Native Desktop Photo Editor

Most photo editors are either bloated creative suites or flimsy web apps. Neither respects the simple workflow: browse a folder, tweak an image, export the result.

Photograph is a native Rust desktop photo browser and editor built for practical image management and color grading. It opens fast, handles RAW files, and stores non-destructive edits as sidecar JSON so your originals are never touched.

GitHub README • Snap Store • Architecture

Download

sudo snap install photograph

cargo install --git https://github.com/divanvisagie/Photograph
photograph

Screenshot

What It Does

• Folder browser with thumbnail grid
• Full image viewer/editor windows (egui/eframe)
• EXIF metadata display
• Non-destructive edits stored as sidecar JSON
• Geometry: rotate, flip, crop, straighten, keystone
• Color/tone: exposure, white balance, HSL, selective color, graduated filter, highlight/shadow recovery
• Export as JPG, PNG, or WebP with quality/compression and optional resize
• Background rendering and export progress UI

Supported Formats

RAW decode via rawler: RAF, DNG, NEF, CR2, ARW. Standard formats via the image crate: JPG, PNG, TIFF, WebP, BMP. The browser also recognizes HEIC and AVIF extensions where decode support is available.

Development

cargo build
cargo run --bin photograph
cargo test

Live-reload dev loop (requires cargo-watch):

cargo install cargo-watch
make dev

Packaging

The Makefile supports Linux (.deb) and macOS (.app bundle / .dmg) packaging.

make build          # platform-aware packaging build
make install        # platform-aware install
make build-linux    # build .deb on Linux
make build-macos    # build .app bundle on macOS
make package-macos  # create .dmg disk image

Architecture

Pipeline and architecture decisions are documented in detail:

• Pipeline Architecture
• Pipeline Decisions (ADR-style)
• RAW Load Latency Notes

License

GPL-2.0-only. See LICENSE.