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Connecting Your Storage

Go to Settings and click + Connect Account to link a Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive account. Authorize lightboxAIcloud to read your files, then add one or more folder endpoints under the connected account. Your photos stay in your cloud storage — we only index metadata and generate thumbnails.

You can connect multiple accounts at once, mix providers freely, and even stack variants of the same photo across providers (e.g. a RAW in Dropbox linked to a JPEG export in Google Drive or OneDrive).

Browsing Photos

Use the Browse page to view your collection. Click any photo to see full EXIF details including camera, lens, exposure settings, and GPS location.

Searching

The search bar finds photos by filename, folder path, AI-generated descriptions, and tags. Results update as you type.

Overview

Open the develop editor from any photo detail page by clicking the Develop button. Adjustments are applied in real time using a WASM-powered preview running in your browser. All edits are non-destructive — your original file is never modified.

Named Renderings

Save multiple versions of your develop settings as named renderings. Click the ☆ star icon next to a rendering to set it as the default — the default rendering loads automatically when you open a photo in the develop editor. Use Set as Thumbnail to update the browse grid thumbnail with your current develop settings.

Crop & Transform

Click the Crop button in the topbar to enter crop mode. A toolbar appears with:

• Aspect ratio — Choose Free, 1:1, 5:4, 4:3, 3:2, or 16:9.
• Landscape / Portrait — Toggle the arrow button (⮕/⬇) to flip the selected ratio between landscape and portrait orientation.
• Straighten — Rotate up to ±45° to level a tilted horizon.
• Flip — Mirror the image horizontally (↔) or vertically (↕).

Drag on the image to draw a crop rectangle. Click inside an existing crop rectangle to drag and reposition it. Click outside to draw a new one. The area outside the crop is shown with a semi-transparent overlay.

Crop settings are saved with your rendering and applied during export. The overlay remains visible outside of crop mode as a reminder that a crop is active. Use the Reset button to clear all crop and transform settings.

Before / After

Hold the \ (backslash) key to temporarily view the unprocessed image. You can also use the Split toggle for a side-by-side comparison.

Overview

Stacks represent versions of the same photo — different formats, edits, or processing of one shot. The top photo (primary) represents the stack in Browse and on the Map. Every photo is effectively a stack of one until you combine it with other versions.

Collections are curated sets of photos you organize by subject or purpose. By default, collections are stack-aware: they include all versions of each photo automatically. Rendering Collections are the exception — they track individual photos for curated output sets.

Working with Stacks

• To create a stack: select 2 or more photos in Browse and click "Stack" in the toolbar.
• To add a variant: open a photo’s detail page and click "Link Variant" to search for related photos.
• To change the primary variant: open the detail page and click "Set as Primary" on a different variant.
• To remove a variant: click "Remove from Stack" on the detail page.
• To dissolve a stack entirely: click "Unstack" on the detail page.

Suggestion Prefix Filter

The prefix filter on the Suggestions tab uses SQL LIKE pattern matching:

• _ matches any single character (use \_ for a literal underscore)
• % matches any sequence of characters

For example, img%2024 matches img_summer_2024, img2024, etc.

Folder Exclusions

You can exclude specific folder paths from suggestion scanning in Settings. Each connection has an “Exclude from suggestions” field where you can enter comma-separated path prefixes (e.g., /Raw/Scans/, /Exports/). Use / to exclude an entire connection.

The “Honor folder exclusions” checkbox on the Suggestions tab controls whether these exclusions are applied during scanning. Uncheck it for a full scan of all photos.

There are two types of collections:

• Collections (default) are stack-aware. When any version of a photo is in a collection, the entire stack is included automatically. If you add a RAW file and later develop renderings from it, the collection will show the full stack. This is the right choice for organizing by subject — trips, projects, themes.
• Rendering Collections contain only the exact photos you add, with no stack awareness. Use these for curated output sets: a portfolio selection, prints for a gallery show, or a specific set of developed images for export.

Choose the type when creating a collection. The type cannot be changed after creation.

Each folder endpoint you add to an account has a type that controls what lightboxAIcloud is allowed to do with it:

• Photos — read-only. lightboxAIcloud reads your photos and metadata but never modifies or writes to this folder. Your originals are always safe.
• Settings — read-only. Syncs .cube LUT files, .xmp Lightroom presets, and .dcp camera profiles for use in the Develop editor.
• Export — write destination. lightboxAIcloud can save developed images back to this folder. Configure one or more Export endpoints to choose where your renderings land.

Endpoint types and folder paths are provider-independent — the same three types are available whether the endpoint lives in Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive, and you can mix providers freely (e.g. Photos in Dropbox, Export in OneDrive).

Setup Examples

• Simple setup: Connect one account and add a single Export endpoint that covers your photo library. All your photos sync in, and exports save back to the same folder.
• Safety-first setup: Add your main photo library as a Photos endpoint (read-only). Add a separate Export endpoint at a different path (e.g. /Exports/). Originals are never touched; exports go to a dedicated folder.
• Cross-provider setup: Photos live in Dropbox; exports go to Google Drive or OneDrive so clients can review them via sharing. Stacks automatically link the exported JPEG back to the original RAW, regardless of which provider each file lives in.
• Project-based setup: Create multiple Export endpoints for different projects — /Exports/Client-Smith/, /Exports/Portfolio/. Pick the destination when exporting.

Exporting from the Develop Editor

Use the Export button in the Develop editor to save a full-resolution processed image. Choose Download to save to your device, or select an Export endpoint to upload directly to your cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive). Available formats: JPEG (with adjustable quality), 16-bit TIFF, and PNG.

Cloud exports are processed in the background. The server downloads the original from cloud storage, applies the full processing pipeline, and uploads the result to your Export folder (typically under a minute).

Round-Trip Editing with Cloud Tools

Export endpoints are writable, which enables a powerful round-trip workflow with cloud-based photo editors like Photopea, Pixlr, or any tool that can open files from Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive:

1. Export a developed image from lightboxAIcloud to an Export folder.
2. Open the file in your cloud editor — it’s in your cloud storage, so most browser-based tools can access it directly via the provider’s share/open dialog.
3. Make your edits — retouching, compositing, text overlays, etc.
4. Save the result back to the same cloud folder (same name to replace, or new name to create a new variant).
5. lightboxAIcloud detects the change on the next sync cycle: if you saved over the original filename, the thumbnail updates automatically. If you saved with a new name, it appears as a new photo in your library.

Local Editing via Cloud Sync

The same round-trip works with desktop editing software (Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP, etc.) through your computer’s Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive sync clients. Edit files in the synced Export folder on your local machine, and changes propagate through the cloud back to lightboxAIcloud. Thumbnails update, new files import, and EXIF metadata is re-extracted — all automatically.

Organizing Exports

Create multiple Export connections for different purposes:

• Per-project: /Exports/Wedding-June/, /Exports/Headshots-Q2/
• Per-client: /Exports/Client-Smith/, /Exports/Client-Jones/
• By purpose: /Exports/Portfolio/, /Exports/Social-Media/, /Exports/Prints/

When exporting from the Develop editor, you pick which Export connection to use. Each connection syncs independently, so exported files appear in your library organized by the folder they landed in.

Linking Exports as Variants

Exported files sync back into your library automatically. Use the Stacks feature to link them to the source photo as variants: open the source photo, click Link Variant, and search for the exported file. Or visit the Stacks page and click Scan Library to auto-detect photos with matching filenames.

Each stage is applied in order:

1. White Balance — Temperature and tint controls for normal photos. Per-channel RGB multipliers are available for IR photography via expanded range mode, which allows extreme color temperature adjustments.
2. Exposure — Adjustment in EV stops, applied to linear data before tone mapping for maximum latitude. Range: −5 to +5 stops.
3. Channel Mixer — Presets for IR false-color photography (SwapRedBlue, Aerochrome, PurpleSky, GreenSky) or a custom 3×3 matrix for full control over how input channels map to output.
4. Tone Mapping — If a LUT or film simulation is selected, it replaces the default tone curve. Otherwise, RAW and HEIC files get a filmic highlight shoulder that smoothly compresses super-white values into the displayable range. JPEG and TIFF inputs use a simple clamp since they’re already tone-mapped.
5. Tone Curves — Applied in perceptual (sRGB gamma) space. An RGB composite curve shapes overall tonal distribution (lifting shadows, compressing highlights). Per-channel Red, Green, and Blue curves enable color-specific tonal grading — the foundation of most film simulation presets. When Camera Defaults is enabled (RAW files only), a baseline “Medium Contrast” curve is applied that approximates a typical RAW processor’s default rendering. Presets that include their own tone curves automatically override this default.
6. Highlights / Shadows — Independently lift shadows or recover highlights. Uses a luminance-based split with smooth blending between the two regions.
7. Contrast — An S-curve applied in perceptual space. Increases or decreases midtone separation.
8. HSL Adjustments — Per-range control for eight hue ranges: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Aqua, Blue, Purple, and Magenta. Adjust hue, saturation, and luminance independently for each range.
9. Vibrance — Saturation-weighted boost. Low-saturation colors receive more boost while already-vivid colors are protected from clipping. Negative values create a muted, pastel effect.
10. Split Toning — Apply separate color tints to shadows and highlights. Control shadow hue/saturation, highlight hue/saturation, and a balance slider to shift the split point.
11. Crop & Transform — Flip, straighten (bilinear interpolation), and crop. Applied after all color processing during server-side export. The browser preview uses CSS transforms for real-time feedback without reprocessing pixels.

Save your current develop settings as a reusable preset. Organize presets by category (e.g., “IR”, “Film”, “B&W”) and apply any preset to a photo with one click. Presets are per-user and persist across sessions.

Lightroom Preset Compatibility

lightboxAIcloud can sync and apply Adobe Lightroom presets (.xmp) from your cloud storage. Connect a LUT/preset folder in Settings, and presets appear automatically in the Develop editor’s preset dropdown.

Supported Lightroom adjustments:

• Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks
• Temperature, Tint
• Vibrance, Saturation
• Tone Curves (RGB composite + per-channel Red, Green, Blue)
• HSL adjustments (all 8 ranges: hue, saturation, luminance)
• Split Toning (shadow/highlight hue and saturation, balance)
• B&W conversion with per-channel gray mixer

Not yet supported:

• Camera Profiles (DCP) — partially approximated by the Camera Defaults curve
• Camera Calibration (primary color shifts)
• Parametric Tone Curve
• Clarity, Texture, Dehaze
• Grain, Vignetting, Sharpening

Camera Defaults

RAW files in lightboxAIcloud start from linear sensor data with only a filmic highlight shoulder applied. This differs from Lightroom, which applies a camera profile and default tone curve before any preset.

The Camera Defaults checkbox (visible only for RAW files) bridges this gap by applying a “Medium Contrast” baseline tone curve that approximates a typical RAW processor’s default rendering. When you apply a Lightroom preset that includes its own tone curves, those curves automatically override the Camera Defaults curve.

Uncheck Camera Defaults to work from the raw linear data — useful for custom LUT workflows or if you prefer to build your look from scratch.

A quick guide for infrared photography users:

1. Start with a channel mix preset — SwapRedBlue for standard IR or Aerochrome for false-color.
2. Use HSL Adjustments to fine-tune colors (e.g., shift Orange hue toward Red for an IR-Chrome look).
3. Dial in white balance using expanded range mode for extreme color temperatures.
4. Save the combination as a preset.
5. Apply the preset to other IR photos from the same session.

For questions, bug reports, or feature requests, email us at support@lightbox-ai.cloud.