How to cull images. Three editing techniques from an experienced professional photographer
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ค. 2024
- As a working professional photographer I have edited hundreds of digital shoots. Learn three techniques I use to cull thousand of images to just the ones you need. With the latest digital cameras capable of capturing many frames per second and with cards holding thousands of RAWS we need fast and effective methods of culling the shoot to a manageable amount prior to making any changes in post production.
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At a time where visuals are often overused by youngsters and tends to be all over the place, I appreciate your raw sharing of experiences. It was clear and engaging too. Another great video!
Thanks Neil. I always appreciate this kind of honest feedback. All the best. RR
Pretty much have used all methods you discuss here.
For culling in my RAW editor I select all pics and rate 3 stars and set the Editor to show 3 stars and up. On a very fast 1st pass (that 1-second glance) I rate 1, two or 3 stars. 1 star is anything I know I'll delete. 2 stars are things that are iffy, but maybe salvageable if I don't have a better shot of the thing, but I really want to keep it. Anything lower rated immediately becomes hidden so I stop seeing them. Filter to 1-star images and delete. Pass 2, re-rate my three star images to 4-stars. Set to filter for 4 and up. This is where I'm picking my best from a series (like if I shot a burst). The best one or two stay at 4 stars, everything else is rated 3 - and gets hidden so I stop looking at them. Third and final pass, re-rate the 4 stars to 5 stars, filter to see 5 stars. Obviously this is me picking the best of the best. Rate the last rejects as 4 stars and, again, I stop seeing them.
After that, if, and only if there's something I remember shooting that I know I wanted but don't see, I filter to 2-star only. That's where it'll be, and I'll re-rate it as 5-stars to try and salvage.
After this anything under 4 stars can be deleted.
First pass usually eliminates a full third-to half of images. The second pass usually gets rid of 2/3 of what's left. So that third pass (4/5 star sort) is usually only 15% of everything shot.
Used to just do like/dislike, but, for me, using a 3-5 ascending pass works better. Sometimes on a like/dislike I'd end up killing something a later regretted, so batch rating higher then filtering and rating down has me looking at a shrinking pool of images while making sure I don't delete something by mistake. This is also useful specifically for wedding/event shots where the client may ask about something I didn't initially show them. I can step back from the 5 star to 4 star filter if needed, or even back to the 2/3 stars (again 1-star images were unusable - too blurry blown out/underexposed, or I just missed the shot).
If this sounds interesting and logical, give it a try!
Thank you for this. I love it when people throw down some true experience in these comments. Feels very worthwhile. Your method is not a million miles away from my own. I use the 5 star filter system everyday and like you, it gets me from the many to the few as efficiently as I think possible. I tend not to delete anything these days but my hard drive bill tells me I probably should.. Thanks again. RR
One of your best videos. Well done expect great thing from you! 👍
Thank you for your kind words x
Great video. I have done and do nearly all the things you have talked about. The cull can be absolutely sole destroying. Sadly I have no other ideas to make it less painful.
Cheers Colin! Good to hear we are on the same page.
I use photomechanic, and it helps a lot.
👍🏻
I use Canon's software DPP which has a very good method of culling.
Interesting - I have not used DPP for several years. Worth a look over Lightroom or Photo Mechanic you think?
Great advice Roy, thank you.
Thanks Paul. Glad you got something from this. RR
I love your jacket.
Cheers BB! It’s very green!
Roy Riley my M-65 after decades of use and washes is still a nice green.
Good to hear how you work. I wish I still had the discipline from local newspaper days, when I would/could shoot three jobs on one 36exp roll of film, and still have 3 pics from each job. This was mainly to cut down on dev' or processing time back at the office. The time it took for a colour film to go through the Fuji processor equalled the time to eat a pasty for lunch...
When digital came along and a memory card might only be 32mb (but a 2mp Nikon D1) I had a similar discipline, but would ' key lock' images I wanted to keep, and (gulp) delete the rest of the crap off the card.
Now shooting events and commercial jobs I'll often shoot 2000 pics in a day, and thank goodness for PhotoMechanic, for whizzing through hitting 1,2,3 to mark the 'keepers'. My hit rate is 1 in 10 keepers, not bad for digital on 64Gb cards.
How times have changed! I can remember on my first local paper having to fill out a time sheet showing how long I had spent at each job and how many frames I had taken.. they wanted a cheque presentation in 3 frames.. I gave them moody black and whites in 3 rolls.. never went down very well.. 1 in 10 is a good hit rate and probably similar to my own for commercial work.
Good stuff here, thanks. Even though you don't really advise using the news photographer approach, I think it's a great tip. I'm trying to develop that "instinctive" reaction to my own photos, to spot the keepers even before culling the junk and the duplicates. BTW, another reason to neither cull nor rate in camera is that the screen is just too small - even a mere phone screen is twice the size. Anyway, thanks again for the tips.
Really I think these thing all depend on what each individual is shooting and for what purpose. That’s why I dont really advise any one way as being better than another. We each have to find what works the best for ourselves. You are right about the rear screen being small but on some occasions it’s fine for picking a keeper. Just this morning I am on an assignment and I’m using the screen to rate the shots literally as I speak! However all I’m looking for is nice expressions and eyes fully open so not too tricky! Thanks for your comment and time and good luck with your photography! R
Love the video! Very good advice as I await for my canon r3, culling will be a big issue! I would love to see a photo mechanic tutorial
Thanks John! Haha. Yes. Cameras like the R3 should come with culling advice! Exciting camera to get though. Hope it’s worth the wait. Years ago I was working with a brilliant football photographer.. he always amazed me because he took so few pictures. Hardly any big fast frame sequences, mostly single shots that were mostly keepers. Worth keeping in mind. Good luck with your photography . I have a vague plan to do a full workflow video but wonder if it might be better in the form of a course. So people pay a small amount but get much more content and no adverts.. any thoughts?
Would love to hear how others cull their images.. let me know your thoughts!
"gut Instinct" LOL! My early years as a Press Photographer, film days :-) We developed and printed our own films 99% of the time. I could hold the developed film up against the light and pick out the neg I wanted to print. On real deadline times, I would often put a "wet" film in a glass carrier and print off a print for the picture/sub-editors. I worked on a large provincial evening newspaper group, with 10 weekly papers as well that I and the other staff photographers supported. It's amazing how one can develop a skill to "see" the picture even at that early stage in the process sometimes ( a lot! ) at the time of taking the image. I had the luxury of looking at the negs the day after and culling or printing out a few more for the weekly published papers. So in some respects, I acted like a photo editor more often than not. I know large "Daily" papers had picture editors and the like but many a time you the photographer decided what went into that day's paper. Now like many I blast away and cull in software like you. I use a similar software pack to Photomechanics and I am ruthless. I used to have gigabytes and gigabytes that cluttered up external hard drives never to see the light of day. Don't be sentimental just save what you consider to be the best.
Great comment Richard! Great history too. Like you I spent many years on local, regional and then agencies and national newspapers shooting film and finding more and more illustrious ways of getting pictures to papers faster prior to the arrival of digital cameras.. all What a time in history we have worked through! I value your information about being ruthless and just keeping the best.. I’m currently juggling a huge archive and getting a bit tired of juggling so many files. All the very best. RR
@@RoyRiley Yes the happiest days of my life. Waking up everyday wondering what on Earth am I going to see today.... One day flying in a open cockpit aerobatic aeroplane in the morning, for a pre airshow PR event, afternoon a Golden Wedding celebration, that evening a large factory fire..... Like you say "golden age" for press photographers using film. Large collection of files to go through... I think when you only have 12 ( I used a TLR Rollieflex early on) and then 35mm with the luxury of 35 frames to go at LOL!. Now I am totally digtal and after spending the last 28 years in IT and with a lot of practice, practice, am a lot better with Photoshop. I was trained up for 2 yeares in a darkroom by a professional commercial photographer, so a lot of those skills transfered to the digital darkroom. There is what I believe is essential and that is developing a good "eye" for a picture. One knew instinctavily when you had a "good" image... Cheers love you videos and will really enjoy having subscribed, you ongoing vids. Cheers!
@@richardtierney7724 Cheers Richard! I have such similar feelings. I think when you have lived as a newspaper photographer nothing can really come close to the diversity and excitement of that existence. Glory days in many ways! Thanks for the subscription! Appreciate it. All the best. RR
As an amateur watching your videos I am struck by just how different a professional's perception of photography is to an amateur's. Do you ever shoot your own projects rather than a client's? If so, how different is your approach and method?
Thanks for this interesting comment!. I guess everyone has a different perspective, but it's an interesting point about how some professionals might have a substantially different perspective to many amateurs. I feel I am quite fortunate and maybe don't have such a huge gap as some because although I shoot professionally I also enjoy photography as a hobby.. which might sound a bit odd to some people... The things I tend to shoot for fun are seascapes and sunsets and anything that takes my eye around the golden hour..I find it a great reason to get outside exploring.. I am much looser with this kind of work and often pack much less gear or just try to be a bit experimental, often it doesnt work! but I enjoy it anyway. I always have a few personal projects on the go, sometimes these might last years and wont ever get finished but sometimes they are much shorter and intense because it will be an idea that just needs to come out in some form or another. I Do quite a bit of work for charities which is nealry always unpaid so somewhere between pro and amateur work but I like using my skills and resources to try to make something that has a worthwhile use..Finally I tend to try to use simpler gear for personal work to make the process feel different. Hope this in some way answers your question. All the best. RR
My method (as an amateur) is delete none in camera, but make my first selection at the import in Lightroom. I'll deselect everything and only select usable images, which I can rate after the import. It is better so skip those images at the import, than to delete images afterwards. Thus skipping images where flash didn't fire or people eyes are closed, etc. I have the most difficulty with deciding which almost similar images is the best.
Ahhh. That terrible beast of the multiple sequence where one is neither worse nor better than the rest… the most dreaded of creatures… my advice.. if you can’t tell straight away, pick one that looks good and delete everything else
I always have a clear memory space so i can take photos without having to worry about deleting on the set then i go thru later and delete any shots ik i cant fix editing or of the subject wasnt looking properly
Wise words! A clean card to begin with is an absolute must in my opinion. Thanks for sharing. RR
what was that program for quickly looking at, zooming, and rating raw files? Sounded like "Photo Mechanic" having trouble finding it and assuming I can't afford it - anybody have any budget leads for those of us who can't even afford full frame or adob subscriptions?
It is Photo Mechanic. It’s pretty much an industry standard for professional photographers.. but that does mean it is expensive. If your using it every day as a tool to provide a service then it’s good value but of course not everyone is in that position or can afford the fees. There are a few other options Rawshooter used to be one free bit of software that is similar. I have no experience of it so don’t shoot me if it’s not perfect. Also the software that camera makers produce is generally free and more than capable of doing the job until you build up the resources. I scraped by with the minimum for the longest time. Pro grade tools are great for getting the job done but not everyone needs them all the time for everything. Hope this all make sense and good luck with your photography journey. RR
we have cameras now that shoot 30 or more frames/s. Wouldn´t buy one for that, just needs culling a lot!
Think before you shoot!
Agreed! Wise words
I hate culling! Best tip for me is to not over-shoot.
You are absolutely correct! If you don’t shoot it you don’t have to cull it! Hard to do in practise though..
Yeah, but depends on what you're shooting. If I'm wandering and shooting street for myself I can shoot limited exposures. Same with most portrait work. But if I'm shooting a wedding, I KNOW I'm gonna hold the Shutter down on moments like "You may kiss the bride," or garter/bouquet tossing, and easily end up with a hundred images where the final is going to be a selection of five. Animal and wildlife is a mixed bag. Sometimes you can set up the shot, sometimes you have to "spray and pray." Architecture and real estate? Pretty much only shoot what I need.