essential skills: digital photography in available light
- Image editing - natural selection by ranking or fl agging
Digital capture has removed the cost factor that was previously associated with fi lm, and this
for many photographers has led to an increased number of images captured with each shoot.
Instead of being very selective with the viewfi nder of the camera many photographers now have
an increased selection task in post-production. The ability to ‘label’, ‘rate’ or ‘tag’ fi les to indicate a
preferred choice (choosing between the good, the bad and the downright ugly) makes this task a
relatively quick and effi cient process. I prefer to use the ‘Filmstrip view’ in Bridge for this process
so that I can see a large preview of the image I must choose to promote or relegate. After the
initial selection process is complete we can then proceed to the main options bar and switch to the
fi ltered view. This shows us only the favorites that we have fl agged or ranked.
Note > When you need to compare two images side-by-side to help the selection process
it is possible to create a second window of the same folder of images (File > New Window).
When selecting images some photographers prefer to adopt a system of lowering the rating
of images rather than increasing the rating. To take this approach start by rating all of the
images with 4 or more stars. Set the window to a fi ltered view of ‘Show 4 or More Stars’.
As you lower the rating of selected images they disappear from view but are not removed
from the folder. Use the keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+3 or Command+3) to lower the rating of
selected images to hide them from view.