Mjump54

I frequently shoot events where I end up with large quantities of images.
What workflow do you usebin Lightroom to cull image count down to the number you want to spend time editing?
I tend to import images and giving rankings to ones I want to keep. Am looking for a workflow
Do you look at each image full screen and rank or in a grid view?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Do you shoot in RAW? If yes, purchase a copy of Fast Raw Viewer, https://www.fastrawviewer.com/ The software shows on sale today, but is only $20 at normal price.

You can cull all your images in FRV that renders the RAW immediately, so you can look at the 1:1 details in a quick pass, kicking anything out of perfect focus. If you want, you can run a second pass looking at the compositions. Image rotations and any star / color ratings you apply in FRV come along into LR when you import the culled results.

When I have a large quantity of images that may be wildly out of focus, nearly perfect and actually perfect, say like an airshow with lots of repetitive images, I'll run probably three culls. Getting the obvious junk in the first pass makes isolating the near perfect from the actual perfect a lot easier in the 2nd and 3rd passes. Images that seem the same, I'll allow to be imported into LR and make a final decision inside LR after / during the editing.

Look at your LR import settings too. Consider building minimal previews during the import. This will load the images faster. In my workflow, I have presets for camera and ISO that I apply to my images after import that include lens profiles. Sometimes I go through the keywording too, especially when I can mass-select images and apply specific keywords. After applying the presets and keywords, I build the 1:1 previews as a batch process so that lens profiles and preliminary sharping and toning settings are built into the 1:1 previews. Any additional culling inside LR renders the images immediately from the 1:1 previews. At any point I see an inferior image, I set the image to rejected and assure I spend no additional time / processing on the rejects. I delete rejected images from the catalog and disk, either immediately or as a final step at the end of completing all the edits of the keepers.

The ideas in this post discuss looking at the 1:1 details of very similar images, where the keeper can be found only when looking at the details on an image to image basis:

Using the LR Compare View in Culling

Photolady2014 Loc: Southwest Colorado

I have to keep this LR tip!

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

How exactly does this app work? Does it automatically reject out of focus images for you or do you still have to press a key to advance each image, press a key to reject, press another key to advance to the next image etc....

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

You, the human, make the decisions, advancing image by image, without even a two-by compare option. The 'speed' is the benefit, there's no lag in presenting the 100% pixel-level view of the RAW, the actual raw rather than the embedded JPEG. There are some sharpening options to the view, but really you should be judging the unprocessed potential for subsequent import and processing in LR or your preferred too. I don't pay attention to the tool's other bells & whistles beyond using as a quick culling tool. The sooner I remove anything I'll never possibly keep, the sooner I get started on what needs my concentrated editing effort in LR.

For navigation, you can customize / remap all the navigation keys to mimic your other tool navigations. The help manual has a lot of detail, but you kind of have to know what you're looking for to find it. The preferences section has a lot of preferences, and like most highly configurable software, most of the software and panels are 'active' when you first turn it on. Finding how to hide many of the less used / less useful panels is a first step in the configuration process.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Thanks for the info. I've been using LR Classic to cull my images. Usually I have LR import them to one of my faster ssd drives and add key words on import, unless there are many different keywords to consider. I start by pressing the 'f' key for a large view of the images, then I used to use the 'r' key (reject) to reject the image and by pressing that key it would advance to the next pic. Now I use the 'p' key (pick) the images I want to keep and those that I don't want I just use the right arrow key to advance to the next pic. In the end I choose all the 'picks', the invert that selection, and delete from catalog and drive.

This works well for me and because I use a fast drive I can see the full size images very fast. I just use the standard previews and never use the 1:1 previews. This takes too long in my opinion.

That app looks very interesting to me and I almost pulled the trigger on it. But I think I can live with the way I've been doing things. Now if it had AI and could do the culling for me with 99% accuracy I'd have pulled the trigger NOW. LOL

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The batch process and 1:1 previews remove the rendering delay in LR. For my macro work, I need to see the 1:1 details to judge the final keepers. If you do editing and continue to compare, the rendering delay returns, at least in the standalone v6. I just delete the previews and rebuild if I need that 1:1 access without the delay.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

If I have a ton of images - like 1500 or more from an event, I copy them to their final location using a card reader and drag and drop. I will first look at them with Faststone Image Viewer - to cull the obvious mistakes before importing the remaining files to Lightroom. I move them to another folder, then use LR's Import on the remaining images using Add option, which adds the files to the catalog but leaves them where they are on the hard drive.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

The first thing I do is download all the image files to my computer with a meaningful name and located in a folder with a meaningful name. Once that is done I import everything into LR. Then I'm looking at all the recent images so I press 'e', which gives me the loupe view, large enough to see details. If the image is worth further consideration, I press '6', which gives it a red color label. Pressing the right arrow goes to the next image. If the image is truly awful, I press 'x', which marks it as a reject. If an image is one of a series that defines a panorama or focus stack I press '9', which places a blue color label on it.

When I get through all the images I filter on the red color label and I get all the stuff that's worth any effort. I then do the editing. If I get to a break point but need further work, I press '7', which places a yellow color label on it. If I feel it's finished, I press '8', giving it a green color label.

Then I filter on the blue labels and load sequences into Photoshop to do panoramas or focus stacks. When done they get a yellow or green label, as appropriate and get saved as a psd back into LR.

When I have done all I'm going to do, I back everything up. I delete from the disk all the horrible rejects, and I may delete from the catalog all the images without a red, yellow, green, or blue color label. I then reformat the camera card.

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=1584

DebiB

Aways full screen. Very quickly rate. Filter those and rate again. Repeat until you have a reasonable number to show your client. No matter what they say they don’t want to see all of them.

DJCard Loc: Northern Kentucky

Scott Kelby has good videos on efficiently culling and organizing photos in Lr. Check out Kelbyone.com

BobPeterson Loc: Massachusetts

Check out this viseo. https://mattk.com/get-through-1500-photos-in-15-minutes/
Also, if your culling in lightroom turn on caps lock and it auto advances to the next photo if you pick or reject. Saves a tiny bit of time but it adds up if you are cycling through a lot of captures.

jeffhendy Loc: El Dorado Hills, CA

Using dual monitors makes this much easier for me - using the grid view on one monitor and viewing full screen on the second, and as several have mentioned, using the P key to flag the potentially good ones. And the X key to reject the out of focus or otherwise bad ones.
This allows a quick pass and then a more leisurely look at the flagged ones. And the ones I didn't flag are still there if I want to review them again later.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Try this: https://www.vfpresets.com/how-to-quickly-cull-images-in-lightroom/#:~:text=Our%20Method%20for%20Quickly%20Culling%20Images%20in%20Lightroom,out%20the%20thumbnails%20in%20grid%20view%2C%20making%20

sandiegosteve Loc: San Diego, CA

Photo Mechanic is the best if you need special tagging, like player numbers for a wire service. If I don't need special tagging per image, I cull in Adobe Bridge because it is free.

With both, you flag the candidates, select all of the flagged candidates and drag into LR and it will only import the ones you have flagged.

Both use the embedded jpeg and are very fast.

This gets asked a lot and I ended up making a video for a friend. About 5 minutes and shows how I do it in Bridge + Lightroom Classic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N2Lve_ATk8