Filter / Select Edited Photos in Lightroom
Your photography workflow probably looks something like this:
- Take way more shots than you could possibly edit; lament the required hard drive space for the 15-20 shots ultimately worth editing
- Flag the best photos for actual editing (just press P when viewing the photo in your Lightroom library)
- Filter to select only flagged photos, and then actually edit; skip over some flagged photos which don’t look as good as you remember them
Back to the Library: Filtering for Edited Photos
Now you want to filter the folder to just the photos you actually edited. Here’s how:
- Start out in Library mode and select the folder you want to filter
- Open the Metadata filter
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- Set one of the column headers to "Develop Preset"
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- Select all of the values except for All and Default Settings (use control/command + click to select multiple options)
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Done! You’re now viewing just the files with edits. You can select multiple, export all at once, move to a different folder, etc.
Bonus: Using Smart Collections
You can also use Smart Collections to select all photos with edits, although this solution is slightly less elegant
Create a New Smart Collection
- Click Library > New Smart Collection and name your collection Has Edits
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- Leave Placement at Top Level and set the rules Has Adjustments is true
- Click Create
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Using the Smart Collection in a Single Folder
- Back in Library, select your new Smart Collection and you’ll see all photos (ever) that you edited
- Select all of the photos (control/command + A)
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- Click on the folder you want to filter
- All photos from the folder will be visible, but the edited ones will be selected
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You could now add these photos to the Quick Collection for further editing or exporting.