Photo culling, picked by hand.
Our photo culling service narrows your full wedding or event shoot down to the keepers. Sharpest frames picked, duplicates flagged, star ratings or a picks folder back overnight under NDA.
Human editors · 3-level QC · Free overnight delivery · NDA on request
What is photo culling?
Photo culling is the first pass on every shoot: choosing the frames worth editing and delivering from the hundreds or thousands you captured. A good cull rejects missed focus and closed eyes, flags repeats, and keeps the best expression of every key moment.
Done by a person, it follows your target count and your priorities instead of an automated score, so the gallery still looks like your work.
Need color and skin work after the cull? That's retouching. See retouching ›
Every blink. Every repeat. Every key moment.
A cull is only as good as the eye behind it. Here is what our editors check in every frame of your shoot.
Three steps. Nothing to learn.
Send your shoot
Upload RAW (CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, DNG) or JPEG files. Add your target count and priorities, such as family formals, candids and detail shots.
We cull and check
A trained editor goes through every frame for sharpness, closed eyes and expression, and flags duplicates and near-misses. Each job passes a senior reviewer and a final QC check.
Download your picks
Get star ratings or a picks folder back, ready for your own edit. You always make the final call.
Add what the gallery needs.
Optional extras for galleries that need more than a cull, so you can hand off the whole job.
Color and exposure matching
Matched to your preset, or to 10 to 20 finished photos from a recent gallery, so the whole set looks like yours.
Portrait and skin retouching
Skin, flyaway hair, eye and teeth cleanup, done in your style. Retouching ›
Distraction removal
Distracting objects and background clutter cleaned out of your keepers before they reach the client.
Crop and export to your sizes
Cropped and exported in the sizes and color space you deliver in, ready for your gallery platform.
Add-ons are quoted together with your culling job. Get a quote ›
Overnight is included.
Upload tonight and your picks are back tomorrow, at no extra cost. When a client deadline can't wait, rush delivery goes down to 1 hour.
Built for peak season, not one-offs.
Wedding, event and portrait photographers send us full seasons of work. Your target count and priorities are applied the same way to the first gallery and the fiftieth.
Edited by hand
since 2005
- 78,066+
projects delivered, every one edited by hand.
- 5000+
clients, from solo photographers to global retailers.
- 250+
retouchers in production, around the clock.
Need more than a cull?
Photo culling questions, answered.
Read the full FAQ ›What is a photo culling service?
We review every frame of your shoot for sharpness, closed eyes and expression, flag duplicates and near-misses, and return star ratings or a picks folder, so you only edit and deliver the keepers.
How does your photo culling service work?
Upload the full shoot and tell us your target count and priorities, such as family formals, candids or detail shots. We select the keepers and return star ratings or a picks folder. You always make the final call.
Do you use AI to cull my photos?
No. Every selection is made by a trained editor, so your gallery reflects your eye instead of an automated score. Each job also passes a senior reviewer and a final QC check.
Can you cull a full wedding in peak season?
Yes. Your dedicated team scales up when your calendar does, and every job passes an editor, a senior reviewer and a final QC check, so the last frame gets the same attention as the first.
What files should I send, and what do I get back?
Send RAW files (CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, DNG) or JPEGs. You get back star ratings or a picks folder for your keepers.
How fast will I get my culled gallery back?
Standard 48-hour and 20-hour overnight delivery are both included: upload tonight and your picks are back tomorrow. 10-hour, 4-hour and 1-hour rush options are available with a surcharge. Send your client deadline with the order and we schedule around it.
Will you sign an NDA, and will my clients know?
Yes, we sign NDAs on request, before your first upload, either yours or ours. Your clients deal only with you. We never contact them and never show your work in our portfolio without your written permission.
Can you also edit the photos after culling?
Yes. We offer color and exposure matching to your preset and portrait retouching for photographers, all done by human editors. See retouching.
How much does photo culling cost?
Pricing depends on the size of the shoot and your turnaround, with volume pricing for photographers and studios who send regular work. Request a quote with your typical shoot size, or try us free.