative video as always mate. Looks like we keep around the same amount of photos after a shoot. Haven't seen this software before, so i will for sure try it out. So far i have only used the software photos in my mac, but this looks much faster. Thanks for the advice, and have a great weekend. Cheers, Bjoern.