Image Editor

Step by step with the Image Editor

1. Add a photo.
2. Move the sliders, or start from a preset such as Vivid or Black and white.
3. Rotate or flip the picture with the buttons above it.
4. Hold Compare to see the original, and use Undo and Redo (Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y) to step through your changes.
5. Choose the output format and select Download edited image.

A real example

Rescuing a dim indoor photo:

1. Brightness +20 lifts the shadows.
2. Contrast +15 restores the depth that brightening flattened.
3. Saturation +10 brings back colour.
4. Sharpness 25 crisps up edges softened by the low light.

Holding Compare shows the original at any point, and Undo steps back through the four changes one at a time.

What happens to your image

The editor keeps a list of settings rather than changing the picture step by step. Whenever a setting changes, the original image is redrawn with all of the current settings applied in a fixed order: rotation and flips, then brightness and contrast, saturation, grayscale and sepia in a single pass over the pixels, then blur, then sharpening. Because the result always starts from the original, Undo, Redo and Reset are exact, and no amount of back and forth degrades the photo.

While you drag a slider, the settings are applied to a copy of at most 1200 pixels on its longest side, so the preview keeps up. Blur is measured in proportion to the image, so the preview and the full-size download look the same. The download applies the same settings to every pixel of the original.

The adjustments work on the pixels directly rather than through the browser's CSS filters, which some browsers do not support on a canvas. Contrast uses the standard contrast curve around mid-grey, saturation mixes each pixel with its own luminance, and sharpening is an unsharp mask over a one-pixel blur.

When the Image Editor helps

• Brightening a photo taken in poor light.
• Turning a colour photo into black and white or sepia.
• Softening a background image that will sit behind text on a slide or a banner.
• Sharpening a slightly soft product photo.

If the result is not what you expected

Saving takes a few seconds

The preview is worked out on a reduced copy so the sliders respond instantly; the download applies the same edits to every pixel of the full-size photo. On a large photo and a slower phone that can take a few seconds.

Colours look washed out after raising brightness

Brightness lifts every tone, including the darkest, which flattens the picture. Raise contrast a little at the same time, or lower brightness and bring colour back with saturation.

Sharpening added bright outlines around edges

Sharpening exaggerates the difference at edges, and strong settings create halos. Keep it below about 50, and sharpen after resizing rather than before, because resizing changes the detail being sharpened.

Questions about the Image Editor