I’ll be upfront: I was skeptical. I’d heard photographers talking about AI culling tools for a while and kind of assumed it was one of those things that sounds good in theory but adds more steps than it removes.
I’ve been using Aftershoot for more than two years now, and it’s one of the few tools I’d genuinely miss if it disappeared. I updated this Aftershoot review in October 2026, after Aftershoot changed all of its plans and prices in May.
Here’s my actual experience with it, including where it shines and where it has limits. If you’re here for the discount code, here you go: get 10% off Aftershoot through my affiliate link.
Why I needed an AI culling tool
I shoot a lot. For family sessions especially, my whole approach is to keep things moving and candid: kids running, parents laughing, nobody standing stiff in a lineup. That means I’m shooting through moments rather than setting up individual frames, and I’d rather have too many photos than miss the one where the four-year-old does something completely unpredictable.
Same logic applies to weddings. I’m not going to miss the flower girl’s face or the moment grandma tears up at the end of the aisle because I was being conservative with my shutter.
That means I typically shoot 500 or more photos in a 1 to 2 hour session. I deliver about 10% of them, because I believe in giving clients the very best images rather than a massive folder they have to dig through themselves. So the gap between what I shoot and what I deliver is big, and culling was eating serious time.
Before Aftershoot, culling a session took me about an hour or more, depending on how many hours I was shooting. That’s almost as long as the session itself, which felt wrong. Now it takes around 30 minutes. Across a full shooting season, that’s a meaningful chunk of hours back.
How I actually use Aftershoot
My workflow is pretty consistent. I import all the photos from a session, select AI-assisted culling, choose the shoot type, and turn on a few settings that matter for the way I work.
The first is duplicate detection. This is the setting that makes the biggest difference for how I shoot. Aftershoot groups similar images into sets based on movement and composition, so I review groups instead of every individual frame. I use the large group setting, which means photos where someone shifts their arm slightly stay in the same group rather than creating a separate cluster. For sessions where I’m shooting through movement, that matters a lot. Otherwise I’d have dozens of tiny groups to click through instead of a manageable number of larger ones.
I also turn on blurry photo detection and closed eyes detection. The closed eyes one isn’t perfect when subjects are far away or looking down on purpose, but it does save me from zooming in on every frame to check. The color coding is what makes this practical: blurry photos and closed-eye shots are flagged visually, so I can see them at a glance before I’ve made any decisions.
Once the cull runs (I usually make a coffee while it processes), I go through the highlighted photos in each group, pick my selections, and export to Lightroom. The whole thing is clean and doesn’t require me to change anything else about my editing workflow.
What Aftershoot doesn’t do (for me)
Aftershoot does have an editing feature, and there’s a marketplace with different AI editing styles. Since May 2026 there’s also AI retouching. I haven’t used either, so I can’t give my opinion on them, although judging by all of the different styles in the marketplace, I think editing could be very useful for a lot of photographers.
My presets are highly specific to the Paris light conditions I’m working in. Morning light in the Marais shoots differently from golden hour near the Seine in November, and rainy days in Paris have their own quality entirely. I edit quite a bit even with my own presets, so I wasn’t ready to hand that over to an AI profile.
Plenty of photographers swear by the editing side of the tool, especially those with more consistent lighting conditions. It’s not where I get value from it personally. I write more about where I use AI and where I don’t in how I use AI to run my photography business.
How much does Aftershoot cost in 2026?
Aftershoot changed its pricing on May 28, 2026. The old Selects, Essentials, Pro and Max plans were replaced by separate modules you can combine. Every plan still includes unlimited images, with no per-image fees.
| Plan | What it covers | Billed yearly | Billed monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Select | AI culling | $10/month ($120/year) | $15/month |
| Edit | AI editing | $30/month ($360/year) | $35/month |
| Retouch | AI retouching | $20/month ($240/year) | $25/month |
| Complete | All three | $45/month ($540/year) | $55/month |
Prices are from Aftershoot’s pricing page, checked October 2026. You can also pair two modules, but only Complete comes with a discount.
The plan that matches how I use it is Select, which covers AI culling, duplicate detection, and blur and closed-eye detection. For most photographers starting out with AI culling, Select is the logical entry point. You can always add Edit later if you want to experiment with the editing side.
Already a subscriber? Aftershoot moved annual Selects and Pro customers to the matching new plan at the same price. Other older plans keep their current price through April 2028.
Is Aftershoot free? How the free trial works
There’s a 30-day free trial with full access to culling, editing and retouching, and you don’t need a credit card to start. After that you pick a paid plan, since there’s no free version of the culling or editing tools.
Use the trial to test it properly on a few real sessions before committing. I’d pick sessions you’ve already culled by hand, so you can compare its picks with yours.
You can also pause any plan once a year for up to three months, which helps in a slow season.
Is Aftershoot worth it?
For the way I work, yes. The time savings are real and they compound across a season. The mental load has shifted too. I’m no longer getting lost in a sea of similar frames trying to make micro-decisions. Aftershoot does the heavy lifting on the obvious cuts (blurry, duplicates, eyes closed) and leaves me to make the actual creative choices.
If you shoot a high volume and deliver a curated selection, this kind of tool pays for itself quickly. If you shoot 150 photos per session and already find culling easy, the math is different.
The editing feature is worth trying if your workflow is more standardized than mine. The marketplace has real options, and the AI learns from your existing Lightroom edits, which is a smarter approach than applying a static preset.
If you’re curious what else I rely on, here are the tools I use to run my photography business in Paris.
Aftershoot discount code
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Does Aftershoot work with Lightroom?
Yes. Once Aftershoot finishes culling, you export your selected photos directly into Lightroom Classic or Capture One. It doesn’t replace your editing software, it just handles the selection step before you get there.
How long does Aftershoot take to cull a session?
It depends on the number of photos and your computer’s processing speed. For a session of 500 photos, it typically takes a few minutes to run in the background. Enough time to make a coffee.
Do I need the internet to use Aftershoot?
No. Aftershoot runs locally on your computer, which means it works even without a Wi-Fi connection.
Is Aftershoot good for family photographers who shoot a lot?
It’s particularly well suited to high-volume shooting. The duplicate grouping feature is especially useful if you shoot through movement rather than setting up static poses.
What's the difference between Selects and Essentials?
Selects covers AI culling only. Essentials adds AI editing with access to the Aftershoot Marketplace of pre-built styles. Both include unlimited images.
