Assisted Culling is the new Lightroom feature for 2026. But no one needs to be a better photographer, and not for the reasons you think.
Lightroom Ai culling is Hot Garbage…
Photos in today’s session were edited with Filmist presets and the new Alchemist 3 actions.
The rejects are often the best photo.
Every photo I added in this post was rejected by Lightroom’s Assisted Culling. That’s because feeling and emotion that AI tools don’t get. Every
Most photographers are no longer taught that the way they cull defines their work. It’s one of the hardest skills for most image makers, and it can’t be left to a machine.
Use good tools, but always practice better culling.
I can teach Shadow and light and space, and line. But learning how to pick the best of 20 photos from the same pose is something only years of practice can teach you.
If we start handing this off to a machine, even when that machine is better than this admittedly per-release version. We will lose that skill, and photos will all look the same.
AI tools homogenize art.
Whether Ai generation of culling. It takes away the nuance that makes photos great. That is atmosphere and feeling and soul and the vision we had when we pressed the shutter.
Skip auto-culling and keep looking at every photo
Gavin Seim
Very good point, but a lot of misspellings and missing words. Did AI write this article?
Lol, no if Ai wrote it there would be no misspellings. I spend all the time on the video and was in too much of a hurry on blog post but it’s on my todo list today.