Did you know there’s a really important key to being a great photographer that has NOTHING to do with shooting?
Most people believe being a great photographer is all about the decisions you’re making while you’re taking the photos:
– Lens choice
– Camera settings
– Locations, lighting, etc.
Of course, all those things matter a lot.
But we believe there’s something else that matters just as much…
Photo selection.
Out of every photo you take during a session, choosing the best photos to post, showcase and deliver to your clients is a HUGE factor in the way you’ll be seen and known as a photographer.
This process is called “culling.”
Culling is simply selecting the best photos from a large quantity of shots.
(The software we use is called Photo Mechanic)
Question…
Are there services out there where someone else does your culling for you?
You bet.
– You can hire real humans to do it.
– You can even use AI (artificial intelligence).
We don’t.
Here’s why…
We choose to cull ALL the photos ourselves because we believe culling makes you a BETTER photographer.
How?
Culling is a great teacher.
Viewing every single photo we take allows us to review our own work –– and think through the things we want to do differently or better for the next session.
Our mind stores our takeaways from each cull, and all those micro-impressions over time really add up and impact the way we shoot each future session.
Even though we believe the time it takes to cull is worth it, we also want to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible.
One of our favorite hacks to an effective, efficient cull is this:
We cull every session backwards.
That means we start at the end of the memory card, and work our way forward, so the first photo we took is the last photo we’ll see.
Why cull backwards?
Whenever we’re shooting a posing set, we make slight adjustments to our subjects/directions as we go, and work strategically to get a genuine facial expression or a flattering angle.
Typically, the shots we take at the end of any posing set are the strongest (because as soon as we get what we want from our subjects, we move on to the next thing).
So when we’re culling the photos, if we cull backwards, we’re more likely to see the strongest version of each shot first.
That makes it easier to compare the photos and pick the best version from each posing set quickly and efficiently.
If you’ve never tried culling your session backwards, we encourage you to try it the next time you shoot!
It might feel weird at first…
But we have a feeling that just like us…
Once you start…
You won’t go back!
(See what we did there?!)
Happy culling!
SHOOTING & EDITING COURSE
If you want to watch Amy cull a real session from start to finish and learn every trick and secret we use to select the best photos quickly and efficiently, it’s all inside the Shooting & Editing Course!
