Time is incredibly valuable to all of us, but especially to those of us who are working professionals, and especially during the holidays! If you’re a photographer who does portraits or weddings, then you know just how hectic things can get this time of year.
That is why today we are going to showcase one of the best ways you can save both time and money! We’re talking about your workflow, and in this article we are going to demonstrate how you can harness the recent advancements in AI to completely streamline your entire photo editing process.
We have been actual customers of Aftershoot for years now, with our studio clicking, culling, editing, and delivering literally millions of photos per year. Now, we are using AI throughout the process to help automate any repetitive tasks, which gives us more time to focus on creativity! Also, since it’s Black Friday, it is of course time to lock in the absolute best price (20% off) on their current and upcoming features.
With that said, let’s dive in!
How Can AI Revolutionize Your (Entire) Workflow?
Artificial Intelligence can do a lot of things, and in the spirit of full disclosure, we don’t support some of those things! We believe that AI should be used in careful, calculated ways to make our lives easier. With that in mind, one of the biggest ways that we are harnessing the power of AI is this: eliminating tedious, repetitive tasks from our lives! As photographers, by far the most tedious and repetitive task we undertake is, of course, culling and color-correcting hundreds or even thousands of photos every week. (Here in Southern California, both weddings and portrait sessions happen all year-round!)
Consistency & Efficiency
First and foremost, machine learning in general will always do this one thing much better than humans can: consistent results, and fast! How can artists use this to help them with their subjective, creative work, though? By using technology to create a streamlined workflow that empowers them to focus less on anything “tedious”, and focus more on all the creative aspects.
In other words, we use AI in photo editing to simply build a solid foundation, and that affords us more time to focus on creativity.
(Indeed, long before AI ever existed, this was always our motto in terms of editing photos! “Solve the biggest problems first, [White Balance, Exposure, etc] in batch form, and then worry about artistic refinements next…”)
We’ve reviewed Aftershoot already, and we’ve actually used it for innumerable photos at our wedding & portrait studio. Simply put, in terms of consistent results and efficiency, it delivers. It’s one of the best options in the industry!
Simplicity
Another aspect of workflow that can save time is having a simple, straightforward workflow and user interface. That is another area where we appreciate Aftershoot, because unlike some competitors it offers both culling and color-correction all in one place.
This includes things like cropping/straightening, subject masking, and detecting duplicates. Soon, Aftershoot will also include AI retouching! We’ll talk more about that shortly…
Either way, all of these things add up to an incredible amount of time saved. (Also, money saved, and even emotional energy saved!) From consistently delivering high-quality results, fast, to the simplicity of managing everything from just one or two apps, …you’re going to see value year-round.
Future-Proof
This is something that those of us with ADHD struggle the most to keep in mind: how can we future-proof our business and our lives? Usually, it’s not an easy task, because technology is ever-changing, and we’re forced to continually learn new things, re-learn and re-think existing systems, etc.
So, this will always be a thorn in our side. However, we honestly believe that some of the best ways to harness AI in our editing workflow have indeed already arrived! So, the best thing we can do to future-proof our system is to lock it in now, and then rest assured that future years will provide the same simplicity and efficiency that we’ve outlined above.
And, what better way to do this than to take advantage of a Black Friday deal? (20% off!) We do this for many other aspects of our everyday lives; this is one opportunity that will pay for itself many times over, both in terms of time and money saved.
Aftershoot Workflow – A Start-To-Finish Solution
So, what does it look like to use AI as a start-to-finish solution for your photo editing? This is definitely a next-level way to work as a photographer, compared to using a whole pile of different apps for each individual task. Here is what it’s like to use Aftershoot…
One-Click Cull & Edit
The newest feature in Aftershoot combines all of the apps features, and rolls them into one workflow system: as its name suggests, all it takes is one click, and your latest photo shoot will “cull and edit itself!” There’s not much else we can say to describe this new feature; it’s just a new way to make your workflow more efficient and streamlined. This leaves you with enough saved time for BOTH relaxing, and focusing on your artistic creativity instead of the monotonous parts of a workflow.
We’ve already taken this new feature for a spin, and yes, it works great! When combined with Aftershoot’s other new feature, “Extreme Cull”, we definitely agree with the official claims that Aftershoot is saving professional photographers at least 120 hours in post-production! As a large studio with multiple photographers, we’ve undoubtedly saved many times more than that.
(If you are just one photographer and maybe one assistant or 2nd shooter, a side note: We are unsure of the details regarding Aftershoot’s statement about saving 120+ hrs; it is likely a per-year measurement, though.)
Culling In Aftershoot
For those of you who are just starting out as aspiring professional photographers, you might have just recently heard of the term “culling”, and experienced just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the tedium involved.
In short, before you ever actually EDIT your photos, you’ll need to “kick out” the ones you don’t want to keep, and “flag” the “keepers”. This is often where our creative right-brained superpower can come to a screeching halt, even though it’s a rather simple task… (Keep the most in-focus shots, the best smiles, etc…)
So, right off the bat, we absolutely love letting AI handle this task for us; not only does it save us tons of time, but it basically eliminates the stress and struggle of getting over the first hurdle between us and delivering clients’ photos in a timely manner.
Editing In Aftershoot
Once culling is done, “editing” can mean anything from applying basic color correction and cropping, to getting artistic with a creative style, AKA a “filter” or a “LUT”. Here, it gets a bit complicated in terms of trusting AI to handle such a creative process. However, as we mentioned before, the best thing you can do is automate a baseline, a foundation, and then go from there.
Once again, Aftershoot delivers on its promise. If you’re using at least their “Essentials” plan, and have access to both their unlimited AI Culling and unlimited AI Editing systems, then you’ll never have to worry about setting that “baseline” for color correcting your keeper images; you can go straight to making sure the results suit your own artistic vision! (The Essentials plan includes access to 30+ built-in “Styles”)
For those who want to actually train the Aftershoot AI to edit photos exactly like they would, the “Pro” plan adds an incredibly valuable feature: a Personal AI Editing Profile! This allows you to train the AI using your own (previously edited) images, so the one-click edited results look as close as possible to how you would subjectively, creatively want them to.
We strongly recommend that Pro plan to any professional photographers who work consistently throughout the year. Or, for any full-time pro portrait & wedding photographers who do a lot of work every month, the “Max” plan notably offers FIVE Personal AI Editing Profiles, if you need more than just the one.
Retouching (Coming Soon!)
Here is where things get really exciting; this is something that has caught our eye throughout 2024 and we’re delighted to see it coming soon to Aftershoot. That is, AI powered portrait retouching! This is such big news, however, that we’ll give its details their own entire section, next…
Use This Black Friday Aftershoot Deal To Lock In Your Cost!
Before we go any further, we want to make sure that you’ve caught our hints by now: there is an amazing Black Friday deal going on for Aftershoot! Here are the details:
That’s 20% off, across the board. Maybe you’re just looking for some relief from the most monotonous task that gets the ball rolling, or you need a fully automated system for your entire workflow, we highly recommend getting whichever plan suits your needs best.
Furthermore, keep in mind that the upcoming AI Retouching tool is available to “lock in” for those who get a Pro or Max plan! The Pro plan comes with one year of free, unlimited AI Retouching, (one year from its release date) and the Max plan users will lock in lifetime access included with their active subscription.
AI Retouching – Coming Soon To Aftershoot
So, what is Aftershoot working on right now? In addition to the list of impressive new features recently released, their AI Retouching tool is about to be released in beta form, with the full release to follow.
AI Retouching will include everything that a portrait photographer would love to automate in this final step of photo editing. (Once again, eliminating the tedious aspects that are mostly technical, not subjective creativity…)
According to Aftershoot, we’ll see these features:
- Blemish & Wrinkle Removal
- Teeth Whitening
- Glasses Glare Reduction
- Individual Subject Retouching
- Object Removal
This final piece of the puzzle is undoubtedly going to save us innumerable hours of time. Although retouching is not something we apply to every single portrait, of course, it is definitely one of the most laborious and time-consuming aspects of editing.
Yes, retouching can be a subjective, personal decision. However, in our experience with AI-powered retouching so far, our same philosophy applies: Start with automating the baseline, and then fine-tune it! Usually, all you need is just one or two sliders to adjust the intensity of an overall effect, and a few options to control which exact facial features or blemishes are retouched.
And, according to this teaser video by Aftershoot, …that’s exactly what is in store for us. There is a waitlist you can get on, at this link here.
Conclusion
Whether you are currently wrapping up wedding photography season or you’re still in the middle of a packed holiday portrait session rush, right now is the best time to lock in your post-production workflow system. The best way to future-proof your photography business is to secure not just the workflow itself, but the expenses of both time and money.
With that in mind, we strongly recommend that everyone jump on the Aftershoot Black Friday deal.
Download Aftershoot (30-day trial!)
Not only can you save 20% by taking advantage of the Black Friday sale, you can also take Aftershoot for a spin for 30 days and see how you like it. With Aftershoot’s 30-day money-back guarantee, it’s completely risk-free. So, check out the Aftershoot website for more info, and experience for yourself all the advantages we’ve been talking about!
