Photo Culling

[CIC]

Hello, my dear fellow members and photographers, wishing you all a very happy and photogenic 2022.

I was wondering which software is best for culling images. If anyone can suggest a free tool, that would be best. I have tried using the Lr, but I must admit that I found it extremely tedious as far as culling of the images goes. There is a DAM software from Nikon also, which I can try if that is worth trying.

I have hundreds of images, mainly from the wildlife shoots, which require quick culling, otherwise, those simply sit on the HDD and gather the proverbial dust.

Any guidance would be highly appreciated.

Thank you all.

[davidedric]

Hello there.

If you are running Windows, then FastStone is worth a look: https://www.faststone.org/

[xpatUSA]

Hello there.

If you are running Windows, then FastStone [Viewer] is worth a look: https://www.faststone.org/

Amen to that - been using it for years - Very good comparator.

[CIC]

Hello there.

If you are running Windows, then FastStone is worth a look: https://www.faststone.org/

Thanks! I do use Faststone, but only the image resizer and image viewer software's. Which one are you suggesting for the culling purpose?

[DanK]

Srijan,

I absolutely hate culling, so I sympathize.

I'm surprised you don't find Lightroom good for this purpose. I find it very good. You can set the thumbnails for any size you want, and when you see images you want to delete, all you have to do is hit the X key. Then at the end, hit control-backspace, and they are all deleted; Lightroom will give you the choice between removing them from Lightroom and deleted them from the hard disk. If you come across one that isn't clear--for example, if you aren't certain about focus--you can enlarge it as much as you want with a mouse click or two. Most of the time, this is all I have to do for an initial culling.

When things are complex and I'm not certain whether I will want to delete some, I use the star sytem. Each photo gets either an X for deletion or a number of stars; I usualy use 3 for "maybe delete later". Then I delete all the X's and worry about the 3-start photos later.

Dan

[CIC]

Srijan,

I absolutely hate culling, so I sympathize.

I'm surprised you don't find Lightroom good for this purpose. I find it very good. You can set the thumbnails for any size you want, and when you see images you want to delete, all you have to do is hit the X key. Then at the end, hit control-backspace, and they are all deleted; Lightroom will give you the choice between removing them from Lightroom and deleted them from the hard disk. If you come across one that isn't clear--for example, if you aren't certain about focus--you can enlarge it as much as you want with a mouse click or two. Most of the time, this is all I have to do for an initial culling.

When things are complex and I'm not certain whether I will want to delete some, I use the star sytem. Each photo gets either an X for deletion or a number of stars; I usualy use 3 for "maybe delete later". Then I delete all the X's and worry about the 3-start photos later.

Dan

Thank you so much Dan.

As I need to wear glasses, it is in general necessary for me to enlarge the image in comparison mode before taking a decision. That's where I find that things do get a little tedious. The most important thing is, it increases my workflow time. So I was looking for something simpler and easier, mostly which would save my time. I do hate this step so profoundly that I am at a loss for words. The trouble is more for old-timers like us who started with film camera and fixed 36 exposures.

[DanK]

I sympathize. I'm an old-timer too--I started with my first filmSLR in 1968--and wear special computer glasses to edit my photos. These are like bifocals, except that the top area is set for a distance of 28-30 inches (70-76cm).

If you slide the thumbnails slider all the way to the right, on my monitor, it shows images enlarged enough to fit 6 in the top section. however, I often blow them up full size and then move along the filmstrip at the bottom. Full size ("fit" in Lightroom) is usually enough, although in some cases, for example, if I am not sure eyes are completely in focus--I enlarge more.

[xpatUSA]

Thank you so much Dan.

As I need to wear glasses, it is in general necessary for me to enlarge the image in comparison mode before taking a decision. That's where I find that things do get a little tedious. The most important thing is, it increases my workflow time. So I was looking for something simpler and easier, mostly which would save my time.

Which is why I like the comparator in FastStone Viewer. It shows up to four images side-by-side. Zooming into one zooms into all by the same amount. Moving one moves all by the same distance. Holding down the CTRL key allows individually moving and zooming so as to align areas or equalize different sized images.

I too wear glasses and you can enlarge up 1000% if necessary. You can also zoom out enough to see whole images simultaneously too.

Another App called XnView MP does much the same thing and also allows the addition of XMP and/or IPTC keywords or other meta-data to an image.

namaste or namaskar ...

[AaronRoberts]

Without a doubt, FastRawViewer. It’s fast (really fast) and displays not only a quickly demosaiced raw image, but also a histogram from the raw file rather than the embedded jpg. Not free, but only about $20-25 as a one-time payment.

[CIC]

Thank you @Dan, @Ted and @Aron and Namashkar Ted

I am sorry that I could not reply to your kind suggestion earlier, I have not been keeping well.

I shall surely give all your suggestions a try and let you know here. I used to have a software called "BreezeBrowser", which really worked well. Unfortunately, I have lost all the licensing information so I could not reinstall it.