My Wedding Photography Workflow with Aftershoot
If you’re a wedding photographer, you know the feeling…
You finish a 10-hour wedding day, your feet hurt, you’re exhausted, and you still have thousands of RAW images waiting for you at home. The wedding may be over, but the editing has only just begun.
For years, that was my life.
I loved photographing weddings, but I dreaded the long nights spent culling thousands of images, editing every gallery, and trying to stay caught up during busy season. I wasn’t afraid of hard work. I just didn’t want my business to consume every evening and weekend that I was not working.
Like many photographers, I even tried outsourcing my editing. It definitely helped during busy seasons, but I always found myself making changes when the galleries came back. They looked good, but they didn’t always feel like me. My editing style is constant, and I wanted complete creative control over the final product my clients received.
I wasn’t looking for someone else to become my editor. I was looking for a better and more efficient workflow.
I Didn't Want AI to Replace Me
When AI editing first became popular, I was skeptical.
As photographers, our editing style is part of our brand. Every gallery we deliver represents our creativity, our vision, and the experience we’ve promised our clients.
The more I learned about AI editing, the more I realized I had been thinking about it the wrong way. I wasn’t looking for AI to replace my creativity or create fake photos. I wanted it to replace the repetitive work.
My clients don’t hire me because I know how to sync exposure across hundreds of photos. They hire me because I know how to tell a story. They hire me because I know how to make people feel comfortable, and to capture moments that can never be recreated.
No software can replace that. But what AI can do is help with the repetitive tasks that every photographer faces after a wedding, like culling thousands of images, identifying duplicates, detecting closed eyes, and giving me a consistent starting point for editing.
That’s exactly why I chose Aftershoot.
Photography is about people. It’s about stories. It’s about preserving moments that can never happen again. If AI can give me more time to focus on those things while keeping complete creative control over my work, that’s a tool I’m happy to have in my business.
Why I Chose Aftershoot
It Learns My Editing Style
After trying different editing solutions over the years, Aftershoot fit the way I wanted to work. The biggest reason was simple: It learns my editing style.
Instead of trying to make my work look like someone else’s, my personal AI Profile is trained using my own edits. That means the galleries are still my work. I’m simply getting help with the repetitive parts of my workflow (ie: exposure correction, white balance, etc).
Aftershoot's pricing model
Some AI editing software charges photographers per image. As someone who photographs weddings, engagements, portraits, families, branding sessions, and events, I didn’t want to worry about my editing bill growing every time I photographed another session because my business is successful.
Aftershoot uses a subscription model, which is what sets it apart even more from its competitors. For me, that’s a huge advantage. I know exactly what my editing software costs each year (they also offer monthly subscriptions as well), and I never hesitate to import another gallery because I’m worried about paying per image.
My Wedding Photography Workflow
One of the questions I get asked most is what my workflow actually looks like, so here’s exactly how I process every wedding:
First, let me start by saying I’m using a personal Aftershoot AI Profile that’s currently trained on more than 9,600 of my own edited images and continues to grow over time.
After every wedding, I import my RAW images from my memory cards onto my external SSD.
Then I open Aftershoot and click AI Cull, Edit + Album.
I simply drag my folder of RAW images into Aftershoot, click One Click Cull & Edit, and uncheck Overwrite Existing Stars because I occasionally rate important images in-camera throughout the wedding day.
Then I let Aftershoot do its thing WHILE I AM DRIVING HOME FROM THE WEDDING.
Once it’s finished and I am home safely, I import all of the images into Lightroom Classic, not just my 4 and 5-star selections.
The only thing I do inside Lightroom at this point is organize.
I sort everything by rating and create two collections.
The first collection contains my 4 and 5-star images that will become the final gallery.
The second collection contains my 4-star images that I use for sneak peeks, making it incredibly easy to deliver previews quickly.
Next, I export all the sneak peeks, send them to the client, make a social media post, and format them for the blog! (look at all the content from this!)
From there, I head into Aftershoot’s AI Retouching tools.
I use features like Face Cleanup and choose options for adults, children, masculine, or feminine subjects depending on the image.
If there’s something small that needs to be removed, I use the Patch Tool, which feels very similar to Lightroom’s healing tools.
When I’m finished, I export everything back into Lightroom Classic.
At that point, there’s very little left for me to do besides renaming my files for SEO and exporting the final gallery.
That’s it.
What used to take me countless hours now happens while I’m unpacking gear, eating dinner, spending time with my family, or even driving home from the wedding.
AI Editing Software Didn't Change My Photography. It Changed My Life.
People often ask if Aftershoot helps me edit faster.
The answer is yes. But speed isn’t actually my favorite benefit. Time is.
Instead of spending every evening behind my computer, I have more time with my family. I have more time to serve my couples. More time to mentor photographers, create educational content, improve my website, write blogs, and continue growing my business.
Most importantly, I still have complete creative control. I review every gallery. I make every final decision. I use to do all of this in about a 40-hour time span; now it’s under 5 hours.
Should Photographers Use AI?
AI Should Support Photographers, Not Replace Them
Only you can answer if you should use AI as a photographer. But before you do… I think it’s important to clarify what kind of AI we’re talking about. When people hear “AI,” they often think of software that creates entirely new images or dramatically changes a photograph into something it never was. That’s not what I’m using, and it’s not what I want for my business.
For me, photography has always been about documenting real moments. My couples trust me to capture their day as it happened, not to generate moments that never existed or transform their memories into something artificial. I believe authenticity and honesty are at the heart of great photography, and that’s something I never want to compromise.
Protect Your Creativity
For me, photography has always been about documenting real moments. My couples trust me to capture their day as it happened, not to generate moments that never existed or transform their memories into something artificial. I believe authenticity and honesty are at the heart of great photography, and that’s something I never want to compromise.
The AI I use simply helps with the repetitive parts of my workflow. It culls images, applies edits based on my own editing style, and speeds up tasks that would otherwise take hours. It isn’t creating moments that didn’t happen or changing my clients into someone they’re not. The memories, emotions, composition, lighting, and storytelling are still entirely my own.
That’s why I believe the best AI editing software doesn’t replace your creativity. It protects it by giving you more time to focus on the parts of photography that only you can do. Aftershoot hasn’t changed who I am as a photographer. It has simply helped me spend less time behind a computer and more time serving my clients, growing my business, and enjoying life outside of editing.
Ready to Try Aftershoot?
If you’re looking for a faster wedding photography editing workflow, a better Lightroom workflow, or an AI photo editing solution that learns your style instead of replacing it, I genuinely recommend giving Aftershoot a try.
The best way to know if it’s right for your photography business is to run one of your own galleries through it.
You can get started here using my referral link: https://aftershoot.com/friends/?ref=magdalene95
The Aftershoot Facebook Community
And if you decide to join the Aftershoot family, I’d love to meet you! Come find me in the Aftershoot Facebook Community. It’s honestly one of my favorite photography communities online. Whether you’re just getting started with AI editing or you’re looking to fine-tune your workflow, or simply in need of some advice, you’ll find photographers who genuinely want to help each other succeed. It feels much more like a family than just another Facebook group.
Photography is about people. It's about stories. It's about being present.
If AI can give me more time to focus on those things while keeping complete creative control over my work, that’s a tool I’m happy to have in my business. I hope to see you in the community soon.
