Pipelines
Filters: blur, sharpen, vignette, and other quick visual effects
Nine ready-to-use visual effects you can apply across a whole batch — Blur, Pixelate, Vignette, Sharpen, Emboss, Edge Detect, Noise, Sepia, and Posterize.
Filters bundles nine common visual effects into one tool. Pick a filter, set its strength, run on your batch.
Most are creative effects (Sepia, Vignette, Posterize). A couple are practical (Sharpen for crispness, Blur for softening).
How to use it
- Add Filters to your pipeline.
- Pick which Filter you want from the dropdown.
- Adjust the strength slider that appears (different per filter).
You can chain multiple Filters by adding the tool more than once — Sharpen + Vignette + Sepia in three separate Filter steps if you want all three.
The filters
| Filter | What it does | Strength setting |
|---|---|---|
| Blur | Softens the image by blending nearby pixels. Useful for hiding small flaws or creating soft backgrounds. | Blur Radius (1–100) — bigger = blurrier. |
| Pixelate | Reduces the image to chunky blocks. Privacy / artistic effect. | Block Size (1–200) — bigger = chunkier blocks. |
| Vignette | Darkens the corners of the image, drawing the eye to the center. Classic vintage look. | Strength (0–100) — higher = darker corners. |
| Sharpen | Increases the crispness of edges. Counteracts soft / blurry source images. | Amount (0–100) — higher = crispier (and noisier at extreme values). |
| Emboss | Turns the image into a 3D-relief effect, like stamped metal. Creative only. | (No strength slider — fixed effect.) |
| Edge Detect | Highlights only the edges of objects. Looks like a line drawing. Creative / technical. | (No strength slider — fixed effect.) |
| Noise | Adds random grain texture. Useful for matching grainy stock images or adding a film look. | Amount (0–100) — higher = more visible grain. |
| Sepia | Brown-tinted vintage look. Classic retro treatment. | (No strength slider — fixed effect.) |
| Posterize | Reduces the image to a small number of distinct colors. Cartoon-poster effect. | Levels (2–16) — fewer levels = more cartoony, more levels = closer to the original. |
Common uses
- Sharpen across a batch of slightly soft AI-generated images — Sharpen at 25–40 makes them look crisp without going noisy.
- Vignette every product image for a subtle Etsy / boutique aesthetic — Strength 30–50 is usually right.
- Blur backgrounds you've already isolated — useful when you want a soft-focus product look. Blur Radius 15–30.
- Sepia + Noise in two stacked Filters for a vintage look.
- Posterize at 4–6 levels turns images into bold poster-style art for sticker batches.
- Pixelate for privacy at Block Size 20–40 obscures faces or sensitive details.
Tips
- Add Filters AFTER Color Removal V2 and Trim. Filters work on the actual visible pixels — you want those clean before adding effects.
- Add Filters BEFORE Reposition. That way, the filter applies to your raw image, not to the empty canvas around it.
- Subtle is usually right. Sharpen 25 looks great. Sharpen 80 looks like a smartphone over-processing image. Same for most filters.
- Stack filters by adding multiple Filter steps to your pipeline. Each runs in order, top to bottom.
- Test on one image first before running on a 500-image batch. Filter effects can be dramatic and not always what you expected.
Things Filters doesn't do
- It doesn't have unlimited filter options. Just the nine listed above. For more advanced effects (HDR, gradient maps, channel mixing), you'd need a dedicated image editor.
- It doesn't undo itself. Once a filter has been applied to a batch, the original is in the input file. Always keep originals.
- It doesn't combine filters into one slider. If you want Sharpen + Vignette + Sepia, you add the Filter tool three times to your pipeline, once per effect.
- It doesn't auto-tune to your image. You pick the strength manually. There's no "smart" mode.
What to read next
- [Image Adjustment](image-adjustment) — color correction companion (run before Filters for the cleanest result)
- [Distress](distress) — related visual-effects tool for vintage/grunge looks
- [Frames](frames) — for adding decorative borders alongside filter effects