diff --git a/ui/dr-ui/src/collections_ui.rs b/ui/dr-ui/src/collections_ui.rs
index d59960c..1afd5e2 100644
--- a/ui/dr-ui/src/collections_ui.rs
+++ b/ui/dr-ui/src/collections_ui.rs
@@ -914,12 +914,19 @@ pub fn sync_lifted(window: &AppWindow, lifted: &[ImageId], ids: &[ImageId]) {
 pub fn sync_selection(window: &AppWindow, ctl: &Rc<CollectionsController>, ids: &[ImageId]) {
     let selection = ctl.selection.borrow();
     let model = window.get_library_cells();
+    // The anchor is an ordinal and the model is a window, so it marks a row
+    // only while the photograph it names is on screen. Off screen it marks
+    // nothing, which is the honest answer: the range still extends from there.
+    let offset = window.get_library_offset().max(0) as usize;
+    let anchor_row = ctl.anchor.borrow().and_then(|at| at.checked_sub(offset));
 
     for (row, id) in ids.iter().enumerate() {
         let want = selection.contains(id);
+        let anchored = anchor_row == Some(row);
         if let Some(mut cell) = model.row_data(row) {
-            if cell.selected != want {
+            if cell.selected != want || cell.anchor != anchored {
                 cell.selected = want;
+                cell.anchor = anchored;
                 model.set_row_data(row, cell);
             }
         }
diff --git a/ui/dr-ui/src/library_ui.rs b/ui/dr-ui/src/library_ui.rs
index d1958fe..9b44509 100644
--- a/ui/dr-ui/src/library_ui.rs
+++ b/ui/dr-ui/src/library_ui.rs
@@ -2129,10 +2129,11 @@ fn load_window(window: &AppWindow, ctl: &Rc<LibraryController>) {
                 thumbnail: carried.map(|h| h.thumbnail.clone()).unwrap_or_default(),
                 has_thumb: carried.is_some_and(|h| h.has_thumb),
                 unavailable: carried.is_some_and(|h| h.unavailable),
-                // Both are filled straight after by `collections_ui`, which owns
-                // the selection and queries the badge counts for the whole window
-                // in one statement rather than one per cell.
+                // All three are filled straight after by `collections_ui`,
+                // which owns the selection and queries the badge counts for the
+                // whole window in one statement rather than one per cell.
                 selected: false,
+                anchor: false,
                 collection_count: 0,
                 // Likewise filled by `sync_ratings` below — one query for the
                 // window, not one per cell.
diff --git a/ui/dr-ui/ui/library.slint b/ui/dr-ui/ui/library.slint
index 5662a88..df3a0b0 100644
--- a/ui/dr-ui/ui/library.slint
+++ b/ui/dr-ui/ui/library.slint
@@ -430,6 +430,14 @@ export struct LibraryCell {
     // Part of the current selection. Selection is what a drag carries, so this
     // has to be per-cell state rather than a single "current" index.
     selected: bool,
+    // The cell a shift-click would extend *from* — the last one plainly
+    // clicked. Marked because otherwise the gesture has a hidden operand: the
+    // user picks the far end of a run with no way to see which end the range
+    // is being measured from, and a range that comes out wrong gives no clue
+    // why. At most one cell in the library carries this, and often none of
+    // them is on screen — which is itself the answer to "why did that select
+    // so much".
+    anchor: bool,
     // How many collections this image belongs to. An image can be in many at
     // once, and without a cue the grid gives no hint that a photograph has
     // already been filed — the user re-files it, or hunts for where it went.
@@ -2687,6 +2695,22 @@ export component LibraryGrid inherits Rectangle {
                         }
                     }
 
+                    // The end a shift-click measures from. An inner ring rather
+                    // than a colour of its own: it has to be legible against a
+                    // thumbnail of any brightness and must not read as a second
+                    // kind of selection, which a hue would.
+                    Rectangle {
+                        visible: cell.anchor;
+                        x: 4px;
+                        y: 4px;
+                        width: parent.width - 8px;
+                        height: parent.height - 8px;
+                        background: transparent;
+                        border-width: 1px;
+                        border-color: Theme.selected-ring;
+                        border-radius: Theme.radius-sm;
+                    }
+
                     // Selection only. The drag is the enclosing `DragArea`'s
                     // business, and Slint keeps a click distinct from a drag for
                     // us — which is exactly the arbitration the hand-rolled version