We all face the challenge of sorting through our images to find the keepers, the throwaways, and the best of the best. Personally I use both star ratings and ‘pick’ flags to sort my images. This tutorial is a quick tip on how to speed up your workflow when rating and picking images. You might only save a small amount of time for each image you review, but over several hundred or several thousand images, the time will add up.

Whenever possible, it helps to have Lightroom do the work for you. In this case, we will make Lightroom auto advance to the next image after we apply the star rating or flag the image as a pick. The first thing I do is to place all of my unrated images into one collection or folder. While in the Library module, I make the first image full screen within Lightroom (or complete full screen by pressing the ‘F’ key in Lightroom 5). This will allow you to see the image at a large size so you can make a good decision as to how you want to rate the image. Next, make sure the caps lock is turned on. By turning on the caps lock, Lightroom knows that it should automatically advance to the next image any time a rating is applied to the current image. Once caps lock is on, use the number keys 1 through 5 to rate the images or press ‘P’ to flag the image as a pick.

I rate all of my images with stars to help keep track of the quality of my images. There is no right or wrong way to do it here, you need to find out what works for you. Here is my rating system:

1 star = picture is no good, trash

2 stars = not usable other than for some kind of abstract background, image not in focus

3 stars = image in focus, but nothing special, more of a snapshot, sometimes deliverable depending on client and intent of photographs

4 stars = image in focus, good composition, interesting etc., deliverable image

5 stars = fantastic image, one of my favorites, deliverable image

I use a ‘Pick’ flag for all images that I want to deliver to a client, print, post on my website or blog, etc.

After you initially review your images and rate them, it’s a good idea to revisit the images after a few days to see if you have changed your mind on any of the ratings you choose. This can be a quick look through all of the images again. You may see the hidden potential in an image that you did not notice the first time you reviewed the image.

Turning on the caps lock allows Lightroom to auto advance to the next image which will save you time and energy when reviewing your photographs. By using a streamlined review process for your images, you will become more efficient in post processing as well as be able to spend more time working on the best images from your photoshoot.

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