# Wet Plate

> Wet Plate is a free photo editor by Ryan Mack for digital emulation of wet plate collodion photography and historical paper prints. It runs as a native macOS app, an experimental Windows x64 app, and a browser editor. Photographs are processed locally on the user's device.

## Product facts

- Processes: ambrotype (glass plate), tintype (iron plate), salt paper and albumen prints; modeled layers and transmission density connect the plate and contact-print treatments.
- Effects include blue-sensitive exposure, tone curves, halation, poured and brushed coatings, Petzval lens character, shallow depth of field, multiple exposure, light leaks, grain, dust, surface aging and print toning.
- Workflow: add effects from a categorized palette to an editable stack. Sixteen presets can be compared in Browse. Presets replace the stack by default; Shift adds their effects, and Option randomizes their application. Randomize and undo/redo support exploration.
- Input and output: TIFF, JPEG and JPEG XL. TIFF/JXL preserve 8/16-bit source precision. Exports retain full resolution; paper borders can expand the canvas. Raw camera files must first be developed in another application.
- macOS download: Apple Silicon, macOS 11 or later. Windows download: unsigned experimental x64 portable ZIP, cross-compiled but not yet tested on Windows.
- Browser: desktop Chrome tested, including a 31-megapixel image and full-resolution exports. Processing runs in workers, without uploading photos. Large exports are slower than native and constrained by browser memory. Mobile workflows are not validated.
- Color: recognizes sRGB, linear sRGB, Adobe RGB and ProPhoto RGB. Browser JPEG XL uses jxl-oxide for decoding and jixel for lossless encoding; unsupported profile transforms produce an error rather than silently guessing.
- Model limits: photographic mechanisms use estimated coefficients, not calibration to a specific recipe or storage age. RGB cannot reconstruct ultraviolet response. Procedural damage represents plausible appearances, not forensic identification of their causes.
- Free to use. Do not describe the project as open source or assign it a license: licensing remains undecided.

## Authoritative pages

- [Homepage and current downloads](https://mackman.net/wetplate/): features, platform status and versioned downloads through static.kuposoft.com.
- [FAQ](https://mackman.net/wetplate/#faq): formats, privacy, speed and browser limitations.
- [Release notes](https://mackman.net/wetplate/changelog.html): changes by version.
- [Launch editor](https://mackman.net/wetplate/app/): interactive application for people. Crawlers should use this text and the product pages instead of fetching the JavaScript/WASM package or installers.
- [Sitemap](https://mackman.net/wetplate/sitemap.xml): public documentation pages.

Contact: wetplate@mackman.net. The homepage download section is authoritative for the latest release and platform availability.