Photographers, Do This For Consistency In Your Gallery

As a private editor for photographers, I have found that sometimes, in editing their favorites from different parts of the day, they can sometimes create some inconsistencies in their gallery without knowing it, because the images they select are from different parts of the session/day. However, there is a pretty easy way to check for consistency BEFORE sending the catalog off to the editor and I'm going to share that with you today!

When a photographer works with me for editing, they are culling their photos and then selecting their favorite images from the session to edit for the sneak peek and blog. These become the anchor images and are what I work off of to edit the rest of the gallery. Most galleries have different locations, which means different lighting, which calls for different editing. This doesn't mean you can't have a cohesive gallery where your edits all flow together. All you need to do is some quick labeling and filtering.

Select Your Favorites
In selecting the images you want to edit for the blog and sneak peek, you are most likely putting some kind of label on those images. It might be a flag, a star rating, or a color. For this example, we are going to use a flag for our favorite images. So you have gone through, culled your images down, and now you've flagged your favorites and edited them.

Select the Filter*
We want to see just the flagged images in the Library to check for overall consistency. Are any photos much warmer or cooler than others? Are any much lighter or darker than others? Make any adjustments as needed. (Don't forget to check for any straightening needs as well!)

Select the Black & Whites
Within your flagged favorites, go ahead and add a second filter just on the B&Ws. In this example, I labeled them green. This is another consistency check. We don't want any of our B&W edits to not match the others. (If you didn't know that you should develop a look for your B&W edits as well, let's talk!) Because there is no color, sometimes inconsistencies in these images can stand out more than inconsistencies in color images.

Deselect All Filters
Before you send the catalog to your editor, you want to make sure you have deselected all the filters so that you are sending them the full catalog!


That's it! If you add a bit of filtering into your workflow, you can easily check your consistency and you will be that much happier with the gallery you get back from your editor. After all, we will work off of your anchors. I NEVER touch an anchor unless expressly asked to.

If you're not ready for an editor and are doing it all yourself, this process can still benefit you because you will be set up in a better position when you start the major editing! If you are ready to work with a private editor, I would love to explain the process to you more! Send me an email at [email protected] and we can talk!


*I do not recommend using the red label for this process, as I recommend reserving that for use on images you're struggling with and want to come back to later.