Comments on: Lightroom Star Ratings: A Quick Guide

By: Chris Pearson

Chris Pearson — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 22:05:17 +0000

Yesterday I sorted 502 images I shot at a sporting event down to just 40 images in around 30 minutes.

I selected auto advance from the Photo menu in the Library module so that every time I make a flag, star or colour selection the catalogue advances to the next image automatically. I then did a first pass using 'u' (unpick) or 'p' (pick) to select or reject images.

I then used the 'attribute' filter in grid view in the Library module and selected to show only flagged images. The next pass through I used '0' and '1' shortcut keys to select star ratings to 1 star or no stars and then changed my attribute selection to 'flagged' and '1 star'.

I repeated this process up to 4 stars and then went through all the images to do a quick crop where necessary and then went through and did a final pass to set 5 stars. The 5 star images were then edited before exporting.

Basically, the first pass is to go through and sort out which images are unusable (out of focus, subjects eyes closed, etc.). Every pass after that is about whittling down the images to a final number of images for processing. It doesn't always take 5 stars. Sometimes I can get down to the final number in 3 passes. It all depends how many image I shot and how many images I need.

It's a really useful way of quickly sorting through a lot of images, but you do have to be quite brutal if you want to get through that many images quickly.

By: Ian Browne

Ian Browne — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 19:31:17 +0000

In reply to Ian Johnson. thanks for the reply --- when flagging; do you use the ~ key (top LHS corner win 10)?

By: Ian Johnson

Ian Johnson — Sat, 23 Mar 2019 22:30:18 +0000

In reply to Ian Browne. Hi Ian, yes, I also use X to reject photos and delete using what you've described. It depends on the complexity of the shoot! And GREAT tip on burst. I use it cautiously because I know I won't want to look back through that many photos!

By: Ian Browne

Ian Browne — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 06:32:37 +0000

Hello; I gave up on the star way years ago. An image for me is out (X), in (~) or maybe (blank)
Maybes are moved [ likely never seen again ] to a “not flagged” folder.
Rejects (X) are deleted (Ctrl + Backspace) without a second look.. . All that is left in the “last import” folder are flagged files which are assist again . The best keep the flag and the others are unflagged and move to the “not flagged” folder.
Now that saves the worry of “is that a 2 star or a 3 star file — maybe 4 stars —– maybe — maybe —- why did I take so many photos??? I hate doing this and takes so long!!!

I seldom use burst mode for that very reason 😉

I use stars for a guide to editing done . Colour tags are used in similar ways. Purple = layers ; blue = shared online .
There was a time I use 1 star for in and x to delete while all other were likely never used . The reason being , Lr flags and not readable in other Apps while stars and colour tags can be .

Why 1 star or Flagged (~) you ask. It means you can do it all with a couple of fingers on the left hand while the right hand is busy on the arrow keys or quick edit sliders
(~ key) will flag; AND unflag files . I have no idea why ~ is never in many; or any Lightroom articles about sorting. I found it by accident and I’m not even sure if Adobe know about it.
BTW: I still Lr5 — yep I’m an old —- older bloke 😆
Cheers

By: Ian Browne

Ian Browne — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 02:30:05 +0000

Sorry if this is the second one — something weird happened

I seldom use burst mode for that very reason 😉

By: Ian Johnson

Ian Johnson — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 00:56:29 +0000

In reply to darryl3. Hi Darryl, great tip! Thanks! Cheers, Ian

By: Ian Johnson

Ian Johnson — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 00:55:44 +0000

In reply to Russell.

Hi Russell, absolutely! Good point, yes, you need to make sure 0’s do not get deleted across the board. I make sure to be very careful that I’m working in the correct folder structure before filtering for deleting. Good tip to include auto advance! Cheers,
Ian

By: Russell

Russell — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 18:31:16 +0000

I would avoid using 0 stars to indicate images for deletion – too easy to remove images that simply didn’t get a rating for whatever reason. I use 0 stars specifically to define images as “not yet assessed”. Then I don’t have to manage my workflows linearly – I can come back to a casual shoot after dealing with an important shoot.
Number keys for assigning ratings (esp combined with auto advance) is life-changing.
Which doesn’t say much about my life… 🙂

By: darryl3

darryl3 — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 14:23:37 +0000

I use a very similar workflow and it’s great. The one time-saving setting you need to enable is “Auto Advance” under the Photo menu when you are in Library mode. This will automatically select the next photo once you apply a star, color, or flag to the active one.

I also assign every photo 2 stars once they are imported and turn on filters to show photos rated 2 stars and up (I use a keyboard without a keypad and the 0 is not easily reachable with one hand). Then I begin culling/rating in Library mode (it is much more responsive than Develop mode for some reason) and hit the space bar if I need to zoom in quickly. 1=reject, 2=keep, 3+ =$$. This 1-2-3 system is easier than 1-0-2. With the rating filter on it’s easy to see how many you are keeping as you go.