Learn what each setting does and how to configure Kestrel for your workflow.
Where to Find Settings: In Kestrel, click the ⚙️ icon to open the Settings panel. Settings are grouped by category below.
UI & Editor
Preferred Photo Editor
Choose which photo editor opens when you click "Open in Editor" from Kestrel.
Options: System Default, Adobe Lightroom, Darktable, Capture One, Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP, RawTherapee, Luminar, DxO PhotoLab, ON1, ACDSee, PaintShop Pro, FastStone, XnView, IrfanView, or a custom application.
Tree Scan Depth
How many folder levels deep Kestrel searches for analyzed folders. Default: 3.
Use: If you analyze photos in deeply nested folder structures (e.g., Photos/Year/Month/Day/Event), increase this to 4, 5, or 6 so Kestrel can find them.
Star Rating Profile
Rating Profile
Controls how Kestrel converts quality scores into 1–5 star ratings.
Options: Very Strict, Strict, Balanced (default), Lenient, Very Lenient.
- Very Strict: Only the sharpest photos get 4–5 stars
- Strict: Higher threshold for high ratings
- Balanced: Middle ground (recommended for most users)
- Lenient: More photos qualify for high ratings
- Very Lenient: Most photos get 3+ stars
⚡ Changes apply immediately — no re-analysis needed.
Analysis Settings
⚠️ Changing these settings requires re-analysis of your photos. New settings only apply to photos analyzed after the change.
Detection Confidence Threshold
How confident Kestrel must be that a bird is in the frame before processing it. Range: 0.10–0.99. Default: 0.75.
- Lower (e.g., 0.50): Detects more birds, but may include false positives (non-birds detected as birds)
- Higher (e.g., 0.90): More conservative, may miss small or distant birds
🔄 Requires re-analysis
Scene Grouping Time Threshold
Photos taken within this time window are grouped into the same scene (burst). Range: 0–60 seconds. Default: 1.0 second.
- Lower (0.5 sec): Stricter grouping; fewer photos per scene
- Higher (2–3 sec): Looser grouping; more photos per scene (good for slower burst shooting)
🔄 Requires re-analysis
Mask Segmentation Threshold
Controls the precision of the bird mask (the outline Kestrel draws around detected birds). Range: 0.50–0.95. Default: 0.5.
- Lower (0.5): Broader masks; more background included
- Higher (0.8+): Tighter masks; only the bird is masked
🔄 Requires re-analysis
Detect Wildlife (Experimental)
When enabled, Kestrel analyzes non-bird wildlife in addition to birds. This is experimental and accuracy varies.
🔄 Requires re-analysis
Data & Preview
Cache RAW Preview Images
Caches full-resolution previews extracted from RAW files. Speeds up image display in Kestrel's UI, but uses disk space (~200–500 MB for large libraries).
Default: Enabled (checked).
💾 If you're running low on disk space, disable this to save space. RAW images will load a bit slower.
Disable RAW Exposure Correction
By default, Kestrel applies an auto-exposure boost to RAW previews to match the processed JPEG look. Enable this to see raw, unprocessed data.
Default: Disabled (unchecked — corrections ON).
Auto-Save Changes
When enabled, Kestrel automatically saves your ratings and scene decisions. When disabled, shows explicit Save/Revert buttons for each change.
Default: Enabled (checked).
Analytics & Privacy
Share Anonymous Usage Analytics
Opt-in only. If enabled, Kestrel shares anonymized data to help improve the app:
- Number of photos analyzed and total file sizes
- File formats (RAW types, JPEG, etc.)
- Analysis duration and system specs
- App version and OS type
What we never collect: Filenames, folder paths, image content, or any personal information.
🔒 Default: Not decided (you'll be asked after first analysis).
Culling Assistant Settings
These settings appear in the Culling Assistant view (when reviewing your photos).
Quality Cutoff
Minimum star rating to auto-accept. Photos rated below this are auto-rejected. Range: 1–5 stars. Default: 3 stars.
If you set this to 4 stars, all photos rated 4–5 stars are automatically accepted, and 1–3 star photos are rejected.
Min Accepted Per Scene
Minimum number of photos to keep per scene, even if they're below the quality cutoff. Range: 0–5. Default: 0.
If set to 1, at least one photo from each scene will be accepted (the sharpest one), regardless of its rating.
Max Accepted Per Scene
Maximum number of photos to accept per scene. Range: 0–20. Default: 0 (unlimited).
If set to 3, only the 3 sharpest/best photos per scene will be accepted, even if more qualify.
Unrated Image Default
How to treat photos with no star rating. Options: Auto-Reject (default) or Auto-Accept.
Questions about a setting? Hover over the setting label in Kestrel for a quick tooltip, or contact me for more details.