Beginner walkthrough

A friendly, step-by-step guide to turning an ordinary photo into a finished dithered image in Bitgrain, from opening the editor to downloading the file, using the real button names you'll see on screen.

No experience needed. This takes about five minutes, and nothing you do can damage your photo: everything happens in your browser, and the original file on your device is never changed.

We'll make a classic black and white dithered print, then a colorful retro version, then save it.

Note: The steps below use the desktop layout. On a phone, the effects (dither, palette and the rest) live under the effects tab in the bottom bar, and adjust, presets and export have their own tabs. See the mobile layout.

What is dithering, in one paragraph

Dithering builds an image out of dots. Instead of smooth greys, it uses only a few tones (sometimes just black and white) and arranges them in patterns so your eye blends them into shades. It's how old newspapers, early computer screens and handheld game consoles showed pictures, and it gives photos a crafted, printed feel. If you'd like the full story later, read Dithering.

Step 1: open the editor and add a photo

  1. Go to /editor.
  2. You'll see "drop an image, make it feel printed." in the middle of the screen.
  3. Drag a photo from your computer onto the box that says "drop an image or click to browse", or click the box and choose a file.
  4. Don't have a photo handy? Click try a sample to load one of ours.

Your photo appears in the middle of the screen, already processed with the default halftone look. That's expected. We'll change it next.

Tip: Photos with a clear subject and good contrast (a portrait against a plain wall, a building against the sky) give the best dithered results. Busy, low contrast photos can turn muddy.

Step 2: switch to dithering

Look at the toolbar floating at the bottom of the screen.

  1. Click dither (the button with a small ▒▓░ pattern).
  2. The picture turns into dots, and a popover called Algorithm opens above the button.
  3. The popover lists dither methods in two groups, Error Diffusion and Ordered. Atkinson is selected to start with. It gives crisp, high contrast dots with bright highlights, which is a great starting point.
  4. Click Floyd Steinberg to compare. It's smoother and handles soft gradients like skies well.
  5. Try Bayer 4 from the Ordered group. Notice the regular cross-hatch grid, the look of old computer graphics.

Pick the one you like best. There's no wrong answer.

At the bottom of the popover is Factor (100% by default). Lower it for a softer, less busy pattern, raise it for a stronger one.

Click anywhere outside the popover to close it.

Step 3: go black and white

Right now the dots are in color. For a classic print look:

  1. Click colorize (the wand icon) in the bottom toolbar. It un-highlights, and the image becomes pure ink on paper.

Click it again any time to bring the color back.

Step 4: tune the look with adjust

  1. Click adjust (the sliders icon).
  2. Try these three sliders, one at a time:
  1. Want an exact number? Click the value on the right of a slider, type it, and press Enter.

Made a change you don't like? Click Undo in the top left, or press Ctrl + Z (Cmd + Z on a Mac). You can undo many steps.

You'll also see a switch called Print finish in this panel. It's on by default and adds a subtle ink and paper texture, so your download looks printed rather than flat. Leave it on for now.

For what every slider does, see Adjustments.

Step 5: compare with the original

  1. Click Compare (the two-column icon in the small bar at the top left, or in the top row of the bottom bar on a phone).
  2. A divider splits the picture. The left side is your original photo and the right side is the dithered version.
  3. Drag the round handle left and right.
  4. Click Compare again to turn it off.

Step 6: try a retro color version

Let's make a second version that looks like it came from an old handheld game.

  1. Click colorize to turn color back on.
  2. Click palette and choose Gameboy DMG. Every dot snaps to one of four olive greens.
  3. Open adjust and set Resolution to around 60% for chunky pixels.

Try a few other palettes too: PICO-8, CGA or Risograph. Pick No palette to remove the palette again. The full list is in Color palettes and LUTs.

Tip: Stuck for ideas? Click random (the dice icon). It picks a hand-tuned look for you. Keep clicking until something surprises you, then open adjust to see which settings it used.

Step 7: save your look for next time

You can keep this look as a preset. Applying presets needs a free account, so sign in first (the avatar in the top right) if you haven't already:

  1. Click presets.
  2. At the bottom, click Save current as preset.
  3. Type a name, like "my gameboy look", and press Enter.

It now appears under My presets, ready to apply to your next photo. More in Presets and recipes.

Step 8: download your image

  1. Click export at the right end of the bottom toolbar (or Export in the top right corner).
  2. Leave the format on PNG. It's the best choice for dithered art because it keeps every dot perfectly sharp.
  3. Leave scale on 1×. Your image comes out at your original photo's size.
  4. Click download PNG.

After a moment, a small card says "fresh off the press" and the file lands in your downloads folder with a playful random name, something like ambient_circuit_echoes__3f9a.png.

On the free plan the download carries a small bitgrain.app watermark and is sized to at most 1500 pixels on the long edge. That's plenty for sharing online. For clean, full-size files, see Plans and pricing. All the export options are explained in Exporting.

Where to go next

More documentation