Photo Mechanic Ingest & Culling Workflow

High-Speed Contact Sheet Workflows

Sports photojournalists, event photographers, and wedding studio teams frequently rely on Camera Bits Photo Mechanic for rapid initial card ingestion, IPTC stationery tagging, and file renaming before deeper curation begins.

BestShots fits seamlessly into this fast-paced pipeline by generating companion XMP sidecars that Photo Mechanic recognizes instantly on your local contact sheet.

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The Hybrid Studio Culling Pipeline

You can combine the lightning-fast card ingestion of Photo Mechanic with the intelligent focus verification and burst grouping of BestShots:

1. Card Ingestion in Photo Mechanic: Ingest your memory cards into your local project directory using Photo Mechanic. Apply your standard IPTC stationery pad, client copyright information, and camera clock synchronization across multi-body shoots.
2. Intelligent Culling in BestShots: Upload the ingested folder into BestShots. The AI culling engine analyzes eye openness, facial sharpness, and burst clusters, promoting the best frame from each sequence as a Hero.
3. Export Companion Sidecars: Download the XMP Sidecar & Workflow Bundle (.zip) from BestShots using the default original filename setting ({originalName}). Extract the .xmp companion sidecars directly into your local photo directory.
4. Instant Contact Sheet Refresh: In Photo Mechanic, open your contact sheet and press F5 (Refresh).

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Color Class & Star Rating Synchronization

Photo Mechanic reads the XMP companion tags in real time without importing or building separate database catalogs:

• Keeper Color Classes: Photos marked as Keepers automatically display your preferred keeper color class (such as Class 1 / Winner).
• Star Ratings: Ratings (1 to 5 stars) populate the contact sheet metadata strip immediately.
• Preserved Metadata Integrity: Any captioning, client names, or IPTC copyright information entered during Photo Mechanic ingestion is fully preserved. BestShots never overwrites or strips existing IPTC data.

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Non-Destructive Workflow Guarantee

Your camera RAW sensor files (.ARW, .CR3, .NEF, .RAF, .DNG) remain 100% untouched:

• BestShots writes exclusively to external .xmp companion files.
• Original file timestamps and camera maker-notes are completely preserved.
• You can move, archive, or hand off the directory to an associate photographer at any time without software lock-in.

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Rapid Delivery with Desktop Organizer Scripts

When working under press deadlines at a sporting event or delivering same-day reception slideshows at a wedding:

1. Extract the exported ZIP bundle into your local photo folder.
2. Run organize_keepers.bat (Windows) or organize_keepers.command (macOS).
3. The script identifies all keeper RAW files from the sidecar list and copies them into a bestshots_keepers directory in under one second.
4. Drag the bestshots_keepers folder into Photo Mechanic or your editing software to transmit approved selects to your client or editor immediately.