Rate photographs for culling
What you will do
Section titled “What you will do”Mark photographs with manual star ratings to record your choices while culling. You will rate one photo, change its rating, give two selected photos the same rating, and clear their ratings while keeping both photos in the project.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”Sign in and open a project with photographs visible in the grid. This example uses Rating practice with maxine-01.jpg and maxine-02.jpg, imported as full-resolution JPEGs (6064 × 4040 pixels).
These steps were checked on Windows with the English interface in Arams 1.11.0-dev.3 and the default keyboard shortcuts. Keep the photo grid active when using shortcuts. Manual rating does not require starting Analyze, Retouch preview, or Export.
Rate one photograph
Section titled “Rate one photograph”- Click the maxine-01.jpg card once.
- Check that the counter below the project name reads 2 photos / 1 selected.
- Press 4 to assign a rating of four to the selected photo.
- Check the rating beneath its thumbnail. In the compact cards shown here, 4 appears beside a gold star. The second photo has no rating.
Change the rating on a card
Section titled “Change the rating on a card”- Click the 4 and gold-star control beneath maxine-01.jpg.
- Choose 3 from the rating menu.
- Move the pointer away from the control and check that the card now shows 3 beside the gold star. The second photo remains unrated.
Give selected photographs the same rating
Section titled “Give selected photographs the same rating”- Click maxine-01.jpg to select it alone.
- Hold Ctrl and click maxine-02.jpg, then release Ctrl.
- Check that the counter reads 2 photos / 2 selected.
- Press 5. Both selected photographs now show 5 beside a gold star.
Clear the ratings
Section titled “Clear the ratings”- Leave both photos selected.
- Press Shift+Backspace.
- Check that the rating numbers and gold stars disappear from both cards. The counter still reads 2 photos / 2 selected, and both thumbnails and filenames remain visible.
Check the result
Section titled “Check the result”Read the rating beneath each thumbnail and use the selected counter to confirm which photos a keyboard action will affect. In this example, the ratings change from 4 / unrated to 3 / unrated, then 5 / 5, and finally both unrated. Clearing a rating does not delete a photograph or clear the selection.
This procedure verifies manual ratings in the current project session. Automatic ratings, filtering by rating, rating persistence after restarting Arams, and macOS shortcuts have not been verified here.
If it does not work
Section titled “If it does not work”- Both photos received a rating when you meant to rate one: click the intended photo without Ctrl, check 1 selected, and assign its rating. To clear the other photo’s rating, select that photo alone and press Shift+Backspace.
- The rating is a number and one star rather than a row of stars: this is the compact card display used in the screenshots. Click that number/star control to change the rating through its menu.
- You cleared ratings by mistake: keep the intended photos selected and press 5 to restore a rating of five, or use 4 for four. These are the keyboard values checked in this example.
- No photographs are visible: import photos and wait for the thumbnails and filenames before continuing.