The photo culling workflow, explained
Culling is choosing the keepers from a shoot before you edit. It sounds simple, and it is — but on a big job it's where most of your desk time goes. Here's what a good cull actually looks like, stage by stage, and where the modern tools save you hours.
What culling is (and isn't)
Culling is selection, not editing. You are deciding which frames make the cut — the sharp ones, the ones with the right expression, the best of each moment — and cutting the rest. No sliders, no retouching; that comes later, on the frames you kept.
Why it's the slow part
On a wedding or event you might come home with thousands of frames. Editing is creative and varied; culling is the same keep-or-cut decision, over and over. Two things drag it out — waiting for software to render each RAW, and reviewing every frame with no guidance.
Stage 1 — Browse fast
Get your frames on screen instantly. Dedicated cullers show the JPEG preview baked into each RAW instead of rendering the full file, so you can skim at speed. If your tool makes you wait for previews, that is the first thing to fix.
Stage 2 — A reject pass first
Before rating anything, make one quick pass and cut only the obvious losses — closed eyes, missed focus, test frames. Clearing the dead weight first makes every later decision faster and less crowded.
Stage 3 — Rate the keepers
Now go through what's left and mark the winners. Most tools give you three systems: flags (pick/reject), star ratings (1–5), and color labels. Pick one and be consistent — a simple pick flag is enough for most jobs; stars help when you need to rank a hero shot.
Stage 4 — Decide within duplicates
You will have runs of near-identical frames. Put them side by side and choose the one with the sharpest eyes and best expression. A compare view turns a debate into a glance.
Where AI fits now
Modern cullers add an AI first pass: they read focus, open eyes and expression on every frame so you skim with a head start and slow down only on the close calls. You still decide — the AI just points you at the likely keepers. Cullit does exactly this: sharpness, eyes and smile on every detected face.
Culling vs editing
Keep them separate. Once your picks are chosen, hand them to Lightroom or Capture One as ratings written into each photo's XMP, and edit only the keepers. Culling in your editor works, but it's slower — which is why so many pros cull in a dedicated tool first.
In short
A good cull is fast browsing, a reject pass, a clear rating system, a compare view for duplicates, and — increasingly — an AI head start. Get those right and the slowest part of post stops eating your evenings.