A Two-Pass Culling Workflow in Lightroom Classic
I had done a little research that said both casual social media scan of photos averaged 1.5 to 2 seconds. Also Competation judges used the same time to get the initial possibles. Both use very critique to pause the scroll or make it as a possible.
That led my could use the technique. Following my discussion with chatGPT I asked "it" to write the steps.
I followed the steps, below, to cull 65 images from 2017. It worked for with one addition. I selected the Picks and used Assisted Culling with 80% focus, Exposure Issues and misfires. Then went through the rejected and marked those with a 77+ score as select.
Now I had 22, Pass 2, to critically review.
Below is steps that chatGBT wrote for me.
YMMV.
The idea
Don't try to make every culling decision at once.
The first pass is about your immediate response to the photograph. The second pass is where you slow down and make the more considered decisions.
Pass 1 — The Fast Cull
The goal is to quickly identify photographs that deserve a second look.
- Open the shoot in Lightroom Classic's Library module.
- Select the images you want to cull.
- Switch to Loupe View.
- Turn on Auto Advance.
- Set yourself a very short viewing time—about 2 seconds per photograph.
- As each photograph appears, ask only two questions:
- Does it create an emotional connection with me?
- Does it have any obvious major flaw?
- If the answer is yes to the first question and no to the second, press P for Pick.
- If it doesn't make the cut, press U to leave it unflagged.
- Keep moving. Do not stop to inspect a Pick.
The important point is that a P is not a final keeper.
It means:
This photograph caught my attention. I want to look at it again.
You're deliberately resisting the temptation to examine focus, noise, subtle exposure problems, or other details.
Pass 2 — The Deliberate Cull
Now filter the shoot to show your Picked photographs.
This is where you slow down.
Look more carefully at:
- Focus and whether the important subject/detail is sufficiently sharp
- Composition
- Exposure
- Distracting elements
- Timing and expression
- Similar or duplicate photographs
- Whether another frame in the sequence is actually better
This is where X — Reject becomes useful.
If a photograph that initially caught your attention doesn't survive closer examination, mark it X.
You can now make comparisons that would have been counterproductive during the first pass.
The principle
The two passes serve different purposes.
Pass 1 asks:
Does this photograph make me stop emotionally, and is there no obvious reason to reject it?
Pass 2 asks:
Now that I've stopped, is this actually one of the photographs I want to keep?
The first pass protects the emotional response to the photograph.
The second pass applies the critical judgment.
And most importantly, don't let Pass 2 contaminate Pass 1. If you stop during the two-second pass to pixel-peep a photograph, you've changed the nature of the first pass.
The objective isn't to make the perfect decision in two seconds.
It's to make a good enough decision about which photographs deserve your time.
