Color effects and their settings
All 12 effects in the Color tab, from Duotone and Gradient Map to Thermal and Night Vision, and how to set their colours so they do what you expect.
Beginner5 min readUpdated 25 September 2026Effects · Color
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The Color tab changes the colours of a photo but keeps its shapes. Use this page to set up duotones and gradient maps with the right colours, and to know what the preset looks such as Thermal or Vintage will do. Several of these start from shared default colours that do little or something odd, so the colour tips here matter.
Duotone
Maps the photo's brightness onto two colours: the darkest parts take the shadow colour, the brightest take the highlight colour, and everything between is a blend.
| Setting | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Shadow Color | Colour | The colour of the darkest areas. Usually the deeper, richer of your two colours. |
| Highlight Color | Colour | The colour of the brightest areas. A light tint keeps the image readable. |
The starting colours are black and white, which gives a plain greyscale image. Pick your own two to see the effect. Use a dark and a light colour: two colours of similar lightness flatten the photo.
Good for: brand-coloured photos, a set of images that need to match, posters in two inks. Use your brand kit colours.
Sepia
The warm brown tone of old photographic prints.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Intensity | 0 to 100 | How far the photo moves towards full sepia. 0 is unchanged, 100 is full brown-toned. |
Good for: heritage and anniversary material, a gentle warm grade at low Intensity.
Invert
Turns every colour into its opposite, like a film negative. It has only the Opacity slider. At 50% the result turns into flat grey, so keep Opacity high.
Good for: negative looks, turning black-on-white line art into white-on-black, checking tone balance.
Channel Mix
Turns the red, green and blue channels up or down on their own. It starts on a warm setting (Red 130, Green 95, Blue 70) so you see a change straight away.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Red | 0 to 200 | Strength of the red channel. 100 is unchanged, above 100 adds red, below removes it (and the image shifts towards cyan). |
| Green | 0 to 200 | Strength of the green channel. Below 100 shifts towards magenta. |
| Blue | 0 to 200 | Strength of the blue channel. Below 100 shifts towards yellow and warmer tones. |
Good for: quick warm or cool casts, correcting a colour cast, strange alien colour when you push one channel to 0.
Thermal
A heat-camera look. Brightness is mapped along a fixed ramp: black, then blue, purple, red, yellow and white for the brightest areas. It has only the Opacity slider.
Good for: tech and science themes, music artwork, attention-grabbing thumbnails. The photo is not measuring heat: bright things look hot.
Night Vision
Green, grainy monochrome with darkened corners, like looking through a night-vision scope.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Noise Pattern | 0 to 1000 | Changes the pattern of the grain. The amount of grain stays the same. |
Good for: thriller, surveillance and gaming themes.
Infrared
Imitates infrared photography. Green areas such as foliage turn pale and bright, reds turn dark, and blue is pulled right down, so the image takes on a warm, pale cast. It has only the Opacity slider.
Good for: dreamlike landscapes and trees, album covers. Works best on photos with a lot of green.
Cyberpunk
A neon violet grade. Highlights go violet, mid-tones go lavender, and shadows are lifted towards a pale grey.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Intensity | 10 to 100 | How far the grade is applied. At high values the dark areas become light, so contrast flattens or flips. Around 30 to 50 keeps the photo readable with a strong neon tint. |
Good for: night-life, gaming and tech promos, synthwave artwork.
Vintage
A faded film look: lower contrast, lifted blacks, a warm yellow cast with less blue, and darkened corners.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Intensity | 10 to 100 | Controls the colour fade and the corner darkening together. Higher values look older and more washed out. |
Good for: nostalgic and lifestyle images, a soft background for type. Add Film Grain in the Editor for a fuller film feel.
Gradient Map
Like Duotone with a third colour in the middle. Shadows blend into midtones, and midtones blend into highlights.
| Setting | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Shadows | Colour | The colour of the darkest areas. |
| Midtones | Colour | The colour at mid-grey. |
| Highlights | Colour | The colour of the brightest areas. |
The starting colours are black, white and red, which puts white in the midtones and red in the highlights. For a natural-looking map, choose three colours that go from dark to light, such as navy, coral and cream.
Good for: brand-coloured imagery, sunset and neon grades, turning a dull photo into a poster background.
Hue Shift
Rotates every colour around the colour wheel. Brightness and saturation stay the same. It starts at 120° so you see a change straight away.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Hue Rotation | 0 to 360° | How far to turn the colour wheel. 0 and 360 are unchanged, 180 swaps each colour for its opposite (blue sky turns orange). |
Good for: colour variations of one product shot, surreal skies and foliage. Greys, black and white do not change.
Color Balance
Tints the shadows and the highlights separately. The tint is measured against mid-grey: a colour picked as mid-grey (#808080) adds nothing, and the further your colour is from grey the stronger its push.
| Setting | Type or range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Shadow Tint | Colour | Pushes dark areas towards this colour. A dark colour also deepens shadows. |
| Highlight Tint | Colour | Pushes bright areas towards this colour. A light colour also brightens highlights. |
| Intensity | 0 to 100 | How strong both tints are. 0 is no change. |
The starting tints are black and white, which simply adds contrast. For the classic film grade, try a teal shadow tint and a warm orange highlight tint at a low Intensity.
Good for: cinematic grades, matching a set of photos to a mood, warming skin while cooling shadows.
Good to know
- Duotone, Gradient Map, Color Balance and Lens Flare share their colour slots. A colour you pick in one is waiting in the next. Press Reset to go back to the starting colours.
- For precise, stackable colour work (curves, levels, hue and saturation), use adjustment layers in the Editor.