Aftershoot Review

Time is a commodity we all wish we had more of but when we only have 24 hours in a day to make the most of, finding tools that can help us manage our time better is paramount. This is where Aftershoot steps in and introduces itself as a tool photographers who have a large collection of photos should really be taking a look at. To summarise, Aftershoot uses AI to cull your photos down to a manageable amount, using algorithms and clever tools to choose only good photos you can then label and edit in software such as Adobe Lightroom. How good of a job it actually does we don’t know yet but we’re about to find out. 

Aftershoot Features

Aftershoot is AI-based software you can install on your Mac or PC that uses machine learning to remove photos it deems to be bad/poor and presents you with the best shots. For example, you might have several shots of a bride at a wedding captured in the same spot under different lighting or she’s smiling in some but not in others. Like-wise with images that you’ve captured with continuous shooting, Aftershoot will look at them and present you with the best versions (depending on the criteria you set). 

A great feature of Aftershoot is that it doesn’t use the cloud and it works without an internet connection so you don’t have to wait for images to be uploaded anywhere. You aren’t charged per image to cull and edit either so you can funnel an unlimited number of photos through the software. It’s also compatible with Adobe Lightroom and now, Capture One (the only provider to offer Capture One integration for editing).

There is a feature called Aftershoot Edits which you do have to upload images to the Cloud so the software can learn how you edit images. This option is currently in Beta and t works by applying adjustments to photos before you export them. It’s a nice addition but not one we’ll be focusing on in this review. 

Aftershoot Key Features:

• AI-powered photo culling 
• Functions offline (no uploading to the Cloud)
• Compatible with Adobe Lightroom and Capture One 
• Removal of images isn’t permanent 
• Can adjust the parameters for image culling
• Beta Aftershoot Edits for AI photo editing

Aftershoot Ease Of Use & Performance

Downloading and installing Aftershoot is a straightforward process and you get 30 days to try the Premium version for free. As mentioned, Aftershoot works offline on Mac or Windows which means you’re not relying on an Internet connection to get your images uploaded to the Cloud before you can start. 

A really useful feature is the pop-up balloons? labels? (whatever you want to call them) that talk you through the process of getting images from your hard drive and into the software for analysis. Once you’ve done it a few times, it’ll become second nature though. For those who like keyboard shortcuts, there’s a handy key top left that gives you all of the shortcuts that are available that once learnt, will speed up your workflow even more. 

The User Interface is very modern, clean and predominantly black which gives the eyes a rest as it’s not glaring and allows your images to stand out. You can view your images in a grid or as single shots in a loupe view. 

Hit the ‘Start Culling’ button and a window opens with various options for controlling how many photos are culled. You can customize the results, leave the software to make choices on its own or even make selections manually if you like. Some of the parameters the software uses to cull photos are if a shot is blurry, if someone’s eyes are closed and if the image is a duplicate. When you start the culling process, a message top right lets you know how long is left as a % (and with an amusing message about unicorns). From 208 images, Aftershoot reduced the selection to just 58 photos in 3 minutes which if we did the same process manually would have taken a lot longer. The software shows how many duplicates were present (98 in our case), if any are blurred, have closed eyes and there’s also a ‘Warnings’ filter which is where images that have no duplicates and might be blurred, for example, are still shown as you might have done it for artistic purposes.

Aftershoot uses a star and colour code, similar to what you see in Lightroom, for ordering/sorting photos. These ratings can be customised by yourself in the settings or you can use the system the AI creates. As well as ratings, you can see how many similar photos were found as a number appears over each thumbnail. 

View your photos in the Loupe view and you can see the duplicates the AI found along with the rating it gave them should you want to compare the images further. 

The speed you’re presented with a selection of images that don’t feature duplicates and are of good quality is really impressive and certainly processes data quicker than any human ever could. 

Once you have your chosen photos, you can export them to a folder on your hard drive or choose to import them into photo editing software such as Lightroom where the star and colour ratings will also appear. 

Aftershoot like to email you once a cull has been completed so you know how many photos were culled, how many were selected and how much time you’ve saved by using the software. It’s not a feature that’s really needed but an interesting thing to receive for those who enjoy data. 

Value For Money

Aftershoot is priced at $119.88 if you play for a year upfront or you can choose to pay $14.99 a month if you need a more flexible option. To test the software out, a 30-day free trial is available. There are other AI-based photo-culling services out there, such as FilterPixel, but as we’ve not reviewed the software, we can’t comment on how good it is. Those who own Lightroom can cull images from the Library before adding ratings etc. but this has to be done manually so it will take much longer. 

Aftershoot Verdict

Aftershoot is designed to speed up your photo management process by eliminating bad photos without much input from yourself and it does a really great job. Aftershoot is quick, it’s effective and really easy to get to grips with. To help you out, there are a tonne of tutorials on-hand and as no original photos are ever removed, you don’t have to worry about the AI making a bad choice. We can see Aftershoot being a real time saver for those who shoot weddings and regularly capture portraits on photo shoots – Highly Recommended. 

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