Using Aftershoot as a pre-processor
Up until a few months ago, I had never used a culling program before. Then I heard about Aftershoot, I ran the trial software for while and instantly fell in love with it. Now I have the Professional version and I doubt I will ever look back. It truly is the best way to supercharge your workflow for fast pre-processing and culling of your images.
Why Aftershoot?
While Aftershoot was designed for portrait and wedding photographers, it can be used for other genres of photography too. Travel, Landscape and even food photography. The powerful AI (Artificial Intelligence) automatically filters out the best photos while you sit back and relax. It's lightning-quick and easy to use, while still giving you complete control.
Pros
Quick and easy to use
Affordably priced, but also has a free version
AI learns and adapts to your images, the more you use it
Saves hours in culling images
Detects closed eyes and blurred images for culling
Regular updates
Great user interface
One-click import for Lightroom and Capture One
Ability to view duplicates
Quick filters for selections
View key faces in the image with smart zoom
It never deletes photos
Built-in tutorials & help
Cons
The first few times you run it, it is difficult to trust entirely - now, this is a more human error than a program Con, but it is easy to make adjustments after culling
Does not really like super soft images, such as Lensbaby lenses with LOTS of blur, but easy to adjust
Does not always see bracketed images or panorama groups, but it seems to be learning (AI learns)
There is a slight glitch when exporting to Lightroom on PC, it exports ALL images, but there is an easy workaround *
Easy to add albums in Aftershoot
Using Aftershoot
Simply select your folder of images and import them into Aftershoot, then run through the various culling feature selections. Set how strict or lenient you wish to be for duplicates, and blurred photos. Don't worry you can re-cull with stricter selections if you wish. Even though this is super fast, it still gives you back some 'Me time', grab a cup of coffee, go for a walk. You will receive an email when Aftershoot has finished.
Choose your level of culling strictness
The perfect pro-processor
Once culled, you can then go and review the culled images and make as many changes as you wish. This is something I found invaluable. Due to the way it sorts and rates your images you can quickly and quietly make any changes as required. The first few times I checked EVERY photo, just in case! Now I have learnt that Aftershoot is actually very accurate and I have learned to trust it a lot more. I no longer fear the AI. Aftershoot rates every photo and sorts it into folders, it NEVER deletes anything you can change, re-sort, or re-cull anytime you wish. Once you are happy with your final selection, export to Lightroom or Capture One, or even to a folder on your PC for editing in another program.
Export direct to Lightroom or Capture One
The workaround for Windows PC and Lightroom
As mentioned above there is a workaround for the glitch with Windows PC and Lightroom*, apparently, this doesn't happen on Mac stuff. Once it's imported into Lightroom all the folders are still there, so it's easy to select the coloured folder, ie Red and remove them from Lightroom. Quick and simple, I am sure the fabulous people at Aftershoot will get their magical unicorns to fix this one and issue an update.
Trusting the Artificial Intelligence
This is the hardest part of the program, learning to trust the AI - maybe I watched too many Terminator movies growing up? But seriously I have found Aftershoot the fastest and easiest way to automatically select, rate and find the best photos. While it automatically culls, you still have complete control over selections. Frees your mind from thousands of small decisions for burst mode shoots and duplicate shots. I don't think I can work without it now, I have used Aftershoot as a pre-processor.
