How to apply a filter to a photo
- 1.
Add photos
Drop one or more photos (JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC), choose them from your device or paste with Ctrl+V.
- 2.
Pick a filter
Click a preset or move the sliders; the preview updates live. Hold “original” to compare.
- 3.
Choose the format
Keep the original format or save as JPG, PNG or WebP.
- 4.
Download
The same settings are applied to every photo. Download them one by one or as a ZIP.
What each slider does
| Setting | Effect | Typical value |
|---|---|---|
| Brightness | Lightens or darkens all pixels by the same amount | +10 to +25 for underexposed shots |
| Contrast | Pushes light and dark tones away from (or towards) mid-grey | +10 to +20 for flat photos |
| Saturation | Strengthens or mutes colours; −100 = grey | +15 to +30 for landscapes |
| Colour temperature | Adds a warm (orange) or cool (blue) tint | +20 for photos taken in shade |
| Sharpen | Enhances edges and fine detail | 20-40 |
| Vignette | Darkens the edges to draw the eye to the centre | 30-50 |
| Grain | Adds film-like noise | 15-30 |
Presets - black & white, noir, sepia, vintage, warm, cool, vivid and faded - are just starting points: after choosing one you can fine-tune any slider. Double-click a slider to return it to 0; “Reset” clears everything.
How black & white and sepia work
Black & white converts each pixel to luminance weighted the way the eye perceives colour: L = 0.2126·R + 0.7152·G + 0.0722·B. That is why pure red (255, 0, 0) becomes dark grey (54) while pure green becomes light grey (182). Sepia then shifts the tones towards warm brown: grey 100 becomes (135, 120, 94). Both can be applied partially - 50% black & white gives strongly muted colours. “Invert colours” creates a negative: each channel becomes 255 minus the original value.
Preview vs. full resolution
The preview shows a scaled-down copy of the first photo (up to 900 px) to keep the sliders smooth, even on a phone. Downloads are processed at the original resolution with the same formulas; sharpening strength and grain size scale with the image so the look matches the preview. Very large photos (over 25 MB) can take a few seconds. Saving re-encodes the image, which removes EXIF metadata such as GPS location; JPG is saved at 92% quality.
Common editing mistakes
- Too much contrast - blows out highlights and crushes shadows. Several small corrections beat one large one.
- Oversaturation - skin turns orange. Keep portraits below +20.
- Sharpening small images - strong sharpening creates bright halos around edges.
- Saving camera photos as PNG - the file can be several times larger than JPG with no visible gain.
To shrink the result for the web, use the image compressor; to add a caption, add text to image.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make a photo black and white online?
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Can I apply one filter to many photos?
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Does it reduce quality?
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How do I brighten a dark photo?
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How do I make a negative of a photo?
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Are my photos uploaded?
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