The Complete AI Photo Culling Workflow Guide for Photographers

There's nothing quite like the feeling of photographing a huge event like a wedding. If you're like many photographers, the actual shooting part is the most fun part of the entire job! You're in your element, doing what you love.

Now, it’s time to sit down and sort through 2,000+ images to pick the best ones. The next thing you realize you’ve been staring at your screen for over an hour, second-guessing whether one tiny smile is better than another. 

For many photographers, photo culling is one of the most time-consuming and mentally exhausting parts of the job. A streamlined photo-culling workflow means less stress, more efficiency, and happier clients.

In this article, we will guide you through setting up an efficient culling workflow that will streamline your post-production process.

Preparing for an Organized Photo Culling Workflow

No one likes a mess. If we are gonna do it, let’s do it right. First things first..

You just got home from shooting a wedding, now what?

You need to take care of yourself! Grab yourself something hydrating and something nourishing to feed your body. Photographing a wedding is exhilarating and exhausting, and when you get home, you might find yourself dropping with fatigue as the adrenaline of the day wears off.

The next thing to do should be non-negotiable: Back up the photos.

Now get everything in order. Like the Mother of Dragons! It's time to conquer..

Some photographers will keep backing up their photos throughout the day if they have an assistant, but if you don't, backing them up as soon as you arrive home is recommended.

How you decide to back up isn't as important as doing it the same way every time. Some photographers save to hard drives, some save to a cloud-based system, and some to RAID systems. However you do it, do it, in the same manner, every single time.

Make sure your naming protocol is the same for each wedding because it will make your life so much easier if you are trying to locate files.

A popular file format for naming is year_monthday_clientname_clientname

So if Joe Smith and Karen Anderson got married on October 7, 2022, the file naming format would be: 2022_1007_Smith_Anderson. Here's a quick visual on how to do it:

This helps keep the number sequential and makes the backup easy to find.

AI Culling Workflow for Photographers

Many photographers have started to rely on AI culling software to help them speed up their post-production process. Instead of drowning in endless decisions, AI can quickly identify the best shots so you can make creative decisions faster. 

Now let’s set up your photo-culling workflow. 

Step 1: Open Aftershoot, Your AI Assistant

Import your images on Aftershoot. Click on + New Album or Create Album on your Aftershoot's Home Screen.

Note: Place all the RAW/JPEG files you want to cull into a single folder for easy access. For optimal results, it's best to import and cull your images with Aftershoot before bringing them into Lightroom or Capture One.

Step 2: Choose Your Culling Type

After you ingest your images and name your album, select the cull tab. You will see a screen that asks you to choose your culling preferences. There are two ways to cull in Aftershoot. 

With AI-assisted culling, you stay in control of the selection process while getting AI support for tasks like duplicate sorting and key face detection. Automated AI Culling culls your images for you and provides smart selections based on your preferences.

You can also opt for “One Click Cull and Edit” to streamline your photo culling workflow. Find out more on how to use this feature in this article. 

Note: Check out this video to learn how to choose your culling preferences. You also have an option to cull manually on Aftershoot

Step 3: Choose Your Culling Preferences

Based on your culling type, you will find a set of preferences to choose from — AI automated cull and customized AI cull

The AI automated cull is the default preference available for you to choose while customized AI cull lets you tailor your preferences. You can select the Color Labels and Star Ratings that you would like to set to photos that are assigned to various filters like Blurred, Closed Eyes, Duplicates, Selected, etc.

Step 4: Start Culling

Once you have selected your preferences it's time to sit back and relax while Aftershoot culls your photos.

Step 5: Review your images

Once your images are culled, you will receive a notification in your email. It’s time to review your culled images. You can choose to view your images in Loupe, or Grid view or review in survey mode.

Note:  Learn how to use Keyboard Shortcuts in Aftershoot to improve your workflow in this blog post.

Step 6: Export or Edit your images

Once you are done, you can either export your culled images to your preferred editing software or move to the edit tab to start editing your photos.

Note: Learn how to speed up your photo editing workflow in this blog post

Why Should You Choose an AI Culling Workflow?

Aftershoot gives you time back for your business and your life. Imagine that you spend 3 hours culling photos for a wedding of 2,000 images, and on average, you shoot 20 weddings per year.

That's a conservative estimate; most photographers report that the whole process takes them much longer than 3 hours because of analysis paralysis and because they tend to get distracted from the job as it's tedious and monotonous.

But, for the sake of averages, let's say it takes you 3 hours to cull the images and pick the best photos from your raw files. 3 hours, with no break, looking at photos and making decisions. That's about 5 seconds to decide yes or no on an image.

3 hours x 20 weddings = 60 hours.

More than one full week of work is spent on culling photos of what Aftershoot can do for you in minutes. What could you do with 60 hours of your time in your business?

How about personally? Wouldn't you love to spend that 60 hours you save and spend more time with your family, maybe going on vacation or making memories with friends?  In 2024, photographers culled 4.4B images with Aftershoot worldwide and saved 13.8M hours. Imagine what you could do with all that time.

Now let’s take a look at how professionals are streamlining their photo culling workflow

Best AI Photo Culling Workflows: How are Pros doing it?

Taylor Jackson, Wedding Photographer, Toronto, Ontario

Taylor knows a little something about wedding workflows, having photographed 60+ weddings a year in the luxury wedding market and traveling worldwide. When you shoot that much in out-of-town locations, you learn that a solid workflow is key to your business success! Check out his video on how he uses Aftershoot to speed up his wedding culling workflow to focus more on doing what he loves.

John Branch, Wedding Photographer, North Carolina and NYC

John has built his business and brand by being a 100% unapologetic support system and hype man for his clients. His rave reviews from clients tell the story of a guy who goes the extra mile for his clients from the first meeting through the delivery of his storytelling images.

“I'm a huge fan of Aftershoot photo culling software. It has helped me to quickly cull my weddings and get them edited faster to deliver a better product to my clients in a shorter amount of time. It's also 95% accurate for me, which is pretty incredible." said John Branch

John's photo culling workflow involves loading his photos into Lightroom to back up his photos and then importing photos into Aftershoot. Post this, he hits the hay for some much-needed rest.

He gets an email telling him his cull is done when he wakes up. Can you imagine the relief of knowing that 95% of your photo culling is done while you sleep?

“It's crazy how close it is...now it literally takes me 5 minutes per wedding to go through the photos to double-check a few things. Sometimes I'll choose a different image because of my preferences, but most of the time, Aftershoot chooses what I would have" he added

Martin Cheung, Wedding Photographer

"I used to spend countless hours manually culling thousands of wedding photos in Photo Mechanic—an exhausting but necessary task. With 50 weddings a year, it added up fast!" said Martin

At first, I was skeptical about Aftershoot replacing this crucial part of my workflow, but I’ve been amazed by the results. Now, while it processes my images, I can focus on other things — emails, Netflix, or family time.

Aftershoot has saved me hours of tedious work, making culling faster and even more enjoyable. It’s a must-have tool I never knew I needed!

Finding the Best Photo Culling Workflow for You

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to photo culling—every photographer has their preferences and workflow. Some prefer a hands-on approach, carefully reviewing each image, while others embrace AI assistance to speed up the process without sacrificing quality.

What matters most is efficiency. In today’s competitive photography industry, delivering images faster than the competition can be the key to standing out. Clients expect quick turnarounds, and the faster you can deliver stunning, well-curated galleries, the more likely you are to leave a lasting impression.

AI-powered tools like Aftershoot aren’t here to replace your artistic eye—they’re here to assist you, cutting down the tedious work so you can focus on creativity and storytelling. By leveraging AI for tasks like duplicate detection and key image selection, you save hours of time while ensuring a polished final gallery.

Ultimately, the best culling workflow is the one that works for you—one that balances speed, accuracy, and creative control. Whether you choose to go fully manual or integrate AI assistance, a streamlined workflow helps you deliver faster, impress clients, and stay ahead of the competition. 

So if you are ready to streamline your culling workflow, claim your free 30-day trial today!