A lot of technical work goes into being a photographer. Like, a lot. And if we’re being honest, it can all start to get pretty tedious after a while. So, if you have the chance to save some serious time and let the software take control, why the heck wouldn’t you do it? As AI gets better, there are ways to incorporate it into your craft while still keeping your artistic edge. Take culling, for example. In the past, sorting through thousands of pictures took up hours of photographers’ time. Now, thanks to software, you can blaze through it in seconds flat. It’s just a matter of finding the options that work best for you. As SEO bloggers for photographers, we adore finding different modern ways to help you grow your business. If you have been looking at culling software for photographers, then you have found the right spot.
Disclaimer: We are proud affiliates of some of the above culling tools and may earn an affiliate commission when you buy through our links. However, we only promote products we genuinely believe in.
Explore These Great Options Of Culling Software For Photographers To Streamline Your Workflow
Aftershoot
Aftershoot is kind of the OG of culling software, first making its way on the scene in 2020. Because it’s been around for quite a while, you’ll get more support than you’d find for many other apps. And while many apps are trying to replicate the magic of Aftershoot, we personally think it’s the best on the market!
Some Things We Really Love About Aftershoot Culling Software For Photographers
This app has easy membership options. With Aftershoot, you have four different tiers of membership with 30-day free trials available for each. The most basic plan has unlimited culling capabilities and costs less than a Netflix subscription. While they offer monthly rates, you pay each year. That means you get to lock in for 12 months of consistent pricing without worrying about the prices suddenly spiking. And the price is one of the best around! If you need yet another way to save, we have a referral link that lets you shave off an additional 10% of the yearly cost.
A Super Powerful AI Engine
At the beginning of your membership, you are going to work to train your AI. Then, once it has your style down, it’s going to fly through your pictures. In fact, it’s been clocked at processing 25 photos in 38 seconds. When you are dealing with hundreds and hundreds of photos, that’s quickly going to add up.
This app is going to leave you with a better selection. When photographers use the software to cull their pictures, it’s going to get rid of the duplicates, group together similar pictures, and select the best pictures out of the batch. It goes off several aspects, including emotion, sharpness, brightness, and composition. If it decides there simply isn’t a “best” picture in the batch, it will let you know. It will also let you control how many pictures you are left with in the end.
No internet connection needed! This one is pretty huge. At the beginning, you will need a connection to set up your personal AI profile, and you will also need one in the future if you decide to update it. Other than that, you won’t need any wifi, so you can work where you want when you want!
The editing capabilities are pretty great! It uses similar sliders as you are used to from other apps like Lightroom to adjust aspects including highlights, contrast, shadows, lighting, and more. You can create a style and apply it to batches of pictures much like you would a preset. You can also add different profiles, which can be pretty handy when it comes to moving across photo styles.
Integrative: The app has worked hard to make it a seamless experience to move your batches from Aftershoot to common apps, including Lightroom.
Some Downsides To Aftershoot
Because there is simply so much to do on this app, it can be a little overwhelming for beginners. Like we mentioned earlier, you can find some good support from the community, but you are definitely going to have to hunt it down in the beginning.
It can take a bit of time and effort to train the app. In order to get it to start recognizing your style, it requires around 2,500 pictures from your catalog. Once you have it down, the algorithm only continues to improve, but at the beginning, you have to be pretty patient.
While it will edit your pictures, there are better apps out there. Many people choose to rely on Aftershoot for the culling capabilities and use other apps like Imagen AI for the editing.
Imagen AI
While Aftershoot might be the original app, Imagen AI culling software has quickly started to gain quite a loyal following of photographers. It’s also one of the most powerful options out there. Here’s why people love this one so much!
This is an editing-first app. While Aftershoot lets you do some basic editing, Imagen AI has made editing their entire deal. It lets you create a signature style and quickly apply it to a large number of photos for swift editing. It also takes care of aspects such as color correction, exposure, noise reduction, and skin softening.
The culling capabilities are pretty good! Since they added the abilities to the software, they’ve figured out how to make it pretty efficient. Currently, it works pretty similar to Aftershoot. The software will fly through batches of your pictures and look for aspects such as closed eyes or blurry shots. You can have it scan for specific images such as kissing pics for the best wedding shots.
The preview options are some of the best out there! It uses its smart editing abilities and applies it to the previews as you are culling the photos. Rather than looking through raw photos, you are going to be able to check out the gorgeous finished products so you have a better idea of what to expect. It’s the perfect way to combine both the culling capabilities with the editing abilities, making this app a favorite for many!
The software was designed to play well with others. You should be able to move your photos from the software into apps like Lightroom, Photoshop, and Adobe Camera Raw.
A Couple Imagen AI Setbacks In Our Eyes
So, what about the downsides of this culling software for photographers? There are a few things we don’t love as much with this software, but remember, YMMV!
The pay structure is not as straightforward as Aftershoot. The annual price is more than that of Aftershoot. Many people choose to instead use the lower obligation pay-as-you go option that has you pay for the software per photo. It can be annoying if you purchase it and use it for everything, but the price can be a bit more manageable if you combine it with Aftershoot.
The culling abilities are cloud-based, so if you want to cull photos, you will need a secure internet connection. This may not be an issue if you do all your editing from home, but it can be harder to manage if you have a finicky internet provider.
The culling abilities are still being perfected, so you will have to deal with the issues that can come along with the beta stage. You also have less manual control over the culling process, and it may not always be accurate.
Just like with Aftershoot, the app takes some time to learn your style. This means a lot of effort at the beginning, but we promise it will quickly pay off!
Narrative
Narrative has quickly gained a fiercely devoted user base since it first entered the scene. Like both Aftershoot and Imagen AI, it offers both culling and editing technology that promises to significantly reduce your processing time. There are several reasons why it has gained such a fast following.
What Makes Narrative Stand Out As A Culling Software For Photographers
The culling software technology is really powerful for photographers! First off, it will import your pictures at rapid speed. We are talking about thousands of raw pictures in mere seconds. Once it has the pictures, you will have several options for sorting the groups of pictures. They will instantly identify the best pictures, bring them to the front, and rank the images. On average, you will find yourself wading through 20%-30% fewer photos each shoot. From there, you can rename the pictures, crop them, and ingest them.
The facial recognition might be one of our favorite features about this app. It is extremely smart when it comes to recognizing sharpness. It also understands context pretty darn well and can detect unflattering facial expressions. Now pair this technology with its zoom feature, and you are going to find yourself flying through pictures at breakneck speeds!
This software has a pretty easy access point, making it a beginner-friendly option for those just starting out. You’ll spend less time googling tutorials and more time just getting the job done!
The billing plans are both more flexible and more affordable than most of the other software out there. If you want to get started, you can enjoy three months completely free. From there, you can choose to pay monthly or pay yearly (which will get you additional savings). With this flat fee, you will be able to do unlimited culling.
This software was designed to move seamlessly across other applications, including Lightroom and Photoshop, ensuring your job is much simpler.
Now, For The Things We Didn’t Like As Much
While the app does offer some editing capabilities, it’s definitely still being developed. As it currently stands, you will have pretty limited abilities. You might be able to control some of the basic things, but the algorithm for discovering your editing style is not quite refined and will take much longer to adapt. When it comes to batch edits, this one is probably on the weaker side compared to other apps.
While many users will be able to adapt to the intuitive design, there are some people who have reported initial issues. Be prepared for a few headaches, at least in the beginning.
Narrative Publish
We also wanted to touch on Narrative Publish for a second. As SEO bloggers, we don’t love this feature. While it easily connects to WordPress for publishing, you cannot optimize the blog properly for SEO once it’s in there. We would highly recommend just blogging directly in WordPress.
Photo Mechanic
Photo Mechanic is one of the original culling softwares and has gained quite a devoted following of photographers since it was started over a decade ago. This is software that is entirely dedicated to making it a breeze to navigate that seemingly endless pile of photos. It is comprehensive, offering both culling and editing. Its main goal is to cut through all the noise and help you with your busy work so you can get back to your life! This one, however, does not offer AI. If you are looking for something to automate all of your duplicates, this ain’t it, babe! But it still is really powerful, and it does all of its work exceptionally well. As with the rest, there are some things we love a lot about this app, and there are some things that could definitely need improvement.
Here Are Some Of The Pros!
Because the software has been around for a while, they’ve had a chance to figure out all the kinks. It also has a very dedicated fan base who can walk you through any issues and give you advice on how to improve your experience.
Photo Mechanic offer straightforward pricing options. They offer two tiers of membership and give you the ability to pay by month or by year. They also give you the option of purchasing a perpetual license for a one-time fee.
When we say it’s powerful, we mean it! This thing can handle large batches of pictures at record speed. Even RAW files are no match for its processing time! While this one is not automated, it has no issue handling bulk imaging, giving you the ability to move quickly between images. You also won’t experience the same delay when zooming in and out that you might in Lightroom.
We really love how customizable this software can be. They give you the ability to tag pictures, rate them, and add keywords to make it easy to sort in the future.
This software was developed to work with options like Lightroom, and it continues to do it extremely well. Its integrative interface will make it easy to move between the applications as needed. It also lets you quickly move your pictures online so you can create galleries that bring more people to your website.
Here Are Some Things To Consider Before You Commit To Photo Mechanic
If you want an app that will cull your pictures for you, Photo Mechanic simply isn’t the answer. While you will be able to quickly view all of your pictures, you will still have to individually click through each one while culling.
While it does a great job importing all of your images, it can still take a bit of time to import everything when you are dealing with thousands of pictures. This can make editing weddings a bit more tedious.
FastRawViewer
FastRawViewer is a bit of a software workhorse in the photographers culling game. It’s far from the flashiest option out there, but it does a great job. Think of it as substance over style. This software was developed to give you an efficient way to view all of your RAW images and cull them as necessary. As you work through the images, you will be able to check for elements such as sharpness and exposure. This is software completely dedicated to culling images, ditching the editing capabilities. The result is a fast-moving, lightweight option that makes large stacks of photos feel much less overwhelming.
Here Are Some Of The Things We Love About This One
Because this software is entirely focused on culling for photographers, it takes up way less space on your computer when you download it. You won’t need to worry about your processor being unable to handle its process.
This software feels vintage in every way, especially when it comes to purchasing options. Rather than having to purchase a regular subscription, you can simply purchase a license that you can then run on two computers simultaneously. As of May 2025, the license costs less than $20. It’s so affordable. There’s really no risk involved. If you don’t want to commit right away, they do offer a 30-day free online trial.
FastRawViewer is extremely fast, giving you the ability to import and view RAW files almost instantly. In tests, it has been able to load up to 50 frames per second. You won’t have to wait around for hours to sort through large batches.
While this app does not offer editing, it was designed to work smoothly with editing software, including Lightroom and Photoshop, so you can cull photos before importing and adjusting.
The software offers the ability to cull photos based on technical elements. It gives you tools to analyze things like sharpness, exposure, and histograms. From there, you can easily decide which images you want to keep.
While you will need the internet for initial activation, once you have the software downloaded, you will be able to work without an internet connection. This can make it a great option for on-the-go work.
The software is customizable and user-friendly. You can easily change the settings, update your preferred shortcuts, and decide what you want to see.
Here Are Some Things That Users Didn’t Like As Much
The software has no AI capabilities for automated culling. You will have to manually select which images you want to keep.
The organizational tools are far from the best. If you want to be able to label and sort images, you might be better off with a platform such as Lightroom or Photo Mechanic.
Because there is no editing function, this is an app that must be used alongside other software for full processing power.
The app can feel old and outdated. Because of this, the user base is much smaller, and it can be harder to find support if you run into any issues.
Adobe Bridge
Adobe Bridge is Adobe’s software solution for culling conundrums for photographers. As with most of their apps, it does a pretty good job and gives you all the support tools necessary for using the software. The app is simple and easy to use, and it works well with all other Adobe products.
Here’s what people like about this one:
The organizational tools are really some of the best out there. You will have the ability to create metadata tagging, ratings, and keywords for easy sorting.
This app is included with the Adobe Creative Cloud bundle and does not cost to download. There’s a good chance you already have a subscription that includes this software! You can also use it with the free level of Creative Cloud.
Because it is an Adobe product, you will be able to work seamlessly across all of their other apps, including Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom. They have it designed so you can manage your entire workflow without too much added effort.
The app is fairly fast and lets you batch process. You will be able to rename or resize images swiftly before exporting all at once.
Now For The Downsides
This software lacks AI abilities, so culling will need to be done manually.
When it comes to speed, this definitely rates at the bottom. It is also pretty resource-intensive, which can make it a drag on your computer. While it might not be an issue for smaller batches, you will likely notice it for large RAW files.
While this app does offer a few editing features, it tends to be pretty limited. This should be viewed as a supplemental software, not a primary option.
It isn’t exactly beginner-friendly, and the interface can be pretty advanced when you are just starting out. You will likely need a little bit of support when you first start out.
Hopefully, This Helps You Decide On The Perfect Culling Software For Photographers For Your Style
If you are looking for a way to speed up your workflow with culling software for photographers, we hope this post helps you out! And if you want to learn more about optimizing your business, we’d love it if you stuck around. At Rokee and Co, we love working with photographers to help them find new ways to grow their clientele by offering SEO-based blog posts. We are here to make sure you can find your ideal clients without hardly any work on your part. Want to learn more? Well, we can’t say we blame you! Send us a message today to get started! And if you aren’t on it already, join our email list below to be the first to hear about our periodic sales and get great tips like these directly to your inbox!
