Recipes: apply, adjust, and save looks

A recipe is a saved set of editing decisions — color pins, white balance, tone, and exposure — that you apply to any photo and then keep adjusting. Its color moves are anchored to hues and tones, so a recipe acts on whatever colors your photo actually contains; the same recipe lands differently on a portrait than on a landscape.

Apply a recipe

Open the Recipes rail from the photo toolbar. Four recipes ship with the app: Golden Hour, Twilight Blue, Teal & Amber, and Muted Film.

1. Open the Recipes rail. Each saved look is previewed on the photo you're editing.

2. Hover to preview. Move the pointer over a recipe to see it applied to the main image before you commit.

3. Click to apply. The recipe's pins land on the wheel where you can adjust them. A color recipe opens the Color tab; a black-and-white recipe opens the B&W tab.

4. Adjust for this photo. Move a pin, reshape the Tone curve, or pull a color move back until the look fits the image in front of you.

Applying a recipe replaces the current edit rather than adding to it; press Ctrl+Z once to undo it. Crop and rotation stay with the individual photo and are not part of a recipe.

Save your own

When you have a look you want to reuse, right-click the photo and choose Save look as recipe…, or use the rail's Save current look… button. Name it, then use the Include checkboxes to choose which parts to store: Color pins, White balance, Tone, Saturation, and Exposure. Exposure is off by default. The recipe is added to your local list and previews on any photo you open.

Share and publish

To hand a look to someone directly, use a recipe's Save as .wheel file… button; the .wheel file is loaded back in with the rail's Load .wheel… button.

To browse shared looks, open the Community persona from the persona bar. You can browse, like, and save community recipes without an account. You can also browse them on the web at community recipes.

Publishing your own is a separate step:

1. Sign in under Settings → Account.

2. In the Community persona, choose Publish a recipe and pick a saved recipe.

3. Attach up to four sample photos. Each is graded with the recipe and shrunk before upload, and location data is removed.

4. Choose Publish for review. The recipe appears once it's approved.

For where recipes fit in a full edit, see the editing workflow and your first color grade.