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ilovegrainBeta

Coming to the App Store

Film looks developed from RAW. Every step is a knob.

One exposure goes in. A tone curve, a split-tone, halation and grain come out, each one yours to move and to put back.

See the seven looks
  1. Bare
  2. Pocket
  3. Tide
  4. Ink
  5. Honey
  6. Fern
  7. Ember
Tints shown four times stronger than they render.

What it doesn't do

Nothing happens behind the photo.

One exposure
The photo is one RAW frame, developed once. No bracketing, no frame stacking, no night mode.
Nothing merged
No two frames are ever combined. What the sensor caught in that instant is the whole photo.
No AI
No scene detection, no subject segmentation, no model deciding what your photo should look like.
Nothing sharpened unless you ask
Sharpening and local tone mapping sit at zero in every look. They are knobs, and they stay where you leave them.

The pipeline

Seven stages, in this order, every time.

Each look is a set of defaults for the same seven stages. Nothing is hidden in a lookup table; every stage is a formula with a few numbers, and the numbers are the knobs.

  1. Develop

    The RAW frame becomes an image once: white balance offsets and a shadow lift per look, Apple's noise reduction kept as delivered.

    Needs RAW

  2. Tone curve

    A five-point curve read from the frame's own histogram. The film looks pin its ends, so the curve never crushes black or blows white.

  3. Vibrance

    A nudge to the quiet colours only. Colours that are already saturated are left alone.

  4. Color

    A split-tone: one tint for the shadows, one for the highlights, with brightness untouched. Or black and white.

  5. Highlight recovery

    A second, darker development blended into the brightest parts. Off in every look until you turn it on.

    Needs RAW

  6. Halation

    The glow film gives to lights: the brightest parts bleed a warm orange into their surroundings.

  7. Grain

    Procedural grain that looks the same from the viewfinder to the full frame. The same seed renders the same grain again.

The looks

Seven looks. One is yours.

Each swatch is the look's colour stage drawn over a grey ramp, black on the left: the ends stay put and the mid-tones take the tint. Badges show what else the look turns on.

Tints shown four times stronger than they render.

The knobs

Defaults first. Every stage adjustable.

The look sets a default for every knob below. Move one and it is yours; double-tap it and it is the look's again. Reset the look and every knob goes back.

Development

Needs RAW
Exposure
−2.0 EV … 2.0 EV
Boost
0.00 … 1.00
Shadow boost
0.00 … 2.00
Temperature
−1000 K … 1000 K
Temperature with flash
−1000 K … 1000 K
Tint
−50 … 50
Sharpness
0.00 … 1.00
Local tone mapping
0.00 … 1.00

Tone

Black point strength
0.00 … 1.00
White point strength
0.00 … 1.00
Protect shadows and highlights
on / off

Color

Vibrance
−0.50 … 0.50
Shadows red
−50 … 50
Shadows green
−50 … 50
Shadows blue
−50 … 50
Highlights red
−50 … 50
Highlights green
−50 … 50
Highlights blue
−50 … 50
Black and white
on / off
Mix
0.00 … 1.00

Highlight recovery

Needs RAW
Highlight recovery
on / off
Threshold
0.50 … 0.99
Exposure
−4.0 EV … 0.0 EV

Halation

Halation
on / off
Threshold
0.00 … 0.95
Strength
0.00 … 5.00
Radius
0.00 % … 3.00 %
Tint red
0.00 … 1.00
Tint green
0.00 … 1.00
Tint blue
0.00 … 1.00

Grain

Grain
on / off
Amount
0.00 … 1.00
Size
0.50 … 4.00
Chroma
0.00 … 1.00
Roughness
0 … 128

Questions

Asked before it shipped.

Does it run on Android?

Planned, with one difference: Android renders from the processed photo, so the develop and highlight-recovery stages are skipped and the other five run as on iPhone. RAW development on Android comes later.

Where do my photos go?

Nowhere. Every stage runs on the device; renders are saved to your photo library and the original is kept in the app. There are no accounts, no analytics and no network requests from the app.

What does it cost?

Nothing while it is in beta. Pricing comes later and will be announced here first.

Can I re-develop a photo later?

Yes. The app keeps the source of every capture, so the Darkroom can render it again with another look or other knobs, with the same grain.