Filters and color

Invert, grayscale, pixelate, blocky, dot matrix, color grade, duotone, vignette, posterize, sharpen, color wash, and the 37 LUT film grades. These are the quieter tools: they change tone and color rather than redrawing the image, and they combine well with everything else.

Where to find them

In the image editor, the filters popover works like a switch. Clicking any filter makes it the only active effect, using the default values listed in the tables below. Clicking the highlighted filter again removes it and returns you to dither. Color grades from a LUT live under the grade button, and contour lives under the artistic effects, so neither appears in the filters list.

In the video editor, filters stack with other effects in the order shown in the effect inspector. A filter placed before a dither changes what the dither sees. Placed after, it changes the finished dots. See stacking effects.

Invert

Flips every color to its opposite: black becomes white, blue becomes orange. It has no parameters.

Use it for negative-film looks, or to turn a light-on-dark effect into dark-on-light. In video, put Invert before a halftone to swap which tones get the big dots.

Grayscale

Converts to black and white the accurate way. Bitgrain converts each pixel to linear light first, weights red, green and blue by how bright they look to the human eye, then converts back. This keeps skies, skin and foliage at believable brightness instead of the muddy greys a simple average gives. It has no parameters.

Tip: For a mono dither or halftone, you do not need Grayscale. Setting Saturation to 0 in the adjust popover does the same job before the effect runs.

Pixelate

Averages the image into square blocks. The block size is automatic: about 90 blocks across the long edge of the working grid, and never smaller than 2 px. It has no parameters, so control the chunkiness with Resolution. A lower resolution means a smaller grid, so each block covers more of your photo.

Pixelate is also the effect behind the /pixel-art landing page. For true pixel art, pair a pixelated image with a small palette.

Blocky

Averages the image into square blocks eight grid cells wide, then snaps each block to one of five brightness steps per channel. The result is chunky, flat and poster-like, halfway between pixelate and posterize. With colorize off the blocks are grey steps. It has no parameters, so control the block size with Resolution.

Dot matrix

Redraws the image as a grid of round dots, like an LED sign or an old dot matrix display. Every dot sits on a fixed pitch of six grid cells, takes the average color (or brightness, with colorize off) of the area under it, and the gaps between dots stay near black. Lower Resolution for bigger, fewer dots.

Color grade

A simple, direct color grade. In the image editor it appears in the filters list as Warm grade, and applies a gentle warm temperature with a vibrance lift. The video editor exposes all three controls.

Vibrance is gentler than saturation. It lifts dull colors a lot and vivid ones only a little, which is usually what you want.

Duotone

Maps your image onto a gradient between two colors. Every pixel's brightness decides where it lands on that gradient: shadows take the shadow color, highlights take the highlight color, and midtones blend between them.

In the video editor:

In the image editor, duotones come as ready-made grades under the grade button: Duotone, the eight "Duo" grades and the four "Map" grades listed in LUT film grades.

Tip: Duotone works beautifully before a halftone or dither in video. The effect then screens two colors instead of the whole photo.

Vignette

Darkens the image toward the edges with a smooth falloff, drawing the eye to the center.

Posterize

Cuts each color channel into a fixed number of flat steps, so smooth gradients turn into bands. Unlike dithering, it does not try to hide the steps, it shows them off.

Sharpen

An unsharp mask: Bitgrain blurs a copy of the image slightly, then adds back the difference, which exaggerates every edge.

Sharpen before a dither or halftone gives the effect crisper edges to follow. Too much creates bright halos around dark lines.

Color wash

Blends a single color over the whole image using one of three blend modes.

• Screen lightens: the wash glows into the shadows, like a colored light.
• Overlay keeps contrast: darks get darker and lights lighter, both tinted.
• Multiply darkens: like looking through colored gel or printing on tinted paper.

LUT film grades

The grade button in the image editor opens "Cinematic Color Grades", a gallery of 37 grades, each previewed live on a sample photo. Click a card to apply it, and click Remove grade to go back.

A grade is a fixed color transform: every input color maps to one output color through a curve designed to mimic a film stock or a cinematic look. Grades are applied at full color, with no dots or glyphs.

Note: A grade takes over the whole look. While one is active, the dither, halftone, artistic, filters, palette and adjust buttons are dimmed ("Remove color grade to edit effects"), your adjustments are set aside, and the image renders at 200% Resolution. Only Haze & Bloom can stay on, and it runs before the grade. The vector SVG export is hidden while a grade is on.

Film stocks

Cinematic

Creative maps

"Duo" grades blend between two colors by brightness. "Map" grades blend across three, which gives richer gradients in the midtones.

Exports with a grade follow your plan's normal limits. See plans and pricing and color palettes and LUTs.

Related

• Effects overview
• Color palettes and LUTs
• Creative effects
• Adjustments
• Video effects and overlays

More documentation

• All documentation
• More in effects
• Open the editor
• Open the studio
• Read the blog