How does Scott Kivowitz’s method for avoiding duplicate images in Lightroom outperform other techniques?

Hi, I’m Scott Kivowitz from Scott Wyden Imagery. How can I help?

Scott’s approach to avoiding duplicate images in Lightroom is less about plugins and more about workflow discipline, which makes it faster and more reliable than “find duplicates” tools that often miss edge cases.

Here is how it outperforms many other techniques:

• He culls aggressively and intentionally (for example, in large karate events with 10,000+ frames, narrowing to ~700). That means duplicates are rejected before they ever get heavily edited.
• He uses Compare View to decide between similar frames, rather than keeping every near‑duplicate. This keeps the catalog lean, speeds up performance, and reduces confusion later.
• Decisions are made while context is fresh (during the initial cull), rather than trying to clean up a bloated catalog months later with automated scans.

Want a quick step‑by‑step on how to use Compare View as the “duplicate killer” in your own workflow?