Chapter 15: Creative Filters

The Creative Filters are designed to unlock mood or emotion in an image.  A wide range of choices can be used as individual filters or in combination to create new looks.

Brilliance/Warmth

Use the Brilliance/Warmth filter to add rich color and warmth to any scene. The filter offers very responsive controls which makes it easy to use. Positive values can be used to warm the image.  Plus you can use negative values to tone down an image as well. 

• Vividness. Useful for creating rich color in a photo.
• Warmth. This controls the color temperature in the image. It can be used to stylize an image or correct a color balance issue.

Cross Processing

Reproduces a color cross-processing effect once commonly used in developing film to create unnatural color and interesting contrast shifts.

• Type. Using the drop-down list to choose a color palette preset inspired by various international cities.
• Amount. Drag the Amount slider to affect how strong the cross processing effect is.

Dramatic

The Dramatic filter is a creative filter that lowers saturation and increases contrast, helping to achieve a gritty cinematic look in your photos, similar to the darkroom technique “Bleach Bypass.” It is often used in stylized fashion shoots, urban images, or grungy athletic portraits.

• Amount. The Amount slider controls the total intensity of the added effect.
• Contrast. Controls the differences in the relationships between tonal values. Adding contrast increases the difference between the highlights, midtones, and shadows.
• Local Contrast. Adds a more targeted contrast adjustment to the finer details of the image.
• Brightness. Darkens or lightens details in the image.  Often useful for bringing out details in areas like skies.
• Saturation.  Controls whether colors become washed out or more saturated.

Fog

Allows you to add a strong softening or blurring effect to part of your photo, simulating the high humidity weather phenomenon commonly known as “Fog”. You can add Light Fog or Dark Fog to an image and adjust its intensity with the Amount slider.

• Fog Type. Choose from two different styles of fog.
• Amount. Controls the amount of fog added

Golden Hour

Use the Golden Hour filter to bring warmth, softness, and golden glow to all of your photos. Simply dial in the amount of warm toning using the Amount slider and use the Saturation slider to introduce an even more overall color vibrancy. Quickly emulate the magic that happens just after sunrise or just before sunset.

• Amount. This controls the amount of warm toning.
• Saturation. This controls the overall saturation of the Golden Hour filter.

Grain

Emulates the structure of analog film stock by introducing a random, stylized grain into your image. Keep in mind that grain and photo noise are different things. Use grain to give your color and black & white photos a cool analog feel. 

• Amount. This controls how present the grain is.
• Size. This adjusts the size of the grain being added.
• Roughness. This affects the visual appearance of the grain.

High Key

Emulates the look of a high key lighting set-up where the main light source slightly overexposes the subject. This produces bright high contrast images. Often used in Fashion & Beauty photography. 

• Amount. How much of the effect is added to the image.
• Glow. Controls the behavior of the brighter areas of a photo.
• Standard High Key. Affects the image in a global fashion.
• Dynamic High Key. Is more limited in its effect, taking skin tones into account as it applies the filter to the image.
• Saturation. Determines if the overall colors become washed-out or stay richly-saturated.
• Black. Maintains contrast in the darkest areas.
• Contrast. Impacts the overall contrast in the image (the relative difference between the lightest and darkest areas)

Hue Shift

This filter lets you roll the hue in a photo for subtle or dramatic changes.  A little is perfect to eliminate unwanted color tints while a big adjustment is perfect for a dramatic style.

• Hue. This slider controls the Hue of the overall image.

Image Radiance

This filter provides for an overall “dreamy” look to your image by softening image luminescence, and increasing contrast & saturation. It can create a dreamy, fantasy look for photos by increasing contrast and adding a creative glow, prioritized to the lighter areas of the image. 

• Amount. The overall effect strength. For a moderate effect and a more realistic image, keep the values in the Amount to +40. If the Amount value is 0, then the effect is not applied. Move the slider to the right to increase Amount.
• Smoothness. This controls the softness of the effect.
• Brightness. Use this slider to control the brightness of the effect.
• Shadows. Adjusts the black point for the darker areas of the image.
• Saturation. A useful way to adjust the color saturation of the effect applied to the image.
• Warmth. Adjusts the hue of the effect towards the warm end of the scale.

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Note

At a low setting, this effect will give the image more contrast and can increase color in the image. Use the Smart Colorize slider for better control.

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Matte Look

This filter can give your photos an aged look with flat color and high contrast.  This works well for both landscape and portraits to change the emotion of your image. 

• Amount. The overall strength of the matte look effect.
• Fade. Controls the loss of detail that happens in the darker areas of the image.
• Contrast. This adjusts the relationship between the brighter and darker areas of the filter.
• Vividness. This control can be used to affect how richly saturated the effect is.
• Toning Range.  Affects what portion of the image has its color shifted.
• Toning Hue. This sets the color that the image takes on.
• Toning Saturation. This controls how strong the toning effect is.

Orton Effect

The Orton Effect allows enhancements to an image that includes glow and focus which produces photos that are sharp and blurry at the same time. This is a great way to add a unique look to your photos. 

• Type: They Type pop-up menu offers two choices.  Type 1 increases the Saturation of the image while Type 2 is a softer glow.
• Amount. Controls the overall strength of the effect.
• Softness.  Choose whether you want the effect to blend gently or have more defined edges.
• Brightness.  This control can raise the luminance values of the entire image.
• Contrast. Use this to maintain a crisper difference between the light and dark areas of the photo.  This is a useful way to create rich blacks and bright whites.
• Saturation.  Controls the intensity of colors in the affected image.

Soft Focus

This filter emulates a soft focus lens effect or diffusion material placed across your lens.  It is perfect for adding a creative glow to portrait and wedding photos. 

• Type. Use the pop-up menu to choose from two styles of an effect.
• Amount. The Amount slider controls the intensity of the Soft Focus filter.
• Brightness.  Use this slider to increase the relative exposure of the photo.

Soft Glow  

This effect is useful for creating a lighting effect in photos.  It is especially useful for bright areas in your image such as streetlights or sky. 

• Amount. The overall effect strength. If the Amount value is 0, then the effect is not applied. Move the slider to the right to increase Amount.
• Smoothness. This controls the softness of the effect. A Higher value creates a gentler blend between the affected and unaffected areas of the image.
• Brightness. Use this slider to control the brightness of the effect.
• Warmth. Adjusts the hue of the effect towards the warm end of the scale. 

Split Toning

A powerful creative tool, Split Toning offers the ability to introduce color toning to black and white images. Toning a black and white image can transform the mood of the resulting image and also help in some printing processes. 

• Amount. The overall strength of color toning applied to an image.
• Highlights Hue. Scroll through a spectrum of colors to choose the toning of the bright values in a scene.
• Highlights Saturation. This increase the intensity of the color in the light area of the image.
• Protection - Preserves white in the brightest highlights in an image.
• Shadows.
• Shadow Hue. Scroll through a spectrum of colors to choose the toning of the darker values.
• Shadow Saturation. Increase the intensity of the color in the dark areas of the image.
• Balance. Shifts the balance between what is considered and affected by the Highlights adjustments and the Shadows adjustments of Split Toning. Slide to the left and the adjustments made to the Shadows will take precedent, slide to the right, the adjustments made to the Highlights will take precedent.

Sunrays

Add a whole new light source to your photo, the sun!  You can control its position, the warmth, and amount of glow for a subtle or even dramatic change in lighting. Combine the filter with blending modes for even more control to your lighting. 

• Place Sun Center. Click this button to interactively nudge the sun’s position by dragging.
• X. Moves the sun’s origin point along the X-axis.
• Y. Moves the sun’s origin point along the Y-axis.
• Sunrays Amount. Controls the overall intensity of the sun rays.
• Sunrays Look.  This changes the overall brightness of the scene;
• Sunrays Number.  Use a higher number for more rays and a lower number for fewer.
• Sunrays Length. This impact the distance the sun rays will travel.                                                                                     
• Sunrays Warmth. Use this slider to adjust the color temperature of the rays.
• Sun Radius. This affects the size of the sun rays origin point.
• Sun Glow Radius. This slider changes the size of the glow around the sun.
• Sun Warmth. Can change the sun from bright white to a warm glow.                                                                                               
• Overall Penetration. This slider impacts how much the sun passes through an area.  This can be useful when trying to natural composite the rays into a photo.                                                                                                                              
• Overall Randomize. Use this slider to get entirely new results that are a variation based on the current settings.

Texture Overlay

Enables custom images and textures to be blended as a layer into the current image. Textures can easily give your photos new unique looks, especially when you’re trying to achieve a vintage or grungy look.  

• Load Texture. Click the Select Texture button to open a file browser.  You’ll be able to choose a texture graphic on your hard drive.
• Flip/Flop buttons. This swaps the direction if the texture image.
• Amount.  Use the Amount slider to control how the image lightens or darkens based upon the texture layer.
• Zoom. Controls the size of the texture.
• Blend Mode. Use a Blending Mode to change how the texture mixes with your image.