Culling Photos: I'd like opinions from anyone who is using AFTERSHOOT. Thank you.

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

I'd like opinions from anyone who is using AFTERSHOOT. Thank you.

azted Loc: Las Vegas, NV.

I talked to them at WPPI. One of the founders explained to me how the artificial intelligence works. If I had a busy agency, I would definitely give it a try.

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

Howard5252 wrote:

I'd like opinions from anyone who is using AFTERSHOOT. Thank you.

Thanks for posting Howard. I downloaded the free (non-AI) version and will compare it to FastRawViewer which is what I have been using for years.

Xpatch Loc: New York, Antigua, GT.

I use photo mechanic

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

FastRawViewer is extremely economical, a 1-time purchase that is constantly updated for each new camera's RAW via free updates. It renders the 1:1 details of a RAW image instantly, letting you make culling decisions in a second or less. You just move through your images making Keep / Kick decisions, with your decision auto-advancing to the next image. I'm not familiar with the other software, but price vs performance vs need should impact your decision.

Hip Coyote

I just use LR. I download all shots from a particular day/ event consistent with my organization protocol. I go through the shots one by one in gallery view. Ones I want to keep or potentially work on I press“P”. Ones I want to delete I press “X”. You can then delete all the x photos or filter them out and delete later.

Could not be simpler.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Hip Coyote wrote:

Could not be simpler.

If that had been a question, actually: yes. Culling your images, especially something like 1400 images such as I started with this past Sunday afternoon, is much more efficient done before importing into LR. No import time, no preview build, no 1:1 render delay in FastRawViewer. Expend those LR delays / processing time on images that have already passed through a 1- or 2- (even 3-pass) culling prior to the LR import.

Hip Coyote

For me it takes less than 10 mins to import and go through the images. My computer is pretty fast I suppose.

Maybe the other viewer is faster better. And I may try it out. But this works well for me.

Howard5252 Loc: New York / Florida (now)

Hip Coyote wrote:

I just use LR. I download all shots from a particular day/ event consistent with my organization protocol. I go through the shots one by one in gallery view. Ones I want to keep or potentially work on I press“P”. Ones I want to delete I press “X”. You can then delete all the x photos or filter them out and delete later.

Could not be simpler.

I came home from Kenya with almost 8000 shots. After several weeks of mind numbing work (working off & on), they were down to under 500. Based upon what the reviews say, using an AI powered culling program, I would have faced the task with a lot more joy. This is why I am asking about Aftershoot. BTW, I noticed that since I got a mirrorless camera, I am taking more shots than I usually do. It's almost difficult to take one shot.

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

Howard5252 wrote:

I came home from Kenya with almost 8000 shots. After several weeks of mind numbing work (working off & on), they were down to under 500. Based upon what the reviews say, using an AI powered culling program, I would have faced the task with a lot more joy. This is why I am asking about Aftershoot. BTW, I noticed that since I got a mirrorless camera, I am taking more shots than I usually do. It's almost difficult to take one shot.

I just tried the trial Pro version and the AI did a good job of culling except that it thinks that duplicates include those with different head positions - so it threw out shots that I would have kept. Also, there's no sided by side comparison capability. I'll stick with FastRawViewer.

photoman43

I use the free software from Nikon, now Nikon NX Studio to review and cull my images. It is very fast as it reads the imbedded jpeg and does not "open" the RAW file. Once the images are culled, I open them in DXO PL5 and keyword and rate the remaining images.

PhotoMechanic is often used to do the same thing but it is not free. After culling in PM, import into LR or other programs.

Moose Peterson explains his ingest workflow at the link below. It involves PM and Adobe products, computers and external hard drives. It may not work for you, but it is a good framework to look at to help you decide what is best for you:

https://www.moosepeterson.com/blog/workflow-22/

Here is how Jason Odell does it with PhotoMechanic and Lightroom:

https://luminescentphoto.com/blog/photomechanic-lr/

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Fast Raw Viewer - works on all camera type raw files - $23.99

Photo Mechanic - $139

Pick your poison

CamB Loc: Juneau, Alaska

Howard5252 wrote:

I came home from Kenya with almost 8000 shots. After several weeks of mind numbing work (working off & on), they were down to under 500. Based upon what the reviews say, using an AI powered culling program, I would have faced the task with a lot more joy. This is why I am asking about Aftershoot. BTW, I noticed that since I got a mirrorless camera, I am taking more shots than I usually do. It's almost difficult to take one shot.

I see this 'over shooting' on my whale watching tours all the time. A four or five shot series of a whale fluking up (not sure this is a real word) and diving deep is plenty to still choose the zinger from, but it's so easy to shoot ten or twelve or more shots that most people way over do it. I see many of my quests still holding down the shutter button after the whale has disappeared. It just means more time and effort culling later on. I'm guilty of this sometimes too but have figured out that if you know your subject and are quick on the shutter, a lot of the spray and pray isn't necessary. This is not quite on topic but just what I have noticed dealing with a few hundred photographers every summer.
...Cam

User ID

Howard5252 wrote:

I came home from Kenya with almost 8000 shots. After several weeks of mind numbing work (working off & on), they were down to under 500. Based upon what the reviews say, using an AI powered culling program, I would have faced the task with a lot more joy. This is why I am asking about Aftershoot. BTW, I noticed that since I got a mirrorless camera, I am taking more shots than I usually do. It's almost difficult to take one shot.

Some cameras have a setting to limit your burst length. OTOH, if you use "preburst" you'll get about 40 frames, usually more, per burst. You'll already have at least 15 frames in the buffer before you press the "shutter release".

Hip Coyote

Howard5252 wrote:

I came home from Kenya with almost 8000 shots. After several weeks of mind numbing work (working off & on), they were down to under 500. Based upon what the reviews say, using an AI powered culling program, I would have faced the task with a lot more joy. This is why I am asking about Aftershoot. BTW, I noticed that since I got a mirrorless camera, I am taking more shots than I usually do. It's almost difficult to take one shot.

Good on you! So many people take 8000 photos and keep 7999. Whittling that down to 500 shows a lot of good curation skills.

I did the same in LR. But took it a day at a time. Anyhoo. I’m perfectly willing to look at another program that others are touting!