The Image Stack is the processing pipeline visible in Develop mode. It appears as a list of layers under the Editing Layers header in the edit panel on the right side of the window.
Layers
Input Layer
The first layer in the stack. Its title shows the decode engine in use:
- RAW: Apple — RAW decoded by Apple’s engine.
- RAW: Aphera — RAW decoded by Aphera’s engine.
- JPG Image — display-domain images (JPEG and similar).
The Input menu on the row switches the engine for RAW files. Input settings may include lens corrections, denoise, highlight recovery, and color matrix options.
Balance Layer
The seven tonal controls: Exposure, Temperature, Tint, Contrast, Shadows, Highlights, and Saturation. See Balance.
On RAW photos the row has a Balance Presets menu with the white balance presets. See Balance Presets.
Formation Layer
A color transformation layer, labeled Formation with its type:
- Formation: Aphera 2499 — Aphera’s image formation.
- Formation: Custom LUT — a user-supplied LUT.
Formations apply on RAW images only. When a look with a formation is applied to a JPG, the row shows a warning and the formation is inert; the rest of the look’s layers still render. Modifying a look on a JPG drops the formation. See Formation.
Effect Layers
Stackable image effects added to the pipeline from the Add Layer menu at the bottom of the stack. The menu groups effects under Color and Texture:
Color
- Grading
- Color Controls
- Film Response
- White Balance
See Color Effects for each layer’s controls.
Texture
- Diffusion
- Grain
- Halation
- Sharpen
- Vignette
See Texture Effects for each layer’s controls.
Each effect layer can be individually enabled or disabled.
Applied Look Layer
When a look is applied, its layers appear under a Look: name row. Hover or expand the row to reveal a Modify button, which unpacks the look’s layers into the stack for editing.
Save Look
The Editing Layers header has a Save Look menu:
- New Look… — saves the current stack as a new look in the project. A Create New Look dialog asks for the name; the look is added to the current project.
- Update “name” — overwrites the look the photo currently references. Shown only when a look is applied. Because photos reference looks, the change applies to every photo using the look; Aphera warns before updating when other photos are affected.
Both actions are unavailable when there is nothing to save: a photo on the default look with no effect layers added, or an applied look with no modifications. A look consisting only of a formation can be saved.
Saving captures the formation and the effect layers. Balance, Crop, and Input settings are not part of a look; see Looks.
Expanding and Collapsing
Each layer can be expanded to reveal its controls, or collapsed to save space. The header of the edit list provides expand-all and collapse-all buttons.
Resetting
The entire edit list can be reset from the Editing Layers header’s context menu, which resets all adjustments for the current photo.