# How to pick the best shots: quality check, bursts and compare > Run AI → Quality & culling → Analyse quality, reject blurry shots, keep the best of each burst and compare the rest with C. Rejects are flagged, not deleted. Source: https://firelet.media/help/pick-best-photos-culling Published: 2026-10-21 · Updated: 2026-10-21 Applies to: Windows, macOS, Linux To cull photos fast in firelet.media Gallery, open **AI** → **Quality & culling**, press **Analyse quality** and then **Reject blurry and badly exposed**. Next, press **Find bursts** and **Keep the best of each burst**. Finally, compare what's left side by side by selecting two to six photos and pressing [[C]]. Every tool only sets Pick and Reject flags, so nothing is deleted until you decide. ## What Analyse quality measures **Analyse quality** looks at every photograph on your own PC, at about 60 ms each, and records three things: - **Sharpness**, from 0 to 100, which catches shake and missed focus. - **Exposure clipping**: how much of the picture is blown to white or crushed to black. - **A colour signature**, which also powers **Similar colours**. If you've [indexed the library for AI search](https://firelet.media/help/index-library-for-ai-search), each photo also has an aesthetic score of roughly 1 to 10, with no extra pass needed. Once measured, you can filter by sharpness and exposure in **Filters** → **Quality & faces**, and sort the grid by **Sharpest first** or **Most aesthetic**. ## Steps: Analyse quality, then reject the misses 1. Press [[Alt]]+[[3]] for the **AI** panel and open **Quality & culling**. 2. Press **Analyse quality**. The line below counts "Measuring… n of m". You can press **Stop** at any time and what was measured is kept; next time only new photos are measured. 3. Press **Reject blurry and badly exposed**. Photos the pass judges possibly blurry, or under- or over-exposed, get a Reject flag. ![The Quality & culling section of the AI panel with Analyse quality, Reject blurry and badly exposed, the burst window and a list of bursts](https://firelet.media/help/media/shot-ai-quality.webp "Quality & culling: measure first, then reject and find bursts") The rejects are flags only, and they are never set over a flag you chose yourself. A photo you picked stays picked. ## Steps: find bursts and keep the best A burst is a run of near-identical frames: a child blowing out candles, a bird taking off. Keeping one from each is where most of the time goes, and the gallery can do the first pass. 1. Set the window under **Bursts**: "within **2** seconds" is the default, and you can use anything from 0.5 to 60. 2. Press **Find bursts**. Photos from the same camera, in the same orientation, taken within that window of each other (and, if indexed, looking alike) are grouped, one row per burst. 3. Click a row to show and select that burst. Press [[C]] to compare it if you want to choose by eye. 4. Press **Keep the best of each burst**. The sharpest, best-exposed and most aesthetic frame of each burst is picked, and the rest are rejected, again never over a flag you set. The status line sums it up, for example "Picked 42, rejected 131 — filter by “Rejected” to review them". ## Compare 2–6 photos with C For the close calls, look at them together: 1. Select two to six photos with Ctrl-click or Shift-click. 2. Press [[C]], or right-click and choose **Compare selected**. 3. Press [[L]] for **Zoom together**, then zoom in with [[+]]. Every pane shows the same spot, which makes soft focus obvious. 4. Move between panes with [[←]] and [[→]], and mark the current one with [[P]], [[X]], [[U]], a star key or a label key. 5. Press [[Delete]] or [[Backspace]] to drop a pane you've ruled out, and [[Esc]] to close. ![The Compare view with three similar frames side by side and the Zoom together and Fit controls](https://firelet.media/help/media/shot-compare-view.webp "Zoom together (L) keeps every pane on the same detail") Dropping a pane only takes it out of the comparison; the file is untouched. Select more than six and the gallery compares the first six. For a single photo, the viewer's **Focus peaking** ([[K]]) paints what is sharp, and **Clipping warnings** ([[J]]) shows lost highlights in red and shadows in blue. ## Review with the Rejected filter Before anything leaves your library, check the rejects: 1. Press [[Alt]]+[[2]] for **Filters** and open **Rating & labels**. 2. Choose **Rejected** under the flags. 3. Scroll through. If a keeper slipped in, select it and press [[P]] to pick it, or [[U]] to clear the flag. Choosing **Not rejected** instead shows only the keepers, which is a handy way to browse a shoot once culling is done. There's more on marks in [rating, picking and colour labels](https://firelet.media/help/ratings-flags-colour-labels). ## Delete or keep Culling never deletes. If you're sure, delete the rejects yourself: 1. With the **Rejected** filter on, press [[Ctrl]]+[[A]] in the grid. 2. Press [[Del]] and confirm. The files, with any sidecars, go to the Recycle Bin, and their stars, keywords and album places in the gallery go with them. > [!WARNING] > Network drives and some USB drives have no Recycle Bin, so Windows may delete files there for good. Make sure you have a backup before deleting from them. You don't have to delete at all. Leaving the rejects flagged and browsing with **Not rejected** hides them just as well. For true duplicates rather than similar frames, see [finding and removing duplicate photos](https://firelet.media/help/find-and-remove-duplicate-photos), and the blog has a full routine for [culling hundreds of photos fast](https://firelet.media/blog/cull-hundreds-of-photos-fast). The macOS and Linux builds, being finished, have the same tools. ## Questions ### Will it overwrite my own flags? No. Reject blurry and badly exposed and Keep the best of each burst only set flags, and never over a flag you set yourself. ### How do I compare photos? Select two to six photos and press C, or right-click and choose Compare selected. ### Does culling delete anything? No. The tools only set Pick and Reject flags. Deleting is a separate step you take yourself, and it goes to the Recycle Bin after a confirmation.