The short answer
Why use Highlighter?
On a photo, a plain color wash dulls the whites and muddies the blacks. Highlighter only touches pixels in the middle brightness range, so shadows stay deep and highlights stay clean while everything in between takes on the color.
There are two settings: Color, which starts at #fff200 (highlighter yellow), and Amount from 0 to 100, starting at 50. Pixels in the midtone range are mixed with the color at Amount times 0.45 percent, so 22.5% at the default and 45% at 100. The color never fully covers the picture, even at the top of the slider.
The midtone range has hard limits at 105 and 235, so a smooth gradient can show a visible step where the color starts or stops. Faces and skies are the usual places to spot it. Keep the Amount low on those, or use Tint, which colors every pixel evenly.
Tint washes the whole picture in one color. Color Grading colors shadows and highlights separately. Duotone replaces all colors with a two-color map. Highlighter is the one that leaves black and white untouched while the middle tones shift. Try a pink or green color for a softer pastel look.
Where Highlighter fits
Brand-tinted photos
Wash stock photos in your brand color while keeping clean whites for a website.
Event posters
Give a crowd photo a neon yellow cast for a festival or club night poster.
Design moodboards
Tint several unrelated photos with one color so a moodboard feels consistent.
Start to finish
How to use Highlighter
- 01Tap Choose image and pick the picture.
- 02Pick a Color, which starts at highlighter yellow #fff200, and set Amount; 50 mixes 22.5% of it into the midtones.
- 03Tap Apply changes, check gradients for a visible step, then tap Download result.
What to expect from Highlighter
| Check | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Supported input | JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, SVG and browser-supported AVIF images |
| Main controls | Amount slider, plus a color picker for effects that need one |
| Output | A PNG image with the effect applied |
| Working limit | 50 MB and 50 megapixels per image |
Highlighter tips
- Pastel pink or mint green at Amount 40 gives a soft, dreamy tone.
- Even at 100 only 45% of the color is mixed in, so it never hides the photo.
- Pure white and deep black pixels stay untouched at any setting.
- Lower the Amount if a hard band appears across a sky or a cheek.
Highlighter FAQ
Something missing? Ask us.
Which pixels get colored?
Can I highlight one line of text in a screenshot?
Does Highlighter upload my file?
Is Highlighter free to use?
Why did Highlighter fail or look wrong?
Related tools
More in Filters & Effects.