It’s been a busy week. Back-to-back events have meant an overload of images on my computer; it’s a good thing I had recently revised my workflow in order to get through them that much faster.

I use Lightroom as my photo processing/cataloguing/kewording program of choice. I do about 90% of all my work there. I import images from a shoot and then quickly get to work culling them. That’s right – I delete images.

I have to say that my photography has gotten better as a result of this – it’s taught me to be a good editor, and as a good editor I take fewer shots in the first place. Of course I’m not as judicious with the “X” key as some, but I do it in a way that anything, say, unflattering of a bride, completely useless in general, or one of several accidental shots of my feet, gets deleted. I’ll keep doubles, even tripples of very similar images if they’re all good “just in case” and then quickly move to rating the images.

I work with Lightroom’s star system to sort out the “best” of any set of images. Usually the best one of any burst of images. At an event I’m taking 3-5 shots of any group and, really, if I didn’t move they’re all the same save for someone different blinking every time. If needed, I’ll take two images and blend them in Photoshop so everyone has a great smile, and eyes open as they intended.

Those are what I show to the client. Not the full set, not the stupid-face, but the best of what I have. It gives them a preferred sampling and, if they ask for “something different” I’ll gladly show them the ones I chose to leave behind. They usually go back to my selects 😉

Do you have a unique workflow? Using other programs like Photo-Mechanic or Aperture? This is just a taste of what works for me but I’d love to hear what other folk do.