Stylize effects and their settings
All 11 effects in the Stylize tab: Pixelate, Posterize, Edge Detect, Emboss, Threshold, Solarize, Kaleidoscope, Mirror, Tilt Shift, Crystallize and Low Poly.
Beginner5 min readUpdated 25 September 2026Effects · Stylize
On this page
The Stylize tab changes the structure of a photo: its tones, its edges or its geometry. Use this page to find the effect that gives you the shape you want and to set it quickly. These are often the first step of a graphic treatment rather than the finish.
Pixelate
Square blocks, each filled with the average colour of the photo under it. No gaps or lines between blocks.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Pixel Size | 5 to 100 | The block size. Low values give a subtle low-resolution look; high values give big, obvious pixel art. |
Good for: retro game looks, hiding faces or details, bold backgrounds. Combine with Posterize in the Editor for a limited-palette pixel look.
Posterize
Cuts each colour channel down to a few steps, so smooth gradients become flat bands.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Levels | 10 to 100 | How many steps each channel keeps, from 2 at the low end to 10 at the top. Fewer levels give flatter, harsher colour; the image also gets a little darker as levels drop. |
Good for: screen-print and poster looks, preparing an image for a limited ink count, stylised skies.
Edge Detect
Finds edges with a Sobel filter and draws them as white lines on black. Everything else goes black.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Threshold | 0 to 200 | How strong an edge must be to show. Low values show every texture and a lot of noise; high values keep only the strongest outlines. |
Good for: neon outline looks, technical and blueprint styles, a mask source in the Editor. Invert it in the Editor for black lines on white. Works pixel by pixel, so large downloads show finer edges than the preview.
Emboss
Turns the photo into a grey relief, as if pressed into metal or paper. Edges facing the light go bright, edges facing away go dark, flat areas go mid-grey. Some colour shows at strong edges.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Depth | 10 to 100 | How deep the relief looks. Higher values give stronger light and shadow on every edge. |
| Light Angle | 0 to 360° | The direction the light comes from. It snaps to the nearest of eight directions (every 45°), so small moves may not change anything. |
Good for: stamped logos, metal and coin looks, texture layers set to Overlay in the Editor.
Threshold
Every pixel becomes pure black or pure white depending on its brightness. No patterns, no greys.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Threshold | 0 to 100 | The cut point. Higher values turn more of the image black; lower values turn more of it white. |
Good for: stencil and photocopy looks, one-colour stamps, cleaning up scanned line art. Use Dither instead if you want to keep a sense of grey.
Solarize
Inverts only the bright parts of each colour channel and leaves the dark parts alone, the darkroom effect Man Ray made famous. Highlights flip, shadows stay.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Threshold | 0 to 100 | Brightness above which a channel is inverted. Lower values invert more of the image; at 100 nothing changes. |
Good for: surreal portraits, album art, psychedelic colour.
Kaleidoscope
Takes one wedge of the photo, starting just right of the centre, and repeats it around the centre, mirroring every other wedge.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Segments | 2 to 24 | How many wedges make the circle. Low values give simple mirror symmetry; high values give dense mandala patterns. |
Good for: patterns, abstract backgrounds, music and festival graphics. Because the source wedge sits to the right of centre, crop or place the photo in the Editor first so the interesting part is there.
Mirror
Reflects part of the photo onto the rest. The Mode slider is shown in degrees, but it picks one of four modes by range rather than setting an angle.
| Mode value | Result |
|---|---|
| 0 to 89° | Left half mirrored onto the right half. |
| 90 to 179° | Top half mirrored onto the bottom half. |
| 180 to 269° | Top-left quarter mirrored into all four quarters. |
| 270 to 360° | Left half copied to the right, turned upside down (point symmetry). |
Good for: symmetrical faces and architecture, surreal landscapes, reflections in a "lake" when you use top to bottom.
Tilt Shift
Keeps a horizontal band sharp and blurs more and more above and below it. Scenes shot from above start to look like miniature models.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Blur Strength | 10 to 100 | How blurry the top and bottom get at their furthest point. |
| Focus Band | 10 to 100 | How tall the sharp band is, roughly as a percentage of the image height. |
| Center Y | 0 to 100% | Where the sharp band sits, from the top (0%) to the bottom (100%). |
Good for: city and street shots from a height, drawing the eye to one strip of a photo. The band is always horizontal.
Crystallize
Breaks the photo into irregular polygon cells, each filled with a single colour sampled from the photo, like looking through textured glass.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal Size | 10 to 100 | The size of each cell. Small cells keep detail; large ones make a stained-glass abstraction. |
| Randomize | 0 to 1000 | Moves the cell centres to give a new arrangement. |
Good for: abstract backgrounds, frosted-glass and stained-glass looks, disguising a busy photo behind type.
Low Poly
Divides the photo into a regular grid of squares and splits each one corner to corner into two triangles, each filled with its average colour.
| Setting | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Triangle Size | 10 to 100 | The size of the grid squares. Small triangles keep the subject recognisable; large ones make a bold geometric pattern. |
Good for: geometric backgrounds, tech and gaming graphics. The grid is regular, so the look is ordered rather than a hand-cut polygon portrait.