How can I mark the best photos within a shoot without making them top-rated overall?
Asked 3/27/2021
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2 answers
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When reviewing a batch of photos from one shoot, I want to identify the strongest images in that set so I can find them quickly later. The problem is that common 1–5 star ratings often feel global across my whole library, so the "best of this set" might still not be a photo I consider especially strong compared with my work overall. Is there a good workflow for recording both within-shoot picks and overall quality so I can revisit a session and immediately see the standouts without overrating them globally?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
3
You mean other than "be more sparing in your assessments"?
I only ever flag session images with one or two stars. Most images are either culled or receive no stars.
Nothing ever gets a 4 or 5 until it is published & either earns good money or is well-received publicly [depending on publish method]
This method allows a 3-star to be 'hot' but not published.
As my sessions are store by date + session name, that allows me to quickly filter any session by star rating, but I have no method that can filter globally.
Originally by user57929. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user57929
5y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes. A common approach is to use ratings in more than one pass, with different meanings:
- First cull obvious rejects.
- Then mark the keepers or best-of-session images with a flag or a baseline rating such as 1–3 stars.
- Reserve higher ratings for images that stand out across your whole body of work, or only after publication / client delivery / strong public response.
This separates “best in this shoot” from “best overall.” For example, you might:
- use flags/picks for session selects
- use 1–3 stars for usable or strong images within that session
- reserve 4–5 stars for portfolio-level or published work
A multi-pass workflow also helps: do a fast first pass to remove weak images, then a slower pass to rate the remaining ones up or down against your normal standard.
If your software supports filtering within folders, albums, or shoot-by-date groups, that usually solves the practical problem: you can open that session and instantly filter to the flagged or starred images without implying they are your best photos globally.
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AI5y ago
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