Happy Photon

Stable 0.3.1 Free and open source Windows, macOS, Linux

Photo editing,
simplified.

Simple enough for your first camera. Serious enough for a working pro.

See release availability See the pro pipeline
A green valley under billowing clouds, developed with deeper contrast, richer color, and a warmer light
Drag to compare. Both halves rendered by Happy Photon’s export pipeline from a Fujifilm X30 RAW · CC0 sample from raw.pixls.us
Originals stay untouched Catalog and edits stay local No account or subscription No telemetry or advertising

THE HAPPY PHOTON WORKFLOW

A complete workflow.
Just three decisions.

Move from a full card to finished photographs without turning the process into a second job.

  1. 01 · CULL

    Choose the keepers

    Browse in place. Compare candidates side by side and use flags, ratings, filters, and burst grouping to narrow a shoot quickly.

    COMPARE · PICK · RATE
  2. 02 · DEVELOP

    Develop the photographs

    Crop, straighten, correct perspective, and shape light, color, tone, and detail with non-destructive controls. Use local masks to refine light and color in selected parts of the frame.

    COMPOSE · LIGHT · COLOR
  3. 03 · EXPORT

    Export what you need

    Proof the result, then create JPEG, PNG, WebP, or 16-bit TIFF copies in the sizes you need—without changing the originals.

    SELECT · PROOF · EXPORT

Read the complete workflow

RENDERED BY HAPPY PHOTON

Every image on this page came straight out of Happy Photon’s export pipeline. Drag across each frame to compare the untouched default render with a few minutes of global adjustments.

A tree-lined canal at dusk, developed with lifted shadows and warm reflected light on the water
Dusk, lifted.Canon EOS 350D · Exposure +0.7 · Shadows +40 · 6800 K
The Milky Way above a mountain ridge, developed to reveal dense star fields and cool night color
Night sky at ISO 6400.Canon EOS 6D · Exposure +1.3 · 3900 K

Sample RAW files are CC0 public-domain captures from raw.pixls.us and a Dryad open dataset.

FOR BEGINNERS AND PROS ALIKE

Everything the photograph needs. Nothing it doesn’t.

Whether you are opening your first camera folder or graduating from a heavyweight workflow, the same focused controls carry a shoot from card to finished file—and a serious image engine sits underneath when you want to push a photograph.

See what makes pros happy: the editing pipeline

COLOR SCIENCE UNDER THE HOOD

Follow the photon from sensor to file.

Image formation, creative edits, and output conversion run in a deliberate order. Preview and export share that path, so the finished file follows the photograph you developed.

  1. 01Characterize

    Measured as-shot white balance and camera profiles

  2. 02Form the image

    Lens corrections, highlight reconstruction, scene-referred AgX

  3. 03Shape color

    Wide-gamut perceptual OKLCh color stage

  4. 04Finish detail

    Capture sharpening, noise reduction, grain

  5. 05Deliver

    Embedded sRGB or Display P3 output

Working space
16-bit linear Rec.2020
Color mixer
8 bands
Curves
4 channels
Handoff
16-bit TIFF

Explore the pro pipeline

NEW IN HAPPY PHOTON 0.2.5

Shape the light. Right where it matters.

Local adjustments stay non-destructive, work with undo and redo, and carry through to your exported photographs.

Guide the eye with local masks

Draw a linear gradient across a sky or place a radial mask around a subject. Feather the edges for a smooth transition, and choose the inside or outside of a radial mask.

Adjust local light and color

Change Exposure, Temperature, Tint, and Saturation within each mask. Brighten a face, cool a background, or soften a patch of strong color without changing the whole frame.

Place each adjustment precisely

Drag mask controls on the photograph, enter numeric geometry, or start at the center of the view. Crop and Locals tools sit beneath the histogram.

Another way to download for Windows

The Microsoft Store remains recommended. A Windows x64 ZIP on GitHub Releases provides a direct-download fallback with manual updates.

LOCAL-FIRST BY DESIGN

Your photographs
remain yours.

Happy Photon works with photographs where they already live. Ratings, flags, and edits are local catalog instructions—not changes written into your images.

Export creates new files and refuses any target that would collide with a loaded original.

  • No mandatory import

    Open a folder and work directly with the shoot.

  • No cloud library

    Your catalog and edit instructions stay on your computer.

  • No business in your business

    No account, subscription, product telemetry, ads, or site tracking.

PLATFORM GUIDES

A clear start,
on your desktop.

Check installation, compatibility, and the complete RAW and JPEG workflow for your operating system.

WINDOWS 10 1809+ · X64

Photo editing on Windows

Install from the Microsoft Store, open a camera folder, and export finished copies.

Read the Windows guide

MACOS 14+ · APPLE SILICON

Photo editing on macOS

Install the signed and notarized app on an Apple Silicon Mac and begin with a local folder.

Read the macOS guide

APPIMAGE · X64

Photo editing on Linux

Run the AppImage and use a local, open-source folder-to-export workflow.

Read the Linux guide

Already assessed a shoot in Lightroom Classic? Bring over ratings, flags, and color labels

OPEN SOURCE, IN THE OPEN

Built for the workflow.
Open to inspection.

Happy Photon is licensed GPL-3.0-or-later. Read the source, report what feels rough, or help shape the next release.

View sourceExplore the application and site code Report an issueShare a reproducible problem Build from sourceSet up a local development build ContributeSee project contribution guidance

READY FOR LAUNCH

Your next shoot,
without the overhead.

Happy Photon is available now from the Microsoft Store, with a signed macOS release and a Linux AppImage available from GitHub.

See release availability Follow releases