FilterPixel takes you from thousands of raw frames to delivered, edited photos in one continuous workflow. Learn how to import, run DeepCull to score and select, refine bursts in Review Mode and Survey Mode, narrow with Advanced Filters and the Magic Number, edit in-app with an AI Profile, then export as JPG or carry everything into Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, or Capture One with star ratings and color labels intact.
This is the full workflow, feature by feature, in the order you'd actually use it. After each feature there's a quick thinking stop for the questions that tend to pop into your head the first time you meet it, answered before you have to ask.
Bring your photos into FilterPixel, we support JPEG and RAW formats.
FilterPixel has two culling modes, Basic Culling & DeepCull. Basic Cull works to eliminate technically weak photos where as DeepCull uses storytelling/editorial component while culling and scores every single photo. A single Basic Cull shoot covers unlimited photos and a DeepCull shoot covers up to 5,500 photos, and larger uploads split automatically, so a full wedding or event day comes in as one job. For DeepCull you can set the genre for the shoot at import (wedding, sports, events, concert), which tells the AI which specific model and scoring parameters to apply.
Quick thinking stop
"Do I have to convert my RAW files first?" No, drop them in as they are. "What if I want to use DeepCull on my shoot which is bigger than 5,500 photos, let's say 7,300?" Then it will spilt into 2 projects. One project will have 5,500 photos and another one will have 1,800 photos. It auto-splits; you don't do anything manually. "Why does it ask for a genre?" Because the AI judges a sports shoot differently from a wedding shoot, thus setting the genre is what makes the cull smart and tailored instead of generic.
Magic Number lets you specify the exact number of photos you want out of the cull. Set the target and FilterPixel calibrates the selection to hit it a tight number for a highlight reel, a larger one for a full gallery. It's the single dial that matches the size of your cull to what you owe the client.
Quick thinking stop
"So it just keeps the top N by score?" It calibrates the selection to your target rather than you manually trimming down to a count. "What if I ask for 50 but there are only 40 good frames?" You set the number that fits the deliverable; you can always adjust it. "Can I change it after?" Yes, it's a dial, not a one-time commitment.
DeepCull is the core of FilterPixel culling. It doesn't just strip out blurry or blinked frames, it's a storytelling culling engine that finds your best shots and builds a selection around the narrative of the shoot. It scores every frame across multiple parameters and surfaces the strongest moments, using genre-specific intelligence. The result is a rated, ranked set of selects instead of a wall of unsorted frames.
Quick thinking stop
"Is this just rejecting my bad photos?" No, because "bad" isn't objective; context is everything. A grandmother with closed eyes mid-tear during the vows is a frame you keep that's emotion, not a mistake. The same closed eyes in a posed group shot is a miss. DeepCull reads the scene and the context to tell the difference, actively choosing your strongest frames rather than just stripping out the weak ones. "Will it throw away keepers I'd have picked?" You stay in control always. DeepCull hands you a starting selection that you refine in the next steps; nothing is deleted from your project. "How long does it take?" Minutes for a typical shoot, not hours.
When you shoot in bursts, you get sequences of near-identical frames. Review Mode groups your shoot into those bursts so you review them as clusters rather than scrolling one frame at a time. The key behavior: for every burst, DeepCull always picks at least one photo, the frame that scored highest across the parameters. So no burst gets silently dropped; the AI commits to a pick, and your job is to confirm it or swap it.
Quick thinking stop
"What if the AI's pick from a burst isn't the one I like?" Swap it, the pick is a starting point, not a lock. "Could a whole burst get skipped and I miss a moment?" No, that's the point of the always-pick-one rule; every burst is represented. "Is this faster than just scrolling?" Considerably, you're judging one cluster at a time instead of eyeballing fifteen near-duplicates in a row.
Sometimes the choice between two or more frames comes down to something tiny, which eye is sharper, who blinked, whose expression is a hair better. Survey Mode is built for that. It lets you zoom up to 16x into a photo so you can compare fine detail across a burst and make the final call with confidence.
Quick thinking stop
"How is this different from Review Mode?" Review Mode moves you through bursts fast; Survey Mode is where you slow down on the close calls and look deeper. "16x zoomed, won't that just show me mush on a RAW file?" It's there so you can actually check critical sharpness on the eyes and fine detail before committing to select the keeper, which a thumbnail can't show you at a glance. "Do I have to use it on every burst?" Not really, use it for only when a call is too close.
Advanced Filters let you sort and surface photos by specific criteria beyond the standard cull. For example:
Advanced Filters cover a range of ways to slice a shoot, so you can work the angles that fit your delivery instead of a single linear pass.
Quick thinking stop
"Why would I filter by camera?" If you had a second shooter or switched bodies, this splits the shoot cleanly so you can match looks or hand off sets. "Moment filters sound like magic — how does it know what a 'kiss' is?" The AI recognizes moment types in the frames, so you can jump straight to the shots you need for a specific part of the gallery.
With your selection locked, you can edit without leaving the app. Two paths:
Use a built-in AI Profile, pick one of FilterPixel's editing profiles to apply a look across your selects.
Create your own AI editing Profile and here's what makes it different from a preset:
While editing you get tool toggles for Crop, Straighten, and Tone Curve for direct control. And you preview edited photos right inside the FilterPixel app, no third-party software needed to see results. Edit, preview, refine until you're happy, all in one place.
Quick thinking stop
"Why does a custom Profile need 3,000 images and a full day?" Because it's learning your style from real edited work, not copying a slider position and that takes a real sample and real training time. "Will it edit every photo the same way?" No, that's the whole difference from a preset; it reads each photo and adjusts per-image. "Do I need Lightroom open to see my edits?" No, from version 4.3.0 you can preview everything inside FilterPixel. "What if I don't have 3,000 edited photos yet or have multiple small catalogues?" Use a built-in AI Profile in the meantime; you can train your own once you've got the catalog and in case of small multiple catalouges combine and merge them togtaher in Lightroom before starting the training. Make sure all the photos are edited in the same style to create the profile.
Once you're happy with the edit:
So when you open your shoot in Lightroom, LRC, or Capture One:
You do the selection and rating work once, in FilterPixel, and your editor inherits it. No need of re-rating, no re-flagging, no rebuilding your filter stack on the other side.
Quick thinking stop
"Will FilterPixel overwrite my original RAW files?" No, it's non-destructive; decisions live in XMP metadata beside the file. "Do I have to re-rate everything once I'm in Lightroom?" No, that's the whole point; your stars and color labels are already there. "What's an XMP sidecar, exactly?" A small companion file that holds metadata for a RAW image so apps like Lightroom and Capture One can read your ratings and labels without touching the original. "Can I just deliver straight from FilterPixel?" Yes, export as JPG and you're done; the editor handoff is only if you want to do more work elsewhere.
FilterPixel keeps adding to the workflow above. A few recent additions worth knowing about:
New Editing Profiles — Moody, Bright & Airy, and Natural. Three new built-in looks you can apply straight away for faster, more consistent edits across a shoot. If you haven't trained a custom AI Profile yet, these give you a strong ready-made starting point that still edits per-photo rather than stamping a fixed preset.
New DeepCull Profiles — Dance and Vacation. Two new genre-specific culling profiles. Dance is tuned for the fast, expressive movement and tricky lighting of dance work; Vacation is built for travel and lifestyle sets. Like the other genres, they sharpen DeepCull's selection decisions for the kind of shoot you're actually working.
4x faster preview speed. In-app preview performance has been improved roughly fourfold, so scrolling and reviewing thousands of images is markedly quicker, less waiting on frames to load, more time making decisions.
Before/After edit preview. Compare the original and edited version of a photo side by side inside the app, before you export. It's the fastest way to confirm an AI Profile is doing what you want across a set without second-guessing once the files have left FilterPixel.
Quick thinking stop
"Do the new editing profiles work like the custom ones?" Yes, they read each photo and edit per-image, they're just pre-built so you can use them instantly. "Will the Dance or Vacation profile change how my other shoots are culled?" No, genre is set per shoot, so you pick the right profile for each job. "Do I need to turn on the faster preview?" No, it's just there; reviewing large shoots is simply quicker now. "Where's the before/after toggle?" In the edit view, so you can check your edits against the originals before committing to export.
The reason to learn the full workflow isn't to use more features for their own sake, it's that each one removes a place where you'd otherwise lose time or second-guess yourself. DeepCull does the heavy selection. Review Mode and Survey Mode settle the bursts and the close calls. Advanced Filters and the Magic Number shape the cull to the deliverable. AI Profiles now including Moody, Bright & Airy, and Natural can edit per-photo in consistent style, with before/after preview so you can trust the result before it leaves the app. And because everything carries over through standard XMP, your ratings and labels land in Lightroom, LRC, or Capture One ready to go. Run the full chain once and the math changes: the shoot that used to eat an evening becomes an afternoon, and the hours you get back go where they should behind the camera, or away from the screen entirely. That's the workflow FilterPixel is built for. Open your next shoot and run it end to end.