diff --git a/docker/frontend/src/App.tsx b/docker/frontend/src/App.tsx
index 9182cf5..2a6dd49 100644
--- a/docker/frontend/src/App.tsx
+++ b/docker/frontend/src/App.tsx
@@ -292,12 +292,23 @@ export function Workspace() {
   const [comparing, setComparing] = useState(false);
   const [compareUrl, setCompareUrl] = useState<string | null>(null);
 
-  const [recipe, setRecipe] = useState<Recipe>(() => ({
-    ...DEFAULT_RECIPES[0],
-    id: 'web-current',
-    name: DEFAULT_RECIPES[0]?.name ?? 'PROVIA',
-    ...session.recipe,
-  }));
+  const [recipe, setRecipe] = useState<Recipe>(() => {
+    // The stage opens on the photo itself — the neutral stock, every knob at its
+    // default and no film filter, the same recipe COMPARE splits against — so a
+    // file that is dropped in is shown as the file. The bundled CLASSIC NEGIPES
+    // preset used to sit here as the boot look, and it baked exposure +2 (+0.5
+    // EV) plus a 6300K / tint +2 white balance onto every photo the moment it
+    // landed: that is what blew the highlights and turned skin pink on a fresh
+    // NEF. A look is now there only because a chip was clicked.
+    const boot = DEFAULT_RECIPES[0];
+    // A session written by that old boot still holds the preset verbatim, which
+    // was never the visitor's choice; it is dropped instead of restored. Any
+    // edit to a knob moved the stored object off this exact fingerprint.
+    const stale = !!boot && session.recipe?.id === 'web-current' &&
+      session.recipe.baseFilter === boot.baseFilter &&
+      JSON.stringify(session.recipe.adjustments) === JSON.stringify(boot.adjustments);
+    return { ...BASE_RECIPE, id: 'web-current', ...(stale ? null : session.recipe) };
+  });
   const [simId, setSimId] = useState<string | null>(() => session.simId ?? null);
   // HOVER PREVIEW: the look of the sim or recipe the pointer is over, laid on the
   // photo for as long as it stays there. It never becomes `recipe`, so SAVE,