To apply artistic effects to pictures, use the Editor’s Effects menu, or in the Browser, use Edit | Effects.
Edits that you make in the Browser are applied to files directly; you cannot undo them unless you have backed up their original versions!
Always back up originals before work with them.
Old Photograph
This is a popular effect for both photos and film. It is sometimes also called “sepia.” There is a slider here for setting the “age” of the picture.
Use Edit | Effects | Old Photograph… in the Browser or Effects | Old Photograph… in the Editor for this.
Add Grain
This effect simulates high-sensitivity film. You can set the amount of graininess and the grain type. Use Colored Grain to switch from a monochrome grain to a multicolored grain.
Use Edit | Effects | Add Grain… in the Browser or Effects | Add Grain… in the Editor for this.
More Information
Two Ways to Add Grain to Your Black and White Photos
Explosion
This effect looks as if you were viewing the picture through smoked glass. There is a slider here for setting the effect strength.
Use Edit | Effects | Explosion… in the Browser or Effects | Explosion… in the Editor for this.
Oil Painting
This effect makes a picture look as if it had been painted with a brush. There is a slider here for setting the effect strength.
Use Edit | Effects | Oil Painting… in the Browser or Effects | Oil Painting… in the Editor for this.
Waves
This makes a picture look as if it were reflected on a water surface with circular waves. There is a slider here for setting the effect strength.
Use Edit | Effects | Waves… in the Browser or Effects | Waves… in the Editor for this.
Pencil Drawing
This makes the picture look as if it had been drawn using colored pencils. There is a slider here for setting the effect strength.
Use Edit | Effects | Pencil Drawing… in the Browser or Effects | Pencil Drawing… in the Editor for this.
Pixelization
This lowers the quality of a picture by making it “blocky.” You can set the size of the pixels (the blocks).
Use Edit | Effects | Pixelization… in the Browser or Effects | Pixelization… in the Editor for this.
Emboss
This effect makes a picture look as if it has been stamped into a mold. With the Desaturate option active, it will also be drawn in just a single color. Use the sliders here to set the effect strength and the direction from which light is shining on the picture.
Use Edit | Effects | Emboss… in the Browser or Effects | Emboss… in the Editor for this.
Detect Contours
This effect seeks out high-contrast edges. There is a slider here for setting the effect strength.
Use Edit | Effects | Detect Contours… in the Browser or Effects | Detect Contours… in the Editor for this.
Negative
This inverts the values in the color channels, creating a negative of the picture.
Use the Edit | Effects | Negative… in the Browser or Effects | Negative… in the Editor for this.
Dynamic Thresholding
Ordinary thresholding is a process that converts a picture to black and white. Dynamic thresholding is too, but unlike in classical thresholding where a pixel is considered as black beyond a certain threshold, this function uses the surroundings of each pixel for its evaluation. Thanks to this fact, dynamic thresholding can give good results even in pictures with large brightness variations. You can change the feel of this function’s output by adjusting the dynamic Threshold and Surroundings.
Use Edit | Effects | Dynamic Thresholding… in the Browser or Effects | Dynamic Thresholding… in the Editor for this.
Soft Contours
The Soft Contours effects sharpens a picture’s fine details while suppressing rough structures, making it useful for sharpening e.g. portraits. This filter includes four controls for four different levels of fineness of detail. Raising the value for a control raises the contrast for details with that level of fineness, while lowering the value lowers the contrast. Increasing the contrast for sufficiently fine details sharpens a picture, while decreasing the contrast for rougher details softens hard shadows while still leaving fine details sharp.
Damaged Photograph
This function alters a photograph to imitate damage caused by time (e.g. yellowing and faded corners) and mishandling (e.g. scratches and smears).
Use Edit | Effects | Damaged Photograph… in the Browser or Effects | Damaged Photograph… in the Editor for this.
This function has Advanced and Basic versions. The Basic version offers a single slider; use it to set the desired level of damage. Use Advanced settings to switch the interface to the advanced mode, where each type of damage can be set independently. Click Random with Same Settings to change the shapes and positions of the individual image defects. Click New Random Settings to set the individual sliders to random positions.
Texture
Use this function to make a photograph look as if it had been painted onto a texture.
Use Edit | Effects | Texture… in the Browser or Effects | Texture in the Editor for this.
Use Texture to set the type of material whose texture is simulated. Use the Intensity slider to set how visible the texture is.
Tone Mapping
Use Tone Mapping to work with a single picture in a similar way as when working with HDR. Use the settings here to influence local contrast and emphasize details in light and dark areas.
Use Intensity to set how strongly the tone mapping affects surrounding pixels. Compression determines how strongly the whole HDR dynamic range will be represented in the final output. Use Light to suppress lights and shadows effects. To set color intensity, use Saturation. Use Gamma to shape the gamma correction curve. The White Color and Black Color settings determine the “cutoff” percentages for the effect. Lights Intensity and Shadows Intensity set how strongly the effect is applied in the picture’s lights/in its shadows.
The settings here are the same as for Create | Tone Mapping HDR in the Browser.
Tilt-shift Effect
This function provides access to the same effect as using Tilt-shift Effect in the Editor. However, the position and angle for the center of the area in focus must be entered numerically. Unlike in the Editor, the effect can be applied here to multiple pictures at once, which is useful for e.g. time-lapse photography. This filter and the Tilt-shift tool are compatible with each other. To get the most use out of this compatibility when working with e.g. a time-lapse series, open one picture in the series in the Editor, use the Tilt-shift tool to set up the effect visually using guidelines, fine-tune the other settings, and then save all the settings as a Preset. Then select the series’ remaining pictures in the Browser and use Edit | Effects | Tilt-shift Effect, load the stored Preset, and click Apply to All.
Shift Colors
Use this function to slightly adjust selected colors present in a picture. To set the color to edit, click the eyedropper and then click a spot with that color inside the picture. The color you clicked is added to the color list. You can then edit its Hue, Saturation and Lightness. Normally, your changes also affect colors surrounding the color you change. This is done in order to avoid sharp transitions. However, if a color is selected in the list but no edits have been made to it, then it is immune to this kind of color change. To start changing the color-shifting settings for a color, click that color in the list. To remove a color from the list, click Remove color from list. Shift Colors affects pixels with the selected color regardless of their locations. To shift colors in only a part of a picture, select that part of the picture before using Shift Colors.
Other Effects