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It won't tell you if it's a good photograph. It'll tell you if it's a good file, and whether you should shoot it again before you leave.
The back of a camera lies to you in daylight. It won't show you that focus landed on the branch instead of the eye, that the red channel is clipping in the sunset, or that 1/60th wasn't quite fast enough. You find out at home, a week later, when the light has gone and so has the moment.
Loupe is the second opinion. Open a photograph and it measures the four things that decide whether you got the shot, then tells you what to change.
Exposure
How much you've actually lost, not how the histogram looks. It watches all three colour channels separately, because red saturates long before the others. That's why sunsets go orange-to-white and skin goes plastic while the histogram on your camera still reads perfectly safe.
Sharpness
A map of where focus really landed and how deep it runs. Because it measures how crisply detail is rendered rather than how much detail there is, a deliberately soft background isn't marked as a fault.
Composition
Thirds, golden ratio, golden spiral, diagonals, triangles and symmetry. Not a score. It tells you which structure your picture is already built on, and measures your horizon to a tenth of a degree.
Which lens to bring
Take a rough phone frame from where you plan to stand, pick a focal length, and see exactly what that lens would frame from that spot. You'll know whether you need the 200mm before you carry it up the trail.
Load a whole shoot and it scores every frame so you can cull in one pass. Keep using it and it starts naming your habits, such as whether you build most frames on the spiral or whether you tilt every horizon the same way. Nobody can see that from inside their own work.
Your photographs never leave your device. No upload, no account, no analytics, no third-party anything. Once it's open it works with no signal at all, which is exactly what you want at a trailhead.
What it can't do
Loupe measures execution, not pictures.
It cannot tell you whether a photograph is any good.
A tack-sharp, perfectly exposed frame can be dull, and the best thing you shoot all year might blow its highlights and be worth it anyway.
It knows nothing about moment, gesture, or why anyone would care about the subject.
That part is still yours.
THE PART THAT ACTUALLY SAVES YOU A SHOOT
Don't check every frame.
Check one frame per setup.
That means the first photograph of a new scene, or whenever the light changes significantly.
Confirm that:
You haven't lost important highlights
Focus landed where you intended
Your exposure is doing what you want
Then adjust if necessary and continue shooting with confidence.
One frame in twenty costs you a minute.
It's the difference between fixing a problem while you're standing there and discovering it a week later.
WHY LOUPE IS FREE
Loupe was created as a photographic tool to help photographers make better decisions in the field.
I'm making it available as a free download because I believe photographers should be able to learn from their own photographs, understand what went wrong, and improve without needing expensive software or complicated equipment.
Photography is a constant learning process.
We can all learn from each other, regardless of how long we've been doing it.
KEEP IT IN YOUR POCKET
Loupe is most useful in the field, where you can still do something about what it tells you.
It takes about thirty seconds to put on your phone, and there's nothing to install from an app store.
On Android
Open Loupe in Chrome using the button above.
Tap Install when it appears, or open the ⋮ menu and choose Add to Home screen.
It lands on your home screen with its own icon.
On iPhone
Open Loupe in Safari using the button above.
Tap the Share button, then scroll down to Add to Home Screen.
Tap Add. It lands on your home screen with its own icon.
After that it opens like any other app, full screen, and works with no signal. The whole thing lives on your phone.
No account.
No sign-in.
Nothing to keep up to date.
If you'd rather keep a copy of your own, the download button gives you a single file that runs in any browser, on a phone or a computer, forever.
GETTING A PHOTO FROM YOUR CAMERA TO YOUR PHONE
The thirty-second version
Loupe reads photographs from your phone. Getting one off the camera is easier than most people expect, and worth setting up once before you need it.
Use your camera's own app
Every manufacturer makes one, and they can send a JPEG straight to your phone over Wi-Fi.
Canon: Camera Connect
Nikon: SnapBridge
Sony: Imaging Edge Mobile / Creators' App
Fujifilm: XApp
OM System / Olympus: OI.Share
Panasonic: Lumix Sync
Or carry a card reader
A small USB-C SD card reader can plug straight into your phone and is often faster and more reliable than camera Wi-Fi.
Import the photograph to your camera roll and open it in Loupe.
Shoot RAW + JPEG
This is the workflow I recommend.
Keep your RAW file on the camera for your full-resolution original, while the small JPEG can travel to your phone in seconds.
Loupe reads JPEGs.
Then it's one tap
Share the photograph and choose Loupe, or open Loupe and select the image from your camera roll.