Kirk Lothian Photography

22/06/2026

Unbiased review of Aftershoot Ai photo editing software.

There is a lot of trending on Ai automation in photo editing. Aftershoot is one of the most popular. I signed up for a 30 day free trial and uploaded over 2,000 images from the Wedding I shot yesterday to see how it did. "Not great" is the answer.

I ended up following my standard processing technique. It's served me well over the years and I can get a Wedding processed in a day, sometimes 2 or 3 if it's a big one

Here's a summary of my experience with Aftershoot. Hope it helps...

1.Excessive back and forth between Aftershoot and Lightroom
2.Bugs in the Export to Lightroom meant manual activities had to be carried out
3.Not all exported images were imported into Lightroom. A lot of time wasted figuring out the issue and re-importing.
4.Ai Retouch very over-sharpened
5.Ai retouch quite aggressive on skin, removing texture
6.Export out of Lightroom for retouch and then back in was good
7.The amount of time it took to cull was comparable with Lightroom.
8.The automatic culling process was mostly accurate
9.The straightening was not 100% and required manual adjustment in Lightroom
10.I did not go into the training process.
11.There were about 20 images that errored in Lightroom and became unreadable.

Would I buy? Not at the moment. The windows/lightroom integration is not yet at a level that is acceptable for the price. £40/month for the full package.

Did it save time? Not really. Lightroom culling was as effective and it is included in my Adobe subscription. The amount of faffing about and then waiting for the Ai to do it's thing took hours.

The claims of money and time savings are exaggerated on Windows machines due to the lack of compatibility at the moment. Not sure what it would be like on Apple.

6/10

The process I always use it more effective at the moment and I have still managed to get the 2,000+ images from yesterday's shoot done and dusted and uploaded to the client's secure online Gallery within a day. May be one day...but not today... #

20/06/2026

I had a great time photographing Rachel and Mike's Wedding today over in Helensburgh and Loch Lomond Civic Centre.
A 5 min break before the speeches.
This was me remote firing one of the cameras from my phone.
The technology is amazing.
I can take photos and videos remotely and can remotely rotate and zoom in and out all from my phone. Awesome!

19/06/2026

I regularly travel all over the country to photograph amazing weddings. This one, however, was right on my doorstep at
Superb venue, great staff, lovely families, great weather. There was a lot of excellent communication with the family throughout the months leading up to the wedding. By the time the big day came around I felt like I was meeting up with friends for a party! I was sorry when I had to leave!!

19/06/2026

Jodie and Chad were a dream to photograph. A Scottish Seaside Wedding with an amazing couple. I had the priviledge of being their Wedding Photographer from early morning all the way through to the evening celebrations...

05/04/2026

Rainy, snowy and sunny today in Glasgow 🤣🤣

26/03/2026

Scottish Portrait Awards 2026. I'm proud to even have got close to be in the running for this. You'll see my name somewhere on this page. Motivation to keep getting better. That's all I need. Onwards....

https://www.scottishartstrust.org/spa-results-2026?fbclid=IwdGRjcAQyXHtjbGNrBDJccWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHuhW0v7dkXkaD9iu7Xtr3LuIv9WTMqcCjA0R8PbaCsPct8OTA9CT97wSJVaR_aem_Dp3Ygh0AxlG0B0d1ifnkWg

Fine Art | Photography | Scotland Now! | Results | Exhibitions  | Films | Catalogues | Mail List | Artists Under 16 |ENQUIRE ABOUT ART FOR SALE Scottish Portrait Awards 2026 - Results John Clark Motor Group Scottish Portrait Awards in Fine Art Shortlisted works Ade Adesina, GriotImogen Alabaster, B...

18/03/2026

I had the most amazing experience talking to a wonderful audience from the Universtity Of The 3rd Age this afternoon. The topic?
Travelling across India?
This time there was a twist.
Halfway through, I asked the audience if they would like to speak to the New Delhi guitarist called Sushant that I have kept in touch with through musical collaboration and video chats.
In true Oscars fashion I had set up a livestream from New Delhi.
Sushant and myself appeared on the Big Screen, everything was piped through the PA for the audience and the connection never dropped once. Periodically I would hit the button on the Osmo Pocket 3 and it would automatically do a 180 turn and Sushant could see the audience and get their reactions. Nice!!
I never realised how technical a challenge it was to set up but we did it and I got such a kick out of it. Amazing work from Scott, the sound tech.
1. USB-C audio from laptop to 1/8" female connector
2. 1/8" male connector to stereo XLR into the desk
3. HDMI to video feed
4. XLR from the desk into Focusrite digital interface to allow Sushant to hear the vocal from the lapel mic and prevent feedback.
5. USB from Focusrite into the laptop
6. Audio from me via wireless lapel mic into the desk
7. Audio/Video from Sushant via WhatsApp video call routed through HDMI and USB Out.
NAILED IT!!!
Sushant talked about The Delhi Blues Society and gave me a credit for inspiring him to set that up back in November 2024.
I talked about the amazing people of India and showed many, many portraits and video from my adventure, solo travelling across India with a camera and a dream.
Thanks to Sushant in New Delhi, Scott on Tech and everyone in the U3A and the general public who filled the venue and made the whole afternoon so special. Amazing!!!

10/03/2026

Love this...

It’s actually a pretty funny way to flip the usual fear of rejection on its head. Most people hear “no” and immediately think it means failure, like the door just slammed shut on whatever they were trying to do. But if you looked at it like a progress bar instead—like you’re exactly 100 rejections away from the thing you want—then every “no” suddenly becomes proof that you’re getting closer. Instead of feeling discouraged, you’d almost start collecting them like achievements: one down, ninety-nine to go.

It turns rejection into something measurable instead of something personal. Each “no” isn’t a judgment about you—it’s just one more step in the process. Whether it’s pitching ideas, applying for jobs, asking someone out, or trying to build something from scratch, the people who eventually succeed usually just outlast everyone else. They accumulate more attempts, more awkward moments, more failed tries. So if you reframed it like this meme suggests, you’d probably start hearing “no” and thinking, nice… that’s one closer to the yes.

21/02/2026

I love these little Smallrig lights. You can basically set up a studio anywhere and have a play...

16/02/2026

I'm a photographer and people ask how they can access their photos after the shoot.

Pixieset...is great!!

Your personal web gallery will have a password AND a download code and you can share these with your family and friends.

These photos are from a walkabout yesterday up at the horses.

I love the presentation options Pixieset gives me. Highly recommend 👌

Photo collection by Kirk Lothian Photography