Design
Photo looks: why eighty cameras need not look like eighty
Every phone has its own opinion about skin tones. A shared look turns the jumble into a gallery, without losing a single original.
Αυτά τα άρθρα προς το παρόν υπάρχουν μόνο στα αγγλικά.
Put ten pictures from ten different phones side by side: one is cool and blueish, the next is bursting with saturation, the third has skin like marzipan. Every manufacturer has its own opinion about what a person should look like, and you only see it once the pictures are next to each other.
That is exactly what happens in a guest gallery. A photo look is the answer.
What a look is, and what it is not
A look is a colour mood laid over every picture in the gallery: the same tone curve, the same treatment of light and shadow, the same direction in the colours. It does not repair blurry pictures and it does not turn a phone shot into a professional one. It makes the gallery read as one collection instead of a jumble.
There are ten to choose from, from Bright & Airy and Soft Pastel through Warm Film, Golden Hour and Nordic Matte to Moody Dark, Cinematic Teal & Orange, Vintage, Sepia and Fine Art Black & White. You pick one for the event, not per picture. That is the point.
The originals stay untouched
That is the most important technical promise: the file a guest uploaded is never modified. The look is applied while the display versions are generated. The original sits next to them, untouched, with all its image data.
Two things follow. First: you can change the look at any time or switch it off entirely, even after the party; the gallery is then recalculated from the originals. Second: the ZIP download holds the shots exactly as they were taken. Anyone who wants to print or edit one always has the raw material.
The preview before uploading
Guests see their own picture with the look before they send it. That is not a gimmick: a look that only becomes visible after uploading feels like somebody messed with your picture. Seeing what happens beforehand makes it feel like part of the gallery.
The preview computes the same thing the server does afterwards, including the effects that belong to a look. A look that previews without its vignette and arrives with one would be a lie about our own product.
Which look fits what
- Daytime wedding, lots of white: Bright & Airy or Soft Pastel. Both keep skin friendly and let the dress be a dress.
- Evening party with warm light: Warm Film or Golden Hour. They take the yellow cast off artificial light without making it cold.
- Company party: Nordic Matte, restrained, no effect, does not age.
- Milestone birthday, an evening of memories: Vintage or Sepia if it suits the occasion. Careful: both are loud, and after three hundred pictures that can be a lot.
- When in doubt, none at all. No look is a valid decision, and for a gallery that also holds professional pictures it is often the better one.
Videos stay unchanged in every case. A look applies to photos.
