Zenfolio introduces PhotoRefine.ai, AI to sort, group and select photos

Zenfolio, the website builder and business resource for photographers, is launching PhotoRefine.ai – an AI application to “vastly reduce” the amount of time photographers typically spend grouping, rating and culling images after a photo session. With a focus on privacy and security, images are analyzed locally on the photographer’s computer, without using the personal information on the subjects in the photos.

“Zenfolio again is leading the way by introducing exclusive, advanced AI technology to professional photographers,” stated John Loughlin, Chief Executive Officer. “The launch of PhotoRefine.ai is the next step in helping photographers operate more efficiently and grow their businesses through the power of emerging technologies. Zenfolio works hard to enable photographers to spend more time behind the lens and less time behind the desk.”

Zenfolio said it acquired Optyx, a leader in AI photography automation app, in late 2021. The Zenfolio team substantially reworked the Optyx platform, integrated it into the Zenfolio offering and renamed it PhotoRefine, the company said.

Delivering the best photos to clients quickly is critical to the success of a photography business. Photographers typically spend multiple hours reviewing, sorting, grouping and selecting images after a photo session. PhotoRefine.ai dramatically compresses this laborious and tiresome culling process into minutes. In the past, the only alternative was to outsource this task, typically for hundreds of dollars. PhotoRefine now offers a fast, secure and low-cost solution on the photographer’s own desktop.

PhotoRefine.ai is a desktop app that applies AI to analyze a set of images, then uses blur detection, closed/blinking eye evaluation, image sharpness, and exposure to rate each individual image and highlight the best of a group. Photographers control all access and privacy and can customize settings based on their preferences, the company said. The app will find and group images according to individuals or categories, leveraging facial-recognition intelligence.

PhotoRefine.ai is a low-cost, high-quality automated solution that can pare down thousands of images from a typical photo shoot to just dozens in about 15 minutes, according to Zenfolio. The AI tool is especially beneficial for weddings or school and sports events generating several thousand images with multiple duplicates.

PhotoRefine.ai is available to all Zenfolio subscribers. It is included as an integral part of the intelligent workflow technology built into the ProSuite plan and Advanced plan or can be purchased as an add-on to all other plans.