Gradient Map: Recolour a Photo by Brightness
Map every tone in your photo onto a colour ramp, from fire and cyanotype to neon and infrared. Rec.709 luminance rather than a flat channel average, a 256 entry lookup table, and an optional linear-light blend for brighter midtones.
Drop images here
or click to browse · or paste with Ctrl+V
JPG · PNG · WebP · GIF · BMP · AVIF
Gradient
Blends the mapped result back toward the original photo.
Blends the gradient in linear light, which lifts the middle of the range. Off by default, because it also stops greyscale being a perfect no-op.
Presets
Your photos are never uploaded. The lookup table and the export both run inside this browser tab.
People also use
Everything this tool does
Nine ramps with live previews
Fire, ice, sunset, cyanotype, infrared, sepia, neon, forest and greyscale, each shown as an actual gradient strip so you can see the colour path before applying it.
Rec.709 luminance mapping
Green counts for about seventy-one percent of perceived brightness, red twenty-one and blue seven. A flat channel average would send pure green to 85 instead of 182 and land it in the wrong part of your ramp.
Greyscale is a perfect no-op
Mapping black to white at full strength returns a plain greyscale conversion. On a grey ramp input the output came back byte for byte identical, which is the check that the mapping is anchored correctly.
Optional linear-light blending
Blends gradient stops in linear light for brighter, richer midtones. Off by default, because in linear light the midpoint of black to white sits near 188 rather than 128, which breaks the identity case.
Reversible ramps
One tap swaps which end of the gradient your shadows and highlights land on, which produces a genuinely different image rather than a minor variation.
Strength slider for grading
At thirty to fifty percent the original colours survive but get pulled toward the ramp, which is how cinematic colour grading actually works.
Six purpose-built presets
Fire, cyanotype, neon night, subtle grade, infrared and pure greyscale, each with its own ramp, blending mode and strength.
Batch with one ZIP
Apply an identical ramp across a whole set, which is the fastest way to give a series one visual identity. Take everything as a single archive.
Transparency preserved
The alpha channel is untouched for PNG and WebP output, so only visible pixels are remapped.
Nothing is uploaded
No server, no queue, nothing to delete afterwards. Close the tab and every trace of the image goes with it.
The nine gradients and what they suit
A gradient map replaces colour with position in a ramp, so what matters is how your photo's tones are distributed rather than what colour anything originally was. Greyscale is included because it is also the correctness test: mapping black to white should return your image untouched.
| Gradient | Colour path | Strength | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greyscale | black to white | 100% | Monochrome, and the identity check |
| Fire | near black, deep red, orange, cream | 80-100% | Dramatic portraits, heat maps |
| Ice | navy, blue, pale cyan, white | 80-100% | Cold scenes, winter, tech |
| Sunset | purple, magenta, orange, gold | 70-100% | Landscapes and skies |
| Cyanotype | deep blue to pale blue | 100% | Blueprint and photogram looks |
| Infrared | violet, magenta, amber, cream | 80-100% | Surreal foliage and portraits |
| Neon | near black, violet, cyan, white | 70-100% | Music, posters, night scenes |
9
colour ramps
256
entry lookup table
0
files uploaded
709
Rec. luminance weighting
ZIP
batch download
Free
no account needed
FlipMyFormat vs other gradient map tools
| Capability | FlipMyFormat | Typical free tool |
|---|---|---|
| Files stay in your browser | ||
| Rec.709 luminance, not a channel average | ||
| Greyscale map returns the image exactly | ||
| Optional linear-light blending | ||
| Strength slider to blend back | ||
| Batch ZIP download without paying | ||
| No watermark on the output |
How to get a gradient map that flatters the photo
A gradient map throws away every original colour and replaces it with a position along a ramp, which means the only thing your photograph brings to the result is its distribution of tones. That single fact explains almost everything about when the technique works and when it does not. A photo with a full range, with real blacks, real whites and something in between, will use the whole ramp and come out looking designed. A flat, hazy photo whose pixels all sit between about ninety and one hundred and seventy will only ever touch the middle third of the gradient, so a fire ramp gives you an image made entirely of muddy orange with none of the deep reds or bright creams that make the ramp appealing. If the result looks disappointing, the fix is nearly always to raise contrast on the original before mapping rather than to try a different gradient. The second thing worth knowing is that the strength slider is not just a way to soften the effect. At around thirty to fifty percent you are not making a gradient-mapped image at all, you are colour grading: the original colours survive but get pulled toward the ramp, which is how most cinematic grading actually works and is often more useful than the full effect. Third, reverse is worth trying on every gradient, because a ramp that puts warm colours in the highlights feels completely different when it puts them in the shadows, and neither is more correct.
- 1
Add a photo with real contrast
Drag it in, click to browse, or paste with Ctrl+V. Images with genuine blacks and whites use the whole ramp; flat photos only touch the middle of it.
- 2
Pick a ramp and try reversing it
Each gradient has a preview strip so you can see the colour path. Reversing swaps which end of the ramp your shadows and highlights land on.
- 3
Set the strength and export
Full strength for a graphic look, thirty to fifty percent for colour grading. Save individually or take the whole batch as one ZIP.
Two decisions that change every pixel
Which brightness are you mapping
Before anything can be mapped, each pixel has to be reduced to a single number, and there are two common ways to do it. Averaging the three channels is simple and wrong, because human vision is far more sensitive to green than to red and barely sensitive to blue at all. Rec.709 weighting reflects that, counting green at about seventy-one percent, red at twenty-one and blue at seven. The difference is not subtle: pure green maps to 182 under Rec.709 and to 85 under a flat average, so a photograph with a lot of foliage or a green backdrop lands in a completely different part of your gradient depending on which formula was used. We use Rec.709 and check it, mapping pure green through a greyscale ramp and confirming it comes back at 182. The same test catches a second kind of error: with a black to white gradient at full strength the result should be indistinguishable from a plain greyscale conversion, and on a grey ramp input the output came back identical to the input, byte for byte.
Why brighter midtones are optional
Blending two colours in sRGB values is not the same as blending the light they represent, because sRGB is a curve rather than a linear scale. Interpolating in linear light gives midpoints that are noticeably brighter and generally richer, and for a colourful ramp such as neon or infrared it is often the better-looking choice. There is a catch, which is why it is a toggle rather than the default. In linear light, the halfway point between black and white is not 128, it is closer to 188. That means switching it on breaks the identity case: a greyscale gradient map stops returning your photo unchanged and starts brightening it noticeably. Since that no-op behaviour is the thing that proves the mapping is anchored correctly, the faithful mode is the default and the brighter one is there when you want it.
What people use it for
Album and poster artwork
A strong ramp gives a photo an unmistakable identity, which is why gradient maps keep appearing on covers and gig posters.
Cinematic colour grading
At thirty to fifty percent strength the ramp tints shadows and highlights differently, which is the core of most film looks.
Cyanotype and blueprint looks
The cyanotype ramp reproduces the deep blue of a sun-printed photogram without any chemistry.
Data and heat map styling
Fire and infrared ramps read as intensity, which makes them useful for styling scientific or thermal-looking imagery.
Consistent brand imagery
The same ramp across a whole set of photos ties them together far more strongly than a shared filter or crop ever will.
Duotone alternatives
A two-stop ramp behaves like a duotone, but with more stops you get transitions a duotone cannot produce.
Night and neon scenes
The neon ramp with brighter midtones turns ordinary street photography into something that reads as after dark and lit by signs.
Monochrome conversion
The greyscale ramp is a properly weighted black and white conversion, which is a better starting point than desaturating.
Six tips worth knowing
If the result looks muddy, raise contrast on the original first. A flat photo only ever touches the middle third of the ramp.
Try reversing every gradient. Warm highlights and warm shadows are completely different pictures, and neither is more correct.
Use thirty to fifty percent strength for colour grading rather than replacement. The original colours survive but get pulled toward the ramp.
The greyscale ramp at full strength is a properly weighted black and white conversion, and it is also the check that the mapping is correct.
Brighter midtones suit colourful ramps like neon and infrared. Leave it off for greyscale, where it stops the map being a clean no-op.
Export PNG for the darker ramps. Large areas of similar deep colour are exactly what JPEG bands.
Troubleshooting
Everything came out one muddy colour
Your photo has a narrow tonal range, so all its pixels land in the same section of the ramp. Raise contrast on the original before mapping.
The greyscale ramp changed my image
Check whether brighter midtones is switched on. In linear light the midpoint of black to white sits near 188 rather than 128, so the map stops being a no-op.
The highlights are blown out
The ramp ends in a very light colour and your photo already has large bright areas. Try reversing the gradient or lowering the strength.
Banding across smooth areas
That usually appears when saving to JPEG, which struggles with large regions of similar deep colour. Export PNG instead.
Frequently asked questions
What is a gradient map?
It measures the brightness of every pixel and replaces its colour with the colour at that position along a chosen ramp. Dark pixels take the colour at one end, bright pixels the colour at the other, and everything else falls in between.
Does it keep any of my original colours?
At full strength, no. Only brightness survives, which is why two objects of very different colours but similar brightness will come out identical. Lower the strength if you want the original colours to survive partially.
How is brightness calculated?
With Rec.709 weighting: green counts for about seventy-one percent, red twenty-one and blue seven, which reflects how human vision works. A flat channel average would send pure green to 85 instead of 182.
Why does the greyscale ramp exist?
Two reasons. It is a properly weighted black and white conversion, and it is the correctness test: a black to white map should return your image unchanged. On a grey ramp input, ours comes back byte for byte identical.
What does brighter midtones actually do?
It blends the gradient stops in linear light rather than in sRGB values, which produces noticeably brighter and richer midpoints. It suits colourful ramps such as neon and infrared.
Why is that not the default?
Because in linear light the halfway point between black and white sits near 188 rather than 128, so switching it on stops the greyscale map being a clean no-op. The faithful behaviour is the default and the brighter one is opt-in.
Why does my photo look muddy?
Its tones are bunched in the middle, so only the middle third of the ramp is ever used and you never reach the deep or bright ends. Raise contrast on the original before mapping.
What does reversing the gradient do?
It swaps which end of the ramp your shadows and highlights land on. A gradient with warm highlights becomes one with warm shadows, which is a genuinely different image rather than a minor variation.
Can I use this for colour grading?
Yes, and it is one of the better uses. Set strength to around thirty to fifty percent and the original colours survive while being pulled toward the ramp, which is essentially how film looks are built.
How is this different from duotone?
A duotone maps tones between two colours. A gradient map does the same thing with as many stops as the ramp has, so it can put a completely different colour in the midtones from either end.
Can I add my own gradient?
Not at the moment. The nine built-in ramps cover the common looks, and custom stop editing is a candidate for a future version.
Why does the tool use a lookup table?
Because brightness only has 256 possible values, the ramp is evaluated 256 times and then reused for every pixel. That is dramatically faster than recomputing the interpolation per pixel and gives exactly the same result.
Are my photos uploaded to a server?
No. The lookup table and the export both run in your browser using the canvas API. Nothing is sent anywhere and the tool keeps working if your connection drops after the page has loaded.
Which format should I export?
PNG, particularly for the darker ramps. Gradient maps produce large areas of similar colour, which is exactly what JPEG bands.
Is transparency preserved?
Yes for PNG and WebP output. The alpha channel is untouched and only visible pixels are remapped. JPG has no alpha, so transparent areas are filled with the background colour first.
Can I apply the same ramp to a whole set?
Yes, and it is one of the fastest ways to give a series a single visual identity. Add them all, pick the ramp once, and take the result as a single ZIP.
Can the effect be undone?
No at full strength, since the original colour information is discarded. Your uploaded file is never modified, so keep it.
Does it add a watermark or need an account?
No to both. No sign-up, no email wall, no daily limit and no watermark on the output.