# Shadow

A photo management and RAW editing application in development: the current build uses nodes for tone and local adjustments, while its longer-term direction is to learn culling and editing preferences under user control.

## Metadata

- HTML: https://glenzli.com/en/projects/shadow/
- Markdown: https://glenzli.com/en/projects/shadow.md
- Collection: Projects
- Language: en
- Published: 2026-08-14
- Updated: 2026-08-27
- Status: active
- Tags: photography, raw, non-destructive, culling, local-first

## Content

Shadow is a photo management and RAW editing application in development. Library management, culling, refinement, and export share one photo identity and Recipe model. Originals remain read-only while ratings, keywords, editing nodes, and export settings are stored separately.

Tone, geometry, masks, and local processing are arranged as ordered nodes. Each node has an explicit scope and can be adjusted independently or combined with the rest of the Recipe.

> **Development preview.** Features, interactions, and persistent formats may change. Use a separate test Library and keep backups of important work.

## Library, Culling, and Delivery

  ![Shadow Gallery workspace with a photo grid, intelligent categories, photo information, and rating tools](/images/projects/shadow-gallery.webp)
  The Gallery workspace provides grid browsing, intelligent categories, and photo information.

Shadow can import local folders and connect to an optional LAN Library. RAW and JPEG representations, local files, remote sources, and downloaded caches can belong to the same logical photo. Grid, filmstrip, map, filters, ratings, color labels, keywords, albums, and inspectors provide different ways to organize the Library.

Side-by-side comparison and a candidate arena support shortlisting and successive rounds, recording decisions such as “better” and “equal.” Export includes format, size, quality, watermark, and preset controls.

## Node-Based Refinement

  ![Shadow Precision workspace with photo preview, node Recipe, and color controls](/images/projects/shadow-precision.webp)
  The Precision workspace brings the photo preview, node Recipe, and color controls together.

Recipes cover foundational RAW development, white balance, tone and color, crop, rotation, perspective and geometry, local masks, retouch, and Liquify. Subject and people-detail selections automatically create and bind a new grading node, and subsequent adjustments continue through the same node structure.

## Local Intelligent Assistance

People grouping, semantic discovery, AI RAW denoise, focus-detail inspection, and selective masks based on SAM 2.1 and face parsing run through the local Infer Runtime and retain source and execution information. The public repository does not distribute model files.

## Direction and Status

Shadow's long-term direction is to learn photographic preferences from comparisons, selections, and adjustments under user control, then apply them to Library management and image processing. That work remains under design and development.

The current build centers on node-based editing, with foundational people, semantic, denoise, and selective-mask capabilities. Coverage for RAW formats, lens correction, and AI features is still expanding. Licensing, copyright, and the availability of public implementations currently limit support for some vendor RAW formats.