Guides

No-fluff guides for working photographers.

Practical workflows on culling, RAW editing, XMP sidecars, and keyboard-first selection — all from real shoots, not theory. Each guide is a complete walkthrough you can finish on a coffee break.

30 min · average read 4 guides · 30 minutes total Free · no signup, no email Updated 2026

Wedding workflow

Cull 3,000 wedding photos in 90 minutes

A keyboard-first workflow that gets you to a 387-photo client gallery — without burnout, without second-guessing.

9 min read · ShotSelect, Lightroom

macOS setup

The fastest way to cull RAW files on macOS

Why Lightroom is slow on RAW, and three setups that make culling feel instant — including the embedded-JPEG trick most apps don't ship.

8 min read · Apple Silicon

Metadata · Lightroom

XMP sidecars: how ratings sync between apps

The Lightroom-compatible metadata format that lets you cull anywhere and edit anywhere — without re-rating the same 3,000 frames.

7 min read · Adobe ecosystem

Productivity

Keyboard-first photo culling: complete shortcuts guide

Every shortcut you need to never touch the mouse — across ShotSelect, Lightroom, and Photo Mechanic. Side-by-side cheatsheet.

6 min read · Cross-app

More guides coming: ingesting SD cards in-place, burst grouping for wildlife, the color-label system for client review, and a full XMP round-trip from ShotSelect → Lightroom → Capture One. Want one prioritised? Tell us what you'd find useful.