I’ll admit it, I’m a little late to the party.
After taking a month away from work recently, I’ve been playing catch-up with software updates, product reviews, workshops and everything else that tends to pile up while you’re away. One of those updates was Aftershoot.
Now before anyone points out that Aftershoot’s editing features aren’t exactly new, you’re absolutely right. I’ve actually been using Aftershoot since its early days, but almost exclusively as a culling tool. For years it has been one of the first applications I open after a shoot, helping me quickly sort through hundreds of images and identify the keepers without spending hours staring at thumbnails.
What I hadn’t really explored was everything Aftershoot has become.
With AI editing, retouching tools, galleries and a much more polished workflow now built into the platform, I decided it was finally time to take a proper look at what the latest version offers and whether it could fit into my workflow as a portrait, still life, macro and creative photography educator.
First Impressions
The biggest surprise wasn’t any individual feature.
It was how much the software has matured.
In the beginning, Aftershoot had one very clear purpose: help photographers get through image selection faster. It did that well, and for many photographers, that alone justified the investment.
Today it feels much more like a complete post-production assistant rather than simply a culling application.
The interface remains clean and approachable, which is something I’ve always appreciated. Despite the additional functionality, it doesn’t feel overwhelming or cluttered.
The Feature I Already Loved: AI Culling
Let’s start with the reason I originally adopted Aftershoot.
Anyone who photographs workshops, creative portrait sessions, events or large personal projects knows how quickly image counts can grow. Sorting through hundreds or even thousands of frames can be one of the least enjoyable parts of photography.
Aftershoot’s AI culling continues to be the standout feature for me.
The software identifies duplicates, near-duplicates, closed eyes, missed focus and other technical issues while highlighting what it considers the strongest images from a sequence.
Does it always make exactly the same selections I would make?
No.
And honestly, I wouldn’t want it to.
Photography remains subjective. What Aftershoot does brilliantly is reduce the number of decisions I need to make. Instead of reviewing every single frame, I can focus my attention on a much smaller group of potential finalists.
The latest version also appears to do a better job grouping similar images together, making it easier to compare and select the strongest frame from a series.
For me, this remains the biggest time saver in the entire application.
Exploring AI Editing
This was where things became interesting.
Historically, I’ve always preferred to handle my own editing in Lightroom and Photoshop. Like many photographers, I’ve developed a personal editing style over years of trial and error.
So I approached the editing tools with some healthy scepticism.
The latest version allows you to create and train AI editing profiles based on your own work, helping the software learn your editing preferences rather than applying a generic one-size-fits-all preset.
The results were better than I expected.
Rather than trying to completely replace my editing process, I found it worked best as a starting point. Exposure, white balance, contrast and overall tonal adjustments were often surprisingly close to where I would have taken the image myself.
Would I still make refinements afterwards?
Absolutely.
But beginning with an edit that’s already 80 to 90 percent of the way there can significantly reduce the amount of repetitive work required.
One thing I appreciated was that Aftershoot wasn’t trying to completely take over my editing process. The AI edits generally got me close, but not all the way there. As photographers, most of us have developed our own style over time and I still found myself making refinements afterwards.
The software got me most of the way there, but I wasn’t ready to hand over all creative decisions to AI just yet.
AI Cropping and Straightening
Aftershoot also includes AI-powered cropping and straightening tools.
In my testing, the straightening feature didn’t really have much to do. Most of the images I was working with were studio portraits where horizons and architectural lines weren’t a major factor.
The aggressive crop option was a little less successful for me.
It tended to apply very similar crops across multiple images, which isn’t necessarily what I want when working with creative portrait sessions. Every image has different strengths and often requires its own unique crop.
Personally, I still prefer to handle cropping manually, but photographers who process large volumes of similar images may find more value here.
The Retouching Tools
The area I was most curious about was the retouching tools.
Features like flyaway hair removal, wrinkle reduction, skin retouching, shine reduction and teeth brightening have been added to the platform, allowing photographers to perform basic retouching without immediately jumping into Photoshop.
Some tools impressed me more than others.
Flyaway hair removal worked surprisingly well and was one of the standout features during testing. Anyone who photographs people regularly knows how much time can be spent cleaning up stray hairs, and Aftershoot handled many of them automatically.
The fabric wrinkle reduction tool was another pleasant surprise. It did a respectable job cleaning up wrinkles in clothing and fabric backdrops without requiring manual retouching.
The skin retouching tools were useful, although I found they worked best as a starting point rather than a finished solution. They handled minor blemishes reasonably well but weren’t quite aggressive enough for more complex retouching jobs.
Likewise, the shine reduction tool can be very effective, particularly for portraits photographed under studio lighting, but you’ll want to use it carefully. Push it too far and skin can start to look a little flat and unnatural.
For photographers delivering large volumes of images, these tools could save significant time. For detailed portrait retouching, however, Photoshop still remains part of my workflow.
Galleries: A Logical Next Step
One feature I was particularly interested in exploring was the addition of galleries. It’s even locked down so I couldn’t grab a screen shot! It has a slideshow feature, favourites and more.
This feels like a natural progression for Aftershoot.
Instead of culling your images, editing them, exporting them and then moving into a separate gallery platform, Aftershoot is clearly working towards keeping more of the workflow under one roof.
For photographers delivering client work, this could simplify the overall process considerably.
As someone who primarily photographs creative portrait sessions, workshops, still life projects and educational content, I’m still exploring exactly how galleries might fit into my workflow. However, I can certainly see the appeal of having image delivery integrated alongside culling and editing.
Performance
One thing that has remained consistent throughout Aftershoot’s evolution is speed.
The software processes large image sets quickly and efficiently, allowing me to continue working while the AI handles much of the heavy lifting in the background.
Because processing happens locally on your computer, you’re not constantly waiting for cloud uploads or downloads before work can begin.
That local-first approach continues to be one of the platform’s greatest strengths.
Who Is Aftershoot For?
While Aftershoot is often associated with wedding, event and newborn photographers, I think that’s selling it short.
Any photographer dealing with large image volumes can benefit.
That includes:
- Portrait photographers
- Event photographers
- Sports photographers
- Wildlife photographers
- School photographers
- Commercial photographers
- Workshop instructors
- Content creators
Even as someone who regularly photographs smaller, carefully crafted still life setups, I found value in speeding up the repetitive parts of image management. Even with my holiday snaps. The beauty of Aftershoot is that it doesn’t completely take control, but it does genuinely help out with culling.
The less time spent sorting and making repetitive adjustments, the more time available for creativity.
Final Thoughts
Coming back to Aftershoot after focusing primarily on its culling capabilities for years was genuinely eye-opening.
The software has evolved well beyond its original purpose.
Will it replace Lightroom and Photoshop for me?
No.
Lightroom still offers more precise editing controls, and Photoshop remains essential for advanced retouching, object removal, background cleanup and compositing.
What Aftershoot does exceptionally well is eliminate much of the repetitive work that happens before those final finishing touches.
Importing, culling, batch editing, basic retouching and client delivery can now happen inside a single ecosystem.
That’s a significant leap from the Aftershoot I first started using years ago.
If you’ve only ever thought of Aftershoot as a culling tool, it may be time to take another look.
You might be surprised by how much it can do.
