Browsing

The grid and sidebar work together to let you browse, select, and organize your photos.

Sidebar Sections

All (Ctrl+A)

Shows every photo in the project.

Starred (Ctrl+S)

Shows photos with one or more stars (ratings 1-5), grouped by star rating. This view displays all photos you’ve given a signal, regardless of which specific rating you used.

Aphera’s rating system is built on the XMP Rating standard (xmp:Rating), which organizes photos into three categories:

• No Stars (0): The default state for unrated photos
• Starred (1-5): Photos with any star rating, displayed together and grouped by rating
• Rejected (-1): Photos marked for exclusion

Within the Starred view, photos are automatically grouped by their rating (1-star, 2-star, etc.), making it easy to see your culling progress. Use stars however you like: as a binary favorite (1-star), for multi-pass refinement (progressively increasing stars), or with specific meanings per project.

Rejected (Ctrl+D)

Shows photos marked as rejected using Option+Delete. Rejected photos are hidden from all other views (All, Starred, Groups), acting as a soft delete. This keeps your workspace clean without permanently removing files from the project.

Pressing Option+Delete again on rejected photos clears the rejected flag and returns them to unrated. When the selection is mixed (some rejected, some not), all selected photos are set to rejected.

Note: The Delete key alone removes photos from their current Group (when in a Group view), rather than rejecting them. Rejecting is a heavier operation that requires Option+Delete and works in all contexts.

Groups

Photo groupings within the project for organizing photos by any criteria (location, subject, event, etc.). Groups can be filtered by star rating to focus on specific subsets.

Adding Photos to Groups: Drag to a group or right-click any photo and select “Add to Group” from the context menu.

Grid

The grid displays photo thumbnails for the current sidebar selection.

The grid has two modes:

• Extended (default): shows photo metadata below each thumbnail — filename, star rating, camera/lens info. Layout adapts to column count with richer detail at fewer columns.
• Regular: thumbnails only, no metadata.

Balance and Look Tools in Grid

Grid mode includes Balance and Look tools for quick tonal adjustments and look application without leaving the grid view. Double-click any image to open it in View mode for focused editing while maintaining access to your project organization.

Selection

Click a photo to select it. Use standard selection modifiers:

Reject & Remove

Aphera uses a three-tier system for removing photos:

Navigation

Arrow key navigation is also available when the sidebar has focus.

Photo Organization

Rating

Rating works on the current selection, including multiple photos. A toast notification confirms the change.

Using Ratings: Stars are local to each project, giving you flexibility in how you use them. Use 1-star as a simple favorite, or use multiple passes with increasing stars to progressively refine your selection. Rather than assigning permanent meaning to specific ratings across your entire catalog (like “5-star always means client pick”), filter by rating and export with the appropriate preset for the moment. See Exporting for details on Export Presets.

Compatibility: Aphera reads XMP-standard ratings — a rating already on a file, set by another tool, is picked up at import. Ratings you set in Aphera live in the project; they are not written back to your files or embedded in exports.

Context Menu

Right-click on any photo to open a context menu with the following options:

• Show in Finder (single selection)
• Use as Cover Image (single selection) — sets the photo as the project’s cover in the Projects window. See Projects.
• Rating (5 stars through 1 star, No Stars)
• Add to Group (submenu of project groups)
• Reject — toggles the rejected flag on the selection
• Remove from… (contextual: Group, Starred, or Rejected)
• Remove from Project

The context menu is available in both Grid and edit modes.

Grid Filters

The filter bar includes an “at least” / “exactly” toggle for star rating comparison. For example, “at least 3 stars” shows 3, 4, and 5 star photos, while “exactly 3 stars” shows only 3 star photos.

Zooming the Grid

In Grid mode, Zoom In and Zoom Out adjust the grid thumbnail size (number of columns).

Zooming the Photo

In View and Develop modes, the photo is displayed in one of two zoom modes:

• Inset — the photo fits inside the window with a margin. Zooming in and out affects the inset: small, medium, large.
• Pixels — the photo is scaled relative to its own pixels, independent of the window size: 25%, 50%, 1:1, 150%, 200%, 300%, and 400%.

Space toggles between the two modes, returning to the last-used size in each. Clicking the photo also toggles, zooming in toward the point you clicked. A toast reports each change (e.g. “1:1 Pixels”, “Small Inset”, “150%”).

Inset mode is a comfortable view, incorporating the background color for relative color contrast. Zooming out can be beneficial to see the photo’s composition or to visualize how it may feel when viewed on a phone. Pixels mode lets you inspect pixel-level detail; focus, noise, grain, etc.

Panning: in Pixels mode, drag or scroll to pan the photo. The pan position is remembered per photo; in Inset mode the photo stays centered.

The zoom mode carries across photos as you navigate — it is not saved per photo.

Audition

Hold \ (backslash) to temporarily view the original, unedited photo. Release to return to the edited view. This works in any mode that displays a photo.