We recently did a survey and asked thousands of photographers about their workflow, tools, and the challenges of running a photography business. You know what topped the list for the biggest pain point? The tedious task of culling.

Here are the top six tools photographers told us they use to help them cull through thousands of photos from weddings, events, family, and couples shoots. With each photo-culling software offering its unique benefits and drawbacks, you're sure to find one that fits your needs.

1. Adobe Lightroom Classic and Creative Cloud (CC)

Having developed professional editing software for photographers for decades, Adobe’s Lightroom has become the go-to tool for professional photographers worldwide. Two of its products–Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC–were in the top six of our list. 

Lightroom Classic is desktop-based, while Lightroom CC allows you to cull and edit images on any device using cloud storage. You get both apps when you subscribe to Adobe’s Photography plan, so we’ll look at how they both fare for photo culling.

Pros

• Culling and editing all in one - If you edit in Lightroom already, culling in the same software makes perfect sense. Lightroom makes it simple to upload photos, cull, and edit them without leaving the app. 
• Plenty of metadata features - Lightroom provides easy tools for adding and changing metadata (such as capture time). You can then sync the changes across the rest of your gallery.
• Smart collections - If you want to automate adding photos to specific collections (like for client sneak peeks), you can set up Smart Collections that match a specific rule, such as all photos with five-star ratings.

• Regular updates - With it being a subscription-based tool, you will always have the latest software update. Adobe releases updates a few times a year to make sure your Lightroom is up-to-date with the latest tech.

Cons

• Speed can be an issue - Importing photos can take a long time, especially if you have a large shoot like a wedding. You can optimize the import settings to a degree, but it still isn’t as fast as other apps on our list. Navigating between photos, the few-second lag adds up over time when culling a shoot with a few hundred photos, not to mention thousands.

• Takes up lots of space - You may see Lightroom slowing down or freezing altogether if you run low on disk space. Over time you’ll have to keep up with clearing old catalogs, preview cache, and any old or duplicated files or app versions to keep Lightroom running at an optimal speed for culling.

• No AI-assisted culling features - Lightroom only has manual culling features. 

2. Narrative Select

Built with smart technology, Select provides photographers with a simple and stress-free way to select photos clients will love while eliminating unsuccessful ones. While the software uses AI, it doesn't cull for you. Narrative’s philosophy isn’t for AI to replace photographers but to work with them in partnership to create their best work. 

Because of Select's AI, you can identify your best shots in less time and more accurately. The software gives different indicators on images, such as closed eyes or blurred subjects, to help you make an informed decision in seconds.

Select is also constantly being improved with new features based on feedback received from the photography community. 

Pros

• Speed - Select is lightning-fast to import files, so you can start culling without waiting for each photo to load. Any photos you review will show high resolution, so you don’t miss anything.
• Eye and Focus assessments - The software's eye assessments provide indicators to let you know the state of your subject's eyes, while focus assessments let you know how in focus your subject is. The color warnings, red for undesirable and green for desirable, make it easy to identify which photos you should review.
• Close-ups panel - For photos with people, you can use the Close-ups panel that instantly shows every subject’s face in detail. This means you don’t have to zoom in every time to check if the faces are sharp enough or if subjects have eyes open.
• Scenes view - Select can group similar images into scenes. Within Scenes view, you can sort the photos so that the images with yellow and red indicators are placed at the bottom of each scene. This enables you to quickly and easily identify the best image from each set of images.
• One-click import to Lightroom and Capture One - When you’re done culling, you can import your photos straight into Lightroom CC or Classic, or Capture One.
• A free plan (with advanced features) - The free plan includes all advanced AI culling features on the first four projects every month. 

Cons

• No Windows support (yet!) - the software is currently only available for macOS users, but you can sign up to be the first to know when there's an update about a Windows version.