https://getkepla.com/blog Practical guides for working photographers: AI photo culling on a Mac, workflow, pricing and the business of photography. en Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 https://getkepla.com/blog/how-to-convert-raw-to-jpg https://getkepla.com/blog/how-to-convert-raw-to-jpg Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear Every practical way to turn a RAW file into a JPG: a free browser converter that uploads nothing, the camera itself, macOS and Windows built ins, Lightroom, Capture One and the makers' own apps. Which one to use for a sneak peek, a delivery, or a whole card. https://getkepla.com/blog/open-raw-files-without-photoshop https://getkepla.com/blog/open-raw-files-without-photoshop Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear You do not need an Adobe subscription to look at a RAW file. How to open CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF and DNG on a Mac, on Windows, on an iPhone or iPad, and in a browser tab, with the honest limits of each route. https://getkepla.com/blog/raw-vs-jpeg-explained https://getkepla.com/blog/raw-vs-jpeg-explained Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear Not the usual "RAW is better" piece. What a RAW file physically contains, what a JPEG throws away and why it is still the right delivery format, the JPEG hiding inside every RAW, and when to shoot RAW plus JPEG. https://getkepla.com/blog/embedded-jpeg-preview-inside-raw-files https://getkepla.com/blog/embedded-jpeg-preview-inside-raw-files Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear Every RAW carries a JPEG the camera rendered at capture. How big it is on Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic and DNG, how to extract it in seconds without decoding anything, and when it is all you need. https://getkepla.com/blog/canon-cr3-vs-cr2-explained https://getkepla.com/blog/canon-cr3-vs-cr2-explained Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear Canon replaced CR2 with CR3 in 2018 and a lot of software still cannot read it. What is different inside the two formats, which EOS bodies write which, what C-RAW costs you, and how to open a CR3 today without waiting for an update. https://getkepla.com/blog/is-it-safe-to-upload-raw-files-to-online-converters https://getkepla.com/blog/is-it-safe-to-upload-raw-files-to-online-converters Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Business What happens to a client's wedding when you drag it onto a "free online RAW converter": where the file goes, what the terms usually say, what a RAW carries that a JPEG does not, and how to tell a converter that uploads from one that runs in your browser. https://getkepla.com/blog/one-photo-tonight-jpg-from-raw-in-a-minute https://getkepla.com/blog/one-photo-tonight-jpg-from-raw-in-a-minute Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Business The couple, the planner or the band wants a single frame before you have opened the card. A routine for getting a clean JPG out of one RAW in under a minute, without importing anything, and the three decisions that keep it from becoming an edit. https://getkepla.com/blog/jpg-quality-and-size-settings-for-photographers https://getkepla.com/blog/jpg-quality-and-size-settings-for-photographers Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear The export dialog has thirty settings and four of them change anything. Where the quality slider stops mattering, what long edge to use for galleries, phones and print, why sRGB is not optional, and what to keep or strip from EXIF. https://getkepla.com/blog/xmp-sidecars-lightroom-classic-culling https://getkepla.com/blog/xmp-sidecars-lightroom-classic-culling Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear How culling decisions travel from a Mac culler into Lightroom Classic through XMP sidecars and a plugin: what a sidecar holds, how favourites arrive as stars and labels, and why sidecars mean you are never locked in. https://getkepla.com/blog/offline-photo-culling-no-upload https://getkepla.com/blog/offline-photo-culling-no-upload Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI Why an AI culler that needs an upload is slower, riskier and less private than one that runs on your Mac, what offline actually means, and how to check a tool with the network switched off. https://getkepla.com/blog/founding-access-kepla-for-mac https://getkepla.com/blog/founding-access-kepla-for-mac Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Pricing The Kepla for Mac founding place: $99 a year locked for as long as you keep the app, free through the private preview, billing only when 2.0 ships. What the hundred get, what everyone else pays, and the promise that lets you walk away. https://getkepla.com/blog/embedded-jpeg-vs-raw-decode-culling https://getkepla.com/blog/embedded-jpeg-vs-raw-decode-culling Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI Every RAW file carries a full size JPEG the camera wrote at capture. Reading it instead of decoding the RAW is most of the difference between a four minute cull and a forty minute one. What the JPEG can settle, what it cannot, and when the RAW is still needed. https://getkepla.com/blog/ai-culling-second-shooter-cards https://getkepla.com/blog/ai-culling-second-shooter-cards Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear How a studio runs two or three shooters' cards through one cull: cards merging into one timeline, an associate running the shoot in while the lead reviews the clean frames, and why credit has to stay with the shooter. https://getkepla.com/blog/mac-vs-cloud-culling-speed https://getkepla.com/blog/mac-vs-cloud-culling-speed Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Comparisons A wedding on a cloud culler is quoted at forty minutes to three hours. On a Mac it was 4 minutes 22 seconds. The difference is not the model. A step by step comparison of where the time goes in each, and what each one asks you to give up. https://getkepla.com/blog/culling-while-the-card-copies https://getkepla.com/blog/culling-while-the-card-copies Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear Your card copy is the one wait every photographer already accepts. A culler that works inside that copy costs no extra time at all. How the timing works, what it needs from your Mac, and how to set the night up. https://getkepla.com/blog/five-reasons-a-frame-is-set-aside https://getkepla.com/blog/five-reasons-a-frame-is-set-aside Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI Same shot, out of focus, eyes closed, very dark or blown, nobody in frame. Why an AI culler should use only plain reasons a loupe can settle, what each one catches, and why taste is never on the list. https://getkepla.com/blog/ai-photo-culling-for-mac https://getkepla.com/blog/ai-photo-culling-for-mac Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI What an AI culling app for Mac actually does with your card, why keeping the work on your own machine changes the speed, the privacy and the cost, and what to check before you trust one. https://getkepla.com/blog/cull-a-wedding-in-four-minutes https://getkepla.com/blog/cull-a-wedding-in-four-minutes Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI Every number on getkepla.com comes from one reference wedding. Here is the whole set: frames in, frames cleared, clean, uncertain, deleted, and the timing against the card copy, with what each one means. https://getkepla.com/blog/culling-that-never-deletes https://getkepla.com/blog/culling-that-never-deletes Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear The two ways a culling tool can lose you a frame, why a reject flag is almost as dangerous as a delete, and what a cull should leave behind on your card and your drives. https://getkepla.com/blog/how-many-wedding-photos-to-deliver https://getkepla.com/blog/how-many-wedding-photos-to-deliver Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Business Realistic wedding gallery counts for four to twelve hours of coverage, what moves the number, and how to write it into a contract without trapping yourself. https://getkepla.com/blog/fast-galleries-win-referrals https://getkepla.com/blog/fast-galleries-win-referrals Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Marketing No one has published credible data linking gallery turnaround to referrals. Here is the argument from mechanism, what speed cannot touch, and how to test it. https://getkepla.com/blog/best-ai-culling-tools-wedding-photographers https://getkepla.com/blog/best-ai-culling-tools-wedding-photographers Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Comparisons Which AI culling tools survive wedding volume: burst grouping, blinking group shots, dark receptions, second shooter files, and prices checked this month. https://getkepla.com/blog/onboarding-a-second-shooter https://getkepla.com/blog/onboarding-a-second-shooter Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Business The brief, the card protocol, the file handoff and the debrief: how to bring a second shooter into your workflow without expanding your editing week. https://getkepla.com/blog/real-estate-photography-culling https://getkepla.com/blog/real-estate-photography-culling Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI Listing shoots break every normal culling rule: sets of three or five, half of them wrong on purpose, one frame per room, and the gallery due tomorrow. https://getkepla.com/blog/narrative-select-review https://getkepla.com/blog/narrative-select-review Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Comparisons A working photographer's review of Narrative Select in 2026: what Scenes View and Close-Ups really do, current pricing, and which tier you actually need. https://getkepla.com/blog/drone-aerial-culling https://getkepla.com/blog/drone-aerial-culling Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI An aerial card fills up because the light moves faster than you can judge it. How to sort drone bursts by camera move, and what to file beside them. https://getkepla.com/blog/wedding-gallery-emotional-range https://getkepla.com/blog/wedding-gallery-emotional-range Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI A gallery of 800 individually good frames can still feel flat. How to select for an arc: chapters, reactions, relationships and deliberate variety. https://getkepla.com/blog/lightroom-culling-mistakes https://getkepla.com/blog/lightroom-culling-mistakes Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear The Lightroom specific errors: judging sharpness on the wrong preview, filters left on, rejects never handled, folders versus collections, and batch actions. https://getkepla.com/blog/train-your-eye-culling https://getkepla.com/blog/train-your-eye-culling Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI Selection improves like any skill, with drills and feedback. Six exercises, a weekly schedule, and a way to score yourself against galleries you already sent. https://getkepla.com/blog/pricing-when-editing-time-shrinks https://getkepla.com/blog/pricing-when-editing-time-shrinks Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Pricing AI selection took hours out of your week. Here is what to do with your prices, why cutting them is usually wrong, and where the saved time should go instead. https://getkepla.com/blog/what-ai-should-never-choose https://getkepla.com/blog/what-ai-should-never-choose Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Craft & Ideas Machines are good at measuring photos and getting better. Here are the selection decisions that stay yours even if the software becomes perfect tomorrow. https://getkepla.com/blog/culling-bird-bursts https://getkepla.com/blog/culling-bird-bursts Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI Forty frames of the same bird and one goes in the gallery. The order to judge them in: eye focus first, wing gesture second, and how rare the behavior is third. https://getkepla.com/blog/ai-culling-vs-manual-culling https://getkepla.com/blog/ai-culling-vs-manual-culling Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI AI beats you on sharpness, open eyes and near identical frames. You beat it on meaning. How to split culling so each side does the half it is good at. https://getkepla.com/blog/train-ai-to-match-your-style https://getkepla.com/blog/train-ai-to-match-your-style Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI Four vendors advertise AI that learns your style. Only one means your picks. What each tool really offers, checked on its own pages, and what tuning cannot fix. https://getkepla.com/blog/ai-culling-false-negatives https://getkepla.com/blog/ai-culling-false-negatives Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI The costly AI culling error is not a bad pick, it is a good frame quietly left out. A workflow for catching false negatives without reviewing everything twice. https://getkepla.com/blog/headshot-day-200-employees https://getkepla.com/blog/headshot-day-200-employees Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI Two hundred people in an afternoon is not one shoot, it is 200 tiny ones. The roster check, the per person contest, the approval loop and the file naming. https://getkepla.com/blog/post-production-pipeline https://getkepla.com/blog/post-production-pipeline Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear Post-production is not slow because of its stages. It is slow at the joints. Here is the chain from card to archive, with all seven handoffs named. https://getkepla.com/blog/how-to-cull-photos-fast https://getkepla.com/blog/how-to-cull-photos-fast Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI A step by step culling workflow for portraits, families, events and commercial jobs, with a realistic time target on every pass and the genre tweaks. https://getkepla.com/blog/second-shooter-taste-conflicts https://getkepla.com/blog/second-shooter-taste-conflicts Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Business Two good photographers, one moment, two defensible frames. Who decides what ships, which disagreements deserve a rethink, and lines to settle before the day. https://getkepla.com/blog/event-photo-delivery-timelines https://getkepla.com/blog/event-photo-delivery-timelines Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Business Event clients are not waiting patiently, they are publishing. What they actually expect, what is safe to promise, and how to write the delivery clause properly. https://getkepla.com/blog/photo-metadata-seo https://getkepla.com/blog/photo-metadata-seo Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Marketing What Google's own documentation says about file names, alt text, captions, IPTC fields and structured data for photos, and which of it actually affects ranking. https://getkepla.com/blog/wildlife-photography-culling https://getkepla.com/blog/wildlife-photography-culling Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI Thousands of frames a day, five days running. A field workflow for wildlife photographers: nightly ingest, a laptop pass in camp, and the real cull at home. https://getkepla.com/blog/future-of-ai-in-photography https://getkepla.com/blog/future-of-ai-in-photography Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI On-device models, phones fast enough to run them, style learning, and what still needs a human. Four predictions, each labeled opinion, each with a falsifier. https://getkepla.com/blog/culling-time-by-shoot-size https://getkepla.com/blog/culling-time-by-shoot-size Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI Culling time does not scale in a straight line. Where the curve bends as a shoot grows, why small shoots cost more per frame, and how to flatten both ends. https://getkepla.com/blog/family-session-everyone-smiling https://getkepla.com/blog/family-session-everyone-smiling Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI The frame where a whole family lines up at once is made at the shoot, not found at the desk. How to shoot so it exists, then how to pick it. https://getkepla.com/blog/kepla-vs-filterpixel https://getkepla.com/blog/kepla-vs-filterpixel Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Comparisons FilterPixel ships today and Kepla's picking app does not. What FilterPixel costs, who should buy it now, and the different bet we are making when ours arrives. https://getkepla.com/blog/engagement-session-culling https://getkepla.com/blog/engagement-session-culling Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Culling & AI How to select an engagement gallery so it does two jobs: photos the couple can use now, and notes on how to photograph them on the wedding day. https://getkepla.com/blog/reclaim-your-weekends-culling https://getkepla.com/blog/reclaim-your-weekends-culling Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Workflow & Gear A Saturday shoot usually costs you Sunday too. Run this two-weekend audit to see where the hours really go, then use the plan to win some of them back.