Introduction
We already discussed in a previous blog post how AI can Help the culling of similar images. But we did not elaborate on how it could help when the photographer was shooting in burst mode.
Burst mode shooting is the action of shooting using the bust mode, typically up to 10-20 images per second. So, each series shot in burst mode can be made up of dozens if not a couple of hundreds of images.
Only 1 or 2 will be useful of course but sometimes, but it is the way the photographer must work. Since the latest release of Futura Photo, the v2.18, it is now possible to cull burst members and this post gives some details about the process and the performance achieved by this app.
How AI can help in the eradication of similar images
It is not very difficult to group images shot by the same burst altogether in the same series. It is not so trivial as well as it is mainly a time condition (“less than x ms”) but:
- It could be something else: Time Lapse member, panorama member for instance,
- Time span calculated below 1 s is generally inaccurate with most of the cameras.
But when the 2 above challenges have been overcome, it is possible to group the images together. Two main options are possible:
- The photographer will cull the images in his/her usual app (Lightroom, …).
- Or a dedicated app will propose a culling of all, but a very few images based on different kind of criteria.
Case 1: the app can group together all images in subdirectories named “burst 1”, “burst 2”… and the photographer will be able to navigate by burst series to cull all but just 1 or 2 images very easily.
Case 2: the criteria will be in theory the same than those used for the culling of similar images not being members of a burst, there is no real semantic difference. The culling ratio will be even above than the one calculated for non-burst members and will be of course above 90%, typically, if not 95%.
Even if the photographer disagrees with the app’s decision, as it is easy to override the choice, and due to the fact that by default all members are discarded, this approach will make the process very efficient.
Conclusion
It is now very much possible to automate some steps after the shoot, and a software like Futura Photo can achieve a culling rate of duplicates up to 98% with the version 2.18 (for burst members and 80-85% for other similar images).
So, the time spent to add this (mostly) automated step can be wisely invested as it will allow the photographer to only post-process the images needed and will avoid the archiving of thousands of useless JPEG or RAW files.
Disclaimer: I am the founder of Camera Futura, the company behind Futura Photo