A selection of filters are available to enhance your images. These can be vital for blending the foreground and background together realistically, or for creating a vivid style.
The order in which filters are processed can be changed using the up and down arrows that are attached to each one. Filters at the top are processed first.
By default all filters are turned off. To turn a filter on click anywhere in its title bar.
Any individual filter can be reset to its default settings by clicking the Reset icon in its title bar. For filters containing multiple properties, individual properties can be reset to their default values by right-clicking on the slider handle for that property. The entire toolset can be reset to its defaults by clicking the Reset All button below the filter stack.
Changing layer
The filters affect the foreground and background individually. You can switch between the foreground and background using the tabs at the top of the toolbox.
Not all filters are available in both the foreground and background layers.
Filter list
2-Point Color Gradient
Generates a color gradient and then blends it with your original color image.
| • | Start: defines the location of the gradient's starting point. You can click the crosshairs and then click on the image to define this point, or manually type in a value. |
| • | End: defines the location of the gradient's ending point. You can click the crosshairs and then click on the image to define this point, or manually type in a value. |
| • | Start Color: select the color assigned to the starting point of the gradient |
| • | End Color: select the color assigned to the end point of the gradient |
| • | Radial: enabling this option converts the gradient form a linear gradient to a radial gradient, using the start point as the center of the circle, and the distance to the end point as the radius of the circle. |
| • | Ramp Scatter: adds subtle noise in the transitional areas of the gradient to help reduce color banding |
| • | Opacity: controls the overall effect of the gradient, by defining how much of the original image shows through. Note that the type of Blend that is selected will also impact this. |
| • | Blend: defines how the gradient is blended with the colors of the original image. |
4-Point color gradient
Generates a color gradient and then blends it with your original color image. Each of the four colors can be defined by the user, and their positions can likewise be fully customized.
| • | Crosshairs: you can click the crosshairs and then click on the image to define the position for each color, or manually type in a value. |
| • | Colors: select the color assigned to each point of the gradient, using the pipette tool or the color swatch |
| • | Color Blend: adjusts the size of the transitional area between the individual colors. |
| • | Ramp Scatter: adds subtle noise in the transitional areas of the gradient to help reduce color banding |
| • | Opacity: controls the overall effect of the gradient, by defining how much of the original image shows through. Note that the type of Blend that is selected will also impact this. |
| • | Blend: defines how the gradient is blended with the colors of the original image. |
Auto Color
An automated filter to quickly adjust the color of your image by balancing the color channels.
| • | Threshold: Raises the black point of the color adjustment |
| • | Blend With Original: 0% shows only the adjusted image, while 100% shows only the original image |
Auto Contrast
An automated filter to quickly adjust the contrast of your image by adjusting contrast to balance the tones.
| • | Threshold: Raises the black point of the contrast adjustment |
| • | Blend With Original: 0% shows only the adjusted image, while 100% shows only the original image |
Auto Levels
An automated filter to quickly adjust the tones of your image by altering the white and black levels of the color channels.
| • | Threshold: Raises the black point of the color adjustment |
| • | Blend With Original: 0% shows only the adjusted colors, while 100% shows only the original image |
Auto Skin Tones [Foreground only]
An automated filter which uses face detection to intelligently identify skin tones and analyze ambient light, then adjusts the hue, saturation and exposure of the entire image to give a more natural result. If you wish to adjust the colors further, you can enable the Manual Control option.
| • | Hue Shift: Left of center increases greens, and right of center increases magentas |
| • | Exposure: Adjust left to darken the image, adjust right to brighten the image |
| • | Saturation: Adjust left to reduce the color saturation, or adjust right to increase the richness of the colors |
Bilateral Blur
Bilateral Blur identifies edges within your image, and then applies a blur only to the areas between the edges. This allows it to smooth out unwanted texture without losing edge details. This can be useful for smoothing skin. At higher levels, it can create a cartoon-like appearance.
| • | Direction: Controls whether the blur is applied horizontally, vertically, or both. |
| • | Iterations: the number of times the blur is applied. |
| • | Blur: The radius of pixels that are calculated into the blur |
| • | Threshold: Controls the contrast threshold at which edges will be held out of the blur. Reducing the Threshold will result in more edges being retained, and smaller areas being blurred. |
Blur
Applies a gaussian blur to the image. The slider adjusts the radius of the blur. Increasing the value increases the intensity of the blur. Can be particularly useful when applied to the background layer of portraits.
Brightness
Alters the brightness, from completely black to completely white.
Color Balance
Color balance gives you manual control over the balance of the individual color channels in the image. This is useful for counteracting a color cast in your source image, or for creating a color cast for artistic reasons.
| • | Red: sliding right increases the values in the red channel of the image. Sliding left decreases red, thus increasing cyan. |
| • | Green: sliding right increases the values in the green channel of the image. Sliding left decreases green, thus increasing magenta. |
| • | Blue: sliding right increases the values in the blue channel of the image. Sliding left decreases blue, thus increasing yellow. |
Color Balance Pro
Color balance pro gives you manual control over the balance of the individual color channels in the image, while retaining the original saturation levels in the image. This allows you to make adjustments for color casts without altering the original tones of the image.
| • | Red: sliding right increases the values in the red channel of the image. Sliding left decreases red, thus increasing cyan. |
| • | Green: sliding right increases the values in the green channel of the image. Sliding left decreases green, thus increasing magenta. |
| • | Blue: sliding right increases the values in the blue channel of the image. Sliding left decreases blue, thus increasing yellow. |
Color Temperature
Adjusts the color temperature of the image, in degrees Kelvin. A low temperature shifts the image towards orange, while a high color temperature shifts it towards blue.
Color Vibrance
Color vibrance allows you to add a bright, intense colorization to your image, avoiding the muted colors that often result from traditional hue colorization.
| • | Color: your image will be colorized using the color you select here |
| • | Vibrance: Controls the intensity of the colorization |
| • | Phase: defines the hue used to in shadow areas of the image. |
| • | Preserve Luminance: The default value of 1.00 preserves the luminance of each pixel. Reducing this value allows the colorization to alter the luminance of the image, so higher levels of the vibrance slider will brighten the image. |
| • | Exposure: alters the exposure of the image, affecting light tones more drastically than dark tones. Adjust left to lighten the image, or adjust right to brighten the image. |
| • | Offset: alters the exposure of the image, affecting primarily the lightness of the shadow tones. |
| • | Gamma: alters the exposure of the image, affecting primarily the midtones. |
| • | Invert: Inverts the colors of the layer, prior to applying the colorization. |
Contrast
Slide left to reduce the contrast in your image, or slide right to increase the contrast.
Defocus
Simulates the blur created by an out of focus camera lens. This can sometimes create a more realistic 'out of focus' effect than a standard blur . It is quite effective when applied to the background layer, to simulate a shallow depth of field for portraits.
| • | Blur: Controls the amount of blur. |
| • | Bloom: Increases the brightness of the highlights, eliminating detail and blowing them out to pure white. |
Depth of Field [Background only]
If you want to draw the eye towards your foreground, simulating depth of field can be a very useful technique. Rather than blur the entire background image, this effect applies the blur gradually, shifting from in-focus to out-of-focus.
| • | Type: The blur can be applied using a Horizontal or Radial gradation. The horizontal option uses a linear gradation which does not need to align with the horizon in the image. |
| • | Origin: The depth of field only affects a specified area of the canvas. Click the origin button to display a crosshairs on the canvas which you can use to pinpoint the center of the area that will remain in focus. You can also enter coordinates directly using the number boxes. |
| • | Angle: When the Horizontal type is used, the angle of the in-focus area can be adjusted with this wheel. |
| • | Blur: Adjusts the amount of blur in the out of focus area. |
| • | Spread: The shift from in focus to out of focus can be abrupt or very gradual. A higher spread percentage will result in a more gradual shift. |
| • | Range: Adjusts the size of the in focus area. A larger percentage will retain a large in focus area. |
| • | Transparency: Can be used to adjust the intensity of the depth of field effect. Increasing the transparency will blend the original image with the blurred results of the depth of field effect. |
Diffuse
Creates a soft, smooth appearance by duplicating the image, blurring the duplicate, and then blending it with the original.
| • | Blur: controls the amount of blur applied to the duplicate. |
| • | Strength: adjusts the blend of the diffuse image with the original. A value of 0% shows only the original image, while 100% gives maximum diffusion. |
Duo Tone
Colorizes the image based on two user-specified colors. white areas of the image are assigned one color, black areas are assigned the other, and the remaining tonal values of the image are assigned colors based on a gradient between the two selected colors.
| • | Color 1: defines the color assigned to the white areas of the image. |
| • | Color 2: defines the color assigned to the black areas of the image. |
| • | Invert: swaps the assignments of colors 1 and 2, so color 2 is used for white and color 1 is used for black. |
| • | Threshold: moves the mid-point of the gradient by setting the brightness at which the color switches from color 1 to color 2. |
| • | Softness: controls the size of the transition between the two colors. Lowering this to 0 will create a hard edge, where everything in the image is either one color or the other. Increasing softness will result in a wider gradient of tones between the two colors. |
| • | Blend with original: a value of 0 gives only the duotone colors, while increasing the value gradually blends the original colors with the duotone, until a value of 100 restores the original colors entirely. |
| • | Brightness used: allows you to select the method used to map the image tones. They can be mapped based on intensity, luminosity, or brightness. |
Half Tone
Converts the image to a series of differently sized dots, simulating the appearance of traditional single color newspaper print. The size and color of the dots can be fully customized.
| • | Resolution: controls the size of the dots used to represent the image |
| • | Angle: adjusts the angle at which the rows and columns of dots are aligned |
| • | Dot Color: select the color of the dots |
| • | Background Color: select the color of the areas between the dots |
| • | Shift X: adjusts the position of the dots along the horizontal axis. This can sometimes improve the way details of your image are represented in the half tone. |
| • | Shift Y: adjusts the position of the dots along the vertical axis. This can sometimes improve the way details of your image are represented in the half tone. |
| • | Offset: brightens or darkens the image prior to the half tone being generated. To darken the image, adjust left, to lighten the image, adjust right. |
| • | Smooth Source: applies a blur to the image prior to generating the half tone, thus reducing finer details. |
Half Tone Color
Converts the image to a series of differently sized dots, simulating the appearance of traditional newspaper print. The size of the dots can be adjusted using the resolution setting.
| • | Type: You can use either the RGB (red, green, blue) channels of your image, or CMY (cyan, magenta, yellow) channels to generate the half tone colors. digital images typically use RGB color, while print uses CMY. If you are trying to simulate the look of a print, using the CMY channels may be more accurate. |
| • | Resolution: controls the size of the dots used to represent the image |
| • | Angle: adjusts the angle at which the rows and columns of dots are aligned |
| • | Offset: brightens or darkens the image prior to the half tone being generated. To darken the image, adjust left, to lighten the image, adjust right. |
| • | Smooth Source: applies a blur to the image prior to generating the half tone, thus reducing finer details. |
For each of the color channels, you have control over the offset of the dots on both the X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) axes.
| • | Shift X: adjusts the position of the dots along the horizontal axis. This can sometimes improve the way details of your image are represented in the half tone. |
| • | Shift Y: adjusts the position of the dots along the vertical axis. This can sometimes improve the way details of your image are represented in the half tone. |
Hue Colorize
Enables you to tint the entire image toward a singe specified hue.
| • | Hue: select the target hue to be used for the colorization. |
| • | Strength: adjusts the blend of the original image colors with the selected hue. |
Hue Shift
Shifts all colors in the image an equal distance around the color wheel.
| • | Hue: controls the distance of the shift. The top half of the slider represents the original colors, while the bottom half shows the shifted colors that will replace them. |
| • | Strength: adjusts the blend of the original image colors with the shifted colors. |
Leave Color
Using similar technology to green screen removal, Leave Color removes all color from an image except for the selected color. This creates stylish splashes of color on black and white images.
| • | Color to Leave: Select the color that you wish to remain in the image. Drag the pipette onto the image and release the mouse over the color you wish to select. |
| • | Blend With Original: Increase this value to gradually restore the original color into the desaturated areas. |
| • | Tolerance: Increases the range of colors that will be retained. This can be useful to help compensate for darker or lighter areas of your selected color. |
| • | Edge Softness: feathers the edges of the selected hue range, to soften the edges of the colored areas. |
| • | Match Colors By: You can match pixels to your selected color using hue, or by using RGB values. |
| • | Composite On: defines how the the desaturated areas are handled. Black makes it easy to see exactly what colors are being retained. Intensity, lightness and luminosity give options for how the areas are processed into greyscale. The difference in tonality each of these options gives will vary based on the colors present. |
| • | Invert: Removes the selected color, while retaining all other colors in the image. |
Levels
These sliders can be used to adjust the black and white levels of the image. The closer together the White and Black levels are, the higher the contrast.
| • | Black: slide to the right to increase the black levels in your image. |
| • | White: slide to the left to increase the white levels in your image. |
Saturation
Alters the amount of color in your image without affecting the contrast or tonality. Adjusting the slider left will reduce color, completely removing it at a value of 0. Adjusting the slider to the right will increase the color saturation.
Shadow Cast [Foregound only]
A convincing shadow can make all the difference when it comes to creating realistic composites. The shadow cast effect provides a quick way to add a shadow from your foreground onto the background.
| • | Shape: The shape menu contains four preset shapes for the shadow, providing useful shortcuts for common uses: drop shadow, shadow right, shadow left, and shadow forward. |
| • | Canvas Controls: When you switch on the shadow cast filter, new controls will appear on the canvas. These can be used to manually position and warp the shadow according to the lighting and angle of the background. Click and drag anywhere inside the bounding box to move the entire shadow. Click and drag any corner to reposition it and reshape the shadow. |
| • | Blur: adjusts the feather applied to the edges of the shadow, so you can accurately match the effect to the lighting in your images. |
| • | Transparency: Alters the visibility of the shadow. Note that the blend mode also has a large impact on the shadow's appearance. |
| • | Color: Select the color used to create your shadow. The default black generally works well, but using the pipette to select a shadow color from your background can often enhance the realism of the results. |
| • | Blend Mode: The seven different blend modes mix the shadow with the background in different ways. Multiply gives the most realistic results in the majority of situations. |
Sharpen
Identifies the edges in your image and enhances them using localized contrast adjustments.
| • | Radius: defines, in pixels, the size of the reference area used to increase sharpness. |
| • | Sharpness: adjusts the intensity of the contrast effect by increasing the localized contrast along the located edges. |
Silhouette [Foreground only]
This effect turns your entire foreground layer to a uniform color. You can select the silhouette color using the pipette or the color box.
Transparency [Foreground only]
Adjusts how transparent your foreground image is. At 0% transparent it is fully opaque. Increasing the transparency will allow you to see the background image through your foreground.
Vibrance
Creates a more dynamic image by duplicating the image, inverting and then blurring it, and then blending that copy with the original. This results in increased local saturation, contrast and sharpness. Recommended settings are to use a high radius and a medium threshold.
Radius: defines, in pixels, the size of the blur applied to the duplicate.
Threshold: controls the blend of the original image with the inverted copy. 0.0 uses only the original image, and increasing the value gradually adds blends in more of the inverted copy.
Iterations: the number of copies that are blended onto the original image. Increasing the iterations compounds the results of the effect.
White Balance
A useful tool for correcting inaccurate color in your image, or for matching the colors of your foreground and background layers. Drag the pipette onto an area of your image that should be white, to easily balance all the colors in your image.
To match colors between your foreground and background, apply the white balance effect to one layer, then select an area of white from the other layer. Note that neutral grey areas can