Is iMatch good for culling photos?

[thusband]

I'm developing my workflow with iMatch along with FastRawViewer, DxO Photolab 3 and Affinity. Culling a shoot has become a little more complicated than I expected as there seems to be some inconsistency in reading the XMP file especially with DxO Photolab. iMatch, FRV and, I assume, Affinity have their act together. Photolab doesn't write back to the XMP sidecar so changing a rating in the application is useless since only PL3 sees it.

I'll do a first pass in FRV and then take them into PL3 for some general editing and their excellent RAW converter. I'll also give them a second look and change or add ratings. At some point I'll go into iMatch for key wording but I wonder if I did it sooner could I cull and rate at the same time

Do folks use iMatch to do initial rating of a shoot? I was playing around with it the other night and it seemed to choke while reviewing photos quickly but maybe I was missing something.

edit: I should say my RAW files are Sony ARW.

[Jingo]

I would suggest doing a quick search on "workflow" as this topic has been discussed many, many times over the years.  You will find lots of variety in workflows as there is no "one shoe fits all" for everyone.  IMatch is great for all things .. honestly!  Culling can be done through the Viewer, via the preview panel as well as by using just very large thumbnails in the File Window. 

Having said that, my workflow involves only including finalized JPG images in my IMatch database so I do all my initial culling outside the software so I don't have to deal with extra RAW files and the processing of them.  Here is my workflow:

• Import RAW images from multiple cameras SD cards using Photo Mechanic: Import, rename by date/camera model, file by Year/Month, Cull obvious bad shots
• Import RAW files from disk to Capture One: Edit RAW images, further cull and Export full resolution JPG's to Mirrored Drive (same filename/paths)
• Import Finalized JPG's into Imatch to rate, keywords, Geo Tag, export to online galleries, etc

My IMatch database is then used for all Image related things moving forward... searching, exporting, viewing, sharing, etc.  I rarely go back to my original RAW images so the database is now perfect.  I write all metadata back to the JPG images as well so they contain a full XMP record of my hard work... and this data and then available for any external software such as online galleries, stock photo databases, etc.

That workflow has suited me for many years... other folks do all their work in Imatch.. others also follow a similar software path as you do.  Good Luck... and enjoy all the variety of answers! 

[thusband]

Thanks for the good information. Lots of possibilities. I searched for "culling" but, of course, "workflow" makes a lot more sense.

[Mario]

There are almost as many workflows as users 

I always copy new files from cameras and smart phone intp an "import" folder indexed by IMatch. IMatch picks up the new files while I fetch a coffee.
Now I do a first cull in the Viewer to reduce the image count ruthlessly. I run a Metadata Template to my add standard metadata, fix date and time as needed using TimeWiz, let IMatch reverse geo-code files if they contain GPS data and finally use the Renamer to rename files and to move them into project or date-based folders.

This sets up the 'projects' for me. I prefer IMatch as the central hub in my workflow.
Because my projects not only involve images, but also video, audio and documentation.

I now develop files in a RAW processor and often produce composites and outputs in Photoshop, depending the project type. Other files are processed in a video suite, DAW, Office etc.
I avoid touching metadata in other applications.

[thusband]

Makes great sense. Thanks Mario.

[JohnZeman]

I also do my initial culling in FastRawViewer but then my next step is to send the raws to IMatch where I'll do the final culling with the image viewer and then the metadata work.

My last steps are to send the keeper images to whichever program I'll be using to process the raws, which right now are PhotoLab 3 and Affinity Photo.

[jch2103]

My workflow is similar to Mario's, except I usually directly drop images from a memory card directly into a camera|date based folder structure. There I do all my preliminary metadata entry including Rating, geocoding, renaming/etc. From there, I drag and drop selected Ratings images for processing onto a Favorite for (usually) DxO. This is much easier/simpler than trying to use DxO to select images for processing (DxO PL 3 does read Ratings, but as you've seen it doesn't yet store Ratings changes in a way that other applications can read. Expect some improvements from DxO in the future, but managing metadata is much more easily and completely handled in IMatch.).

If you have a large number of large images in the folder you are culling/rating, IMatch can usually go through them pretty quickly, but as you've seen there it's possible to see some caching delays (look for the progression of green check marks when using the Viewer). Usually, though, I can move through the images faster than I can Rate them.

[WebEngel]

I always shoot Jpg+Raw.  This makes it easy to cull in Imatch.  so everything in one central app which is Imatch
Also, if a picture is below 3 stars and has no massive WB or exposure problem, I delete the raw file and only keep the jpg.