There are two ways to cull with Imagen. The AI can group photos by scene and rate the best photos, or you can set the number of results you want, and the AI culls to that number. After culling is complete, you review the results in Culling Studio to decide which ones to edit.

This guide shows you how to create a new project for both culling methods.

Create a project to keep the best photos in a group
Create a project to cull to an exact number

Keep in mind

When you start a culling project, complete it on the same computer. If you open the project on a different computer, you'll only see Imagen's culling results without your local changes.
You can use edited previews to see your photos with an AI Profile before culling. However, they expire 60 days after you create your project. Try to finish your culling within this time frame to benefit from the edited previews.
20,000 photos in one culling project is the limit. If you need to cull more photos, divide them into smaller projects.

What's the best way to cull my shoot?

Here’s a short overview of both culling methods. Choose which one best fits your workflow. You can always cull your project again with a different method, if you want.

Keep the best photos of each group

This culling method groups similar photos and selects the best one from each group. It also finds unique photos that aren’t part of a group for you to review. It preserves variety while filtering out duplicates and low-quality shots.

We recommend this culling method when you want as much flexibility as possible. Use it for any photography type, and review results to tweak which photos you’ll edit.

This is the rating criteria:

Sneak peeks: Photos that tell the story of your shoot. Sneak peeks are only for weddings.
Keepers: The best photo in a group of similar photos.
Standalones: Rated the same as keepers. There are no alternatives to this photo. These photos don't have duplicates and aren't part of a group.
Duplicates: The remaining duplicate photos that weren't selected in the group.
Low-rated: Low-rated photos are blurry, accidentally captured, or improperly exposed. When photos are low-rated, the final pick will have fewer photos:
- There might be fewer groups of similar photos since low-rated photos aren’t included in the groups.
- If all the photos in a group are blurry, entire scenes might be filtered out.

Cull to an exact number

This culling method automatically reduces your project to an exact number or percentage of photos. It is designed for photographers who shoot thousands of photos but want to narrow down the number of keepers to the number they set.

This method works best when you want to keep between 15-30% of your total photos. It is optimized for projects with at least 1,000 photos, with a minimum of 250.

It’s not meant for sneak peeks or highlights.

This is the rating criteria:

Keepers: Top-rated photos within the number of photos you set.
Extras: High-rated photos that we recommend reviewing.
Unrated: Duplicates and low-quality shots.

When culling to a number, we group duplicates, but you can’t configure the grouping criteria. Also, if you want to keep a high number of photos, we might give back fewer than you asked for. This happens if we don’t find enough photos to rate as Keepers or Extras.

Create a project to keep the best photos in a group

Open Imagen, and on the Projects page, click Create a New Project, and then click Cull & edit.
Choose the photos you want to cull. Keep in mind:
If you are uploading photos from a folder, you won't be able to change this location later if you choose to export results out of Imagen. This can be problematic if your folder is on an external hard drive, and the drive isn't connected. Think about where you want to review results now, before you start.

See Upload photos from a catalog or Upload photos from a folder for help.

The new culling project opens.
Choose the folders or collections that have the photos to cull. Note that if you have rated your photos, you can filter them before uploading them to culling.
Click Next.
Name the culling project, choose a photography type, and choose whether you want to review the original photos or an edited preview of them.
If you want to review an edited preview, choose an AI Profile from the list. These edited previews help you make an informed choice when culling, and you aren’t charged for them. You’ll be charged only for the photos you send to edit later.
The edited previews are available for 60 days from the date you created your project.
Click Next and then click Keep the best of each group.
(Optional for weddings) Enable Rate photos as sneak peeks to get the best photos that tell the story of your wedding shoot. If you are using flags as your rating method, you can't use sneak peeks.
(Optional) Change the rating method and the criteria for grouping them. See Set up culling for more information about customizing the culling settings.
(Lightroom only) If your editing software is Lightroom, change the rating from Color labels to Stars or Flags. Lightroom doesn't support color ratings.
Click Upload. Your photos are uploaded, and culling takes place on the Imagen Cloud. On the Projects page, in the Active tab, you can track the culling progress in the Progression column.
Continue to Review your photos after culling. If you have sneak peeks, see Review culling results with sneak peeks as well.

Create a project to cull to an exact number

Open Imagen, and on the Projects page, click Create a New Project, and then click Cull & edit.
Choose the photos you want to cull. See Upload and download editing projects with Lightroom Classic or Upload and download editing projects with Lightroom, Photoshop, and Bridge for help.

The new culling project opens.
Choose the folders or collections that have the photos to cull. Note that if you have rated your photos, you can filter them before uploading them to culling.
Click Next.
Name the culling project, choose a photography type, and choose whether you want to review the original photos or an edited preview of them.
If you want to review an edited preview, choose an AI Profile from the list. These edited previews help you make an informed choice when culling, and you aren’t charged for them. You’ll be charged only for the photos you send to edit later.
Click Next and then click Cull to an exact number.
Set the number or percentage of photos to keep after culling, and change the rating method to Stars, if needed. Flags will be supported soon. See Set up culling for more information about customizing the culling settings.
Click Upload. Your photos are uploaded, and culling takes place on the Imagen Cloud. On the Projects page, in the Active tab, you can track the culling progress in the Progression column.
Continue to Review your photos after culling.

Create a new culling project