My Lightroom Workflow – pt. 4

1to1prevs.jpgEver heard of the burst trick? If yes, I’ll show you how to use it with Lightroom to speed up your image selection process. If no, let me open up a tripod-less world to you.

Did I ever mention that I hardly ever carry a tripod with me? That for getting a shot I’d rather stabilize the camera another way? Such as leaning against something, propping the camera up on a rock or using a beanbag? And that I frequently use the bust trick?

The burst trick is an easy method to increase the chances of getting a hand-held shot at a long exposure time without camera shake. You simply set the camera to rapid fire mode and fire away a burst of two, thee, four or even more shots. Then you select the one shot from that burst that has the least amount of camera shake, or preferrably none at all.

Easier said than done. Personally I’m used to delete the shaky ones directly on my camera, but depending on the camera and its display (or simply depending on how much time I’ve got during the photoshoot), it’s not always possible. That’s why I have recently switched to doing this in Lightroom.

Here’s my step-by-step guide:

  1. Import all images, creating 1:1 previews (You’ll need them at 1:1 in order to be able to reliably spot the shaky pictures, and it’s much faster later on if you already have the previews created. Depending on the amount of pictures and your computer, this will take some time. Get yourself a cup a joe)
  2. Add a keyword to the images during import that is clearly different from all the other tags in your catalog. (I typically use asdf. This is only temporary)
  3. Create a Smart Collection with the following parameters: a) Keywords contains asdf, b) Pick Flag is unflagged. (This way the collection will only display images that have your special keyword and that are not flagged at all)
  4. Zoom in to 100% by hitting the space bar, use the mouse to move the image to an in-focus area if necessary.
  5. Use the left and right cursor keys to quickly go back and forth between the pictures of an individual burst. If you see one that has more camera shake than another one, hit the x key to mark the image rejected. (Thanks to having the 1:1 previews already rendered, the going back and forth is a very quick process. Thanks to the way the Smart Collection is set up, the flagged pictures will instantly vanish from your view, leaving only the unflagged ones.)
  6. Remove the asdf tag from the remaining images, you won’t need it anymore.

After having finished the shakey images removal, I give the remaining images a second pass (this time not at 100%, but on full view) and x out all of the other images that I don’t like.

At the end I go to the All Photographs view and hit COMMAND-backspace (Mac) or CTRL-backspace (Windows) in order to delete all images marked for rejection.

Do you have any cool Smart Collection tips and tricks of your own? Share them in the comments!

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Author: Chris Marquardt

Chris Marquardt is an educator and podcaster. He wrote Wide-Angle Photography and is the co-author of The Film Photography Handbook and Absolut analog. He's the host of this podcast and a few others. Chris teaches photography all over the world. He is a regular on the TWiT Network.