From Aftershoot to a Client Gallery and Back Into Lightroom Classic

Each step below happens in one place, and each hands something to the next.

Aftershoot's workflow article lists Lightroom Classic among its export destinations.

After the export, Aftershoot has you create a new catalog or add the photos to an existing one.

Aftershoot states what you should see next: "you will see the Star Ratings and Color Labels assigned in Aftershoot appear."

The same article recommends turning on Build Smart Previews in Lightroom during that import.

Aftershoot also has its own flags. Its flags article says they are compatible with Lightroom and that you can treat them the same way you treat flagged images in Lightroom.

Aftershoot does not document how the ratings or flags travel into the catalog, so this guide does not describe a mechanism. What matters here is the result Aftershoot documents: the stars and labels are in the catalog when you start editing.

Our advice before you go further: put your Aftershoot keepers into a regular Lightroom collection of their own. Step 5 will change the stars on some of those frames. A named collection gives you a record of your own cull that does not depend on the stars.

Edit as you normally would. Nothing in the client gallery step touches your develop settings.

Install the free ClientGallery plugin from the Lightroom plugin page, then paste your studio key into it once. The key is remembered after that, and the pick import uses the same key.

Publish the edited frames to a gallery through the plugin's export or its publish service. The step-by-step for that part is in publishing a gallery from Lightroom Classic.

Four things the plugin does on the way out are worth knowing for this workflow.

• Each proof is stored under the catalog photo's own filename. For a RAW shoot, that is the RAW name with its extension, even though the client sees a JPEG.
• A second upload with the same filename to the same gallery replaces the photo in place and keeps its picks.
• Location metadata is removed from every photo the plugin exports.
• Changing only stars or labels in Lightroom does not queue a photo for republishing.

The first point is the one that makes step 5 work. The gallery remembers the name the catalog knows the photo by.

The client opens one gallery page and marks frames at two levels.

• A like, the lighter level.
• A love, the stronger level.

If you switch colour labels on for that gallery, the client can also tag frames red, yellow, green, blue or purple.

When the client sends their picks, the gallery is ready for the import.

In Lightroom Classic, run Import ClientGallery Picks from the plugin's menu item. Paste the gallery link. The studio key is already filled in.

The import writes these values on each matched photo.

Every photo the import finds goes into a collection named after the gallery, inside a collection set called ClientGallery. Running the import again reuses that collection.

Client comments can be written into the IPTC caption. That option is off by default, and when you turn it on it overwrites existing captions.

The import works on the catalog that is open. It never sets Rejected, and a later run never removes a rating, flag or label from a frame the client un-picked.

For the plugin side of this step in more depth, read how to get client picks back into Lightroom.

On the frames it matches, the pick import replaces Aftershoot's stars and colour labels with the client's. It does not merge the two, average them or keep the higher value. Frames the client did not touch keep exactly what Aftershoot gave them, and develop settings are never changed on any frame.

Some examples make the rule concrete.

If you need Aftershoot's rating on a frame after the client has chosen, keep it somewhere the import does not write. The collection from step 1 and 2 is the simplest place.

The field-by-field rules are in whether client picks overwrite your Lightroom star ratings.

For each picked filename, the plugin searches the open catalog for photos whose filename contains that name.

Every photo it returns gets written. There is no check that exactly one photo matched.

So two situations can rate more frames than the client chose.

• The same filename in two places in the catalog, for example two camera bodies that both produced a file with the same number.
• A longer filename that contains the picked name inside it.

The fix is upstream. Give every file in the shoot a unique name before you publish, and the contains-match has only one frame to find.

How the gallery was filled matters too. A gallery published through the plugin stores the catalog filenames, so the names line up by design. A gallery built by dropping exported JPEGs into the web uploader stores those JPEG names, and picks only match if those names line up with the files in your catalog.

If nothing matches, the plugin says so and asks you to import the shoot into the catalog first, then run the import again.

You may want to reopen a shoot in Aftershoot after the client has chosen.

Aftershoot documents that route in its article on keeping stars and colours when you bring images from Lightroom. It has you turn on automatic writing of changes to XMP in Lightroom Classic's catalog settings and save, and later use Read Metadata from File to bring Aftershoot's ratings back into Lightroom.

Aftershoot states that "edits, Star Ratings, and Color Labels transfer seamlessly between the apps" when set up that way.

Bear in mind what that means after the pick import. The stars on client-picked frames are now the client's, so those are the stars Aftershoot will see.

This loop fits a narrow setup, and it is not the right one for everyone.

• You send Aftershoot culls to Capture One, not Lightroom Classic. The plugin is Lightroom Classic only. The studio side of each gallery has an Export picks (.txt) button instead, a plain list of filenames, loves first then likes, with no mark between them. See the Capture One filename-list guide.
• You edit in the cloud Lightroom app. The plugin does not run there.
• Aftershoot's ratings must survive on every frame. The import replaces them on picked frames. Keep your own collection, or skip the import and read picks in the gallery.
• You sell prints through the gallery. clientgallery.io has no print store. A platform with a store is the better fit.

For a studio that culls in Aftershoot and finishes in Lightroom Classic, the loop closes without retyping a single filename. The plugin is free to download, a free account holds one gallery, and the pick import works on free accounts too. The paid plan is 10 $ a month or 100 $ a year for unlimited galleries under fair use.

The wider Lightroom-side process is in the Lightroom client gallery workflow.

Aftershoot's help articles show no exact update date, so each is cited with the date it was read. Every Aftershoot statement on this page comes from the three articles below.

• Aftershoot, "Culling & Editing Workflow with Aftershoot" (export destinations including Lightroom Classic, new or existing catalog, stars and colour labels appear after import, Build Smart Previews), no exact date on page, fetched 18 September 2026, https://support.aftershoot.com/en/articles/6673181-culling-editing-workflow-with-aftershoot
• Aftershoot, "Using Flags inside Aftershoot" (flags compatible with Lightroom, treated like Lightroom flags), no exact date on page, fetched 18 September 2026, https://support.aftershoot.com/en/articles/11533937-using-flags-inside-aftershoot
• Aftershoot, "How Do I Keep My Stars/Colors When I Bring My Images from Lightroom or Capture One?" (write changes to XMP, Read Metadata from File, ratings and labels transfer between the apps), no exact date on page, fetched 18 September 2026, https://support.aftershoot.com/en/articles/9190048-how-do-i-keep-my-stars-colors-when-i-bring-my-images-from-lightroom-or-capture-one
• clientgallery.io product facts, checked in code 18 September 2026 (plugin name ClientGallery; likes 3 stars, loves 5 stars and a Pick flag; client labels applied by name; label-only photos included; captions opt-in and overwriting; collection reused on each run; filename contains-match in the open catalog; replaces rather than merges; untouched frames and develop settings left alone; plugin stores the catalog filename; same-name upload replaces in place; location metadata removed; metadata changes do not trigger republish; Export picks (.txt) format; free account of one gallery; 10 $ a month or 100 $ a year), https://clientgallery.io/lightroom