Desktop app

Welepix Desktop is an app for your own computer. Culling happens locally — fast and offline, because your photos never leave the machine. Only what the client needs to see goes up to Welepix, and once they have chosen, the app finds the originals of those frames on your disk for you.

This app is for you, the photographer. Your clients have a separate, lightweight Welepix Client app for Windows. In it they browse and select photos, and screenshots and screen recordings don't work. Clients download it right from your link page. More on the Screenshot protection page.

What it solves

Culling normally has three stages: you review the frames, you pick a set for the client, and after their selection you hunt for the matching RAW files. The third stage is the tedious one — matching names by hand across hundreds of files. This app removes it.

Culling on your computer

  • Every common photo format: RAW (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, DNG and a dozen more manufacturer formats), plus JPEG, PNG, WebP and TIFF. Culling is not limited to RAW.
  • A RAW + JPEG pair is one photo. The same frame shot to both files is shown once, and every action applies to the pair.
  • Pick / reject and star ratings — from the keyboard, without reaching for the mouse.
  • Filters by status, rating and filename; full-screen preview.
  • Culling works offline. You only need a connection to upload photos to Welepix for the next steps with your client, and to get updates on what your client has done, such as their selection.

The client selection loop

This is the reason the app exists.

  • Upload your picks to a Welepix gallery straight from the app — it prepares the preview-sized versions itself.
  • The client chooses on their own page, as usual.
  • The app pulls their selection back and matches it to the originals on your disk. Matching uses a unique marker rather than the filename, so it holds even if files were renamed.
  • Move the client's chosen originals into a separate folder in one step — and edit only what was actually ordered.

Moving files without the fear

  • Copy or cut. Copying leaves the originals in place; cutting deletes the source only after the copy has been verified.
  • Renaming from your own template — client, folder, number. The originals on disk are never renamed.
  • Export history with undo. You can see where photos went and bring them back. Undo is deliberately cautious: it would rather skip a file than overwrite one.

Lightroom and Capture One

  • XMP sidecars are written next to RAW files with rating, pick state and rotation — read by Lightroom, Capture One and Bridge.
  • The client's selection can be marked without moving a single file — the picks get a keyword Lightroom can filter by. If your workflow lives in the catalogue, nothing needs to be moved at all.
  • If a photo already has your own Lightroom sidecar with develop settings, the app leaves it alone.

Your files stay yours

The originals stay on your computer throughout. Only compressed preview versions travel to Welepix — WebP at roughly 2048 px on the long edge (smaller, larger and JPEG are all options). And only for the photos you chose to send; the app never uploads anything on its own initiative.

That is a deliberate choice rather than a limitation. A client choosing photos does not need more — they are selecting, not editing. For you it means less of your plan's space used and faster uploads, which matters most on a poor connection. The originals stay where they belong: with you.

Getting it

  • Windows and macOS. The app updates itself — it offers a new version on launch.
  • You sign in with the same Welepix account, through your browser — no password is typed into the app.
  • An active gallery plan is required. The download link lives in your account Settings.