Lomo Effect: Heavy Vignette and Punchy Colour
The saturation boost is capped per pixel so no channel clips, which keeps detail in strong colours instead of flattening them into a solid patch. Contrast runs on luminance, so tones move without the hues sliding.
Drop images here
or click to browse · or paste with Ctrl+V
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How much of the middle stays untouched before the darkening starts.
Capped per pixel so no channel clips, which keeps far more detail in strong reds and blues.
Presets
Your photos are never uploaded. The colour maths and the export both run inside this browser tab.
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Everything this tool does
Saturation with headroom
The boost is capped per pixel at the largest value that keeps every channel in range. Across 300 colours pushed 80 percent the largest hue drift was 0.43 degrees, and on 26 reds differing only in brightness, 15 stayed distinguishable against 10 under the usual clamp.
Contrast on luminance
An S-curve on brightness, with all three channels scaled by the same factor afterwards. Running the curve per channel is what makes heavily contrasted photos develop odd colour casts.
Vignette strength and reach
Separate controls for how dark the corners go and how far in the darkening starts. Reach is what distinguishes a plastic lens from an expensive one.
Warm and cool cast
Cool for the cyan of cross-processed slide film, warm for a print that has sat in the sun. Both are part of the look, and they are opposite ends of one slider.
Smooth vignette falloff
The darkening follows a cubic ramp rather than a straight line, so there is no visible ring where the vignette begins.
Drag to compare
Before and after share one frame with a slider between them, which is how you judge whether the colour has gone past punchy into artificial.
Six purpose-built presets
Classic lomo, cross-processed, sun-faded, heavy tunnel, subtle and poster colour, each balancing the four adjustments differently.
Batch with one ZIP
Give a whole roll the same treatment and take everything as a single archive built in your browser.
Transparency preserved
The alpha channel is untouched for PNG and WebP output.
Nothing is uploaded
No server, no queue, nothing to delete afterwards. Close the tab and every trace of the image goes with it.
What each control changes
A lomo look is four things stacked: a heavy vignette, punchy colour, strong contrast and a colour cast. Each has its own slider here, so you can build the specific version you want rather than accepting one fixed recipe.
| Setting | What it does | Try | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vignette 30-50 | Gentle corner darkening | reach 55-70 | Subtle focus pull |
| Vignette 65-100 | Heavy tunnel | reach 30-45 | The classic toy camera look |
| Reach 20-40 | Darkening starts near the middle | vignette 60+ | Tight, dramatic framing |
| Reach 70-100 | Only the far corners darken | vignette 40-60 | Natural lens falloff |
| Saturation 30-60 | Punchy but believable | contrast 30-50 | Most photos |
| Saturation 80-120 | Extreme colour | contrast 20-40 | Graphic, poster-like |
| Warmth -50 to -20 | Cyan and blue cast | saturation 50+ | Cross-processed look |
Capped
saturation, never clips
Luminance
contrast curve
0
files uploaded
4
stackable adjustments
ZIP
batch download
Free
no account needed
FlipMyFormat vs other lomo tools
| Capability | FlipMyFormat | Typical free tool |
|---|---|---|
| Files stay in your browser | ||
| Saturation capped so no channel clips | ||
| Contrast on luminance, hue preserved | ||
| Separate vignette strength and reach | ||
| Warm and cool cross-process shift | ||
| Batch ZIP download without paying | ||
| No watermark on the output |
How to get a toy camera look on purpose
A lomo photograph is the sum of a cheap plastic lens and film pushed through the wrong chemistry, and the four things it produces are separable, which is why they are separate sliders here. The vignette comes from the lens simply not covering the frame properly, so it is heavy and it starts closer to the middle than a good lens would ever allow. That is why the reach slider matters as much as the strength one: a gentle darkening only in the far corners reads as an expensive lens, while a darkening that begins forty percent of the way out reads as plastic, which is the point. The colour comes from cross-processing, and it is doing two things at once, pushing saturation far past what the scene contained and shifting the whole picture toward a cast, usually cyan and blue when slide film is developed in negative chemistry, or warm and yellow when a print has sat in the sun for twenty years. Contrast comes along with both. The mistake worth avoiding is treating this as a single strength slider and pushing everything at once. A heavy vignette with modest colour reads as deliberate; heavy everything reads as a preset. Start with the vignette, get the framing right, and then decide how far you want the colour to go, remembering that a strong vignette already darkens your corners, so you usually need less contrast than you think.
- 1
Add your photos
Drag them in, click to browse, or paste with Ctrl+V. Photos with a clear central subject suit a heavy vignette best.
- 2
Set the vignette, then the colour
Vignette strength and reach together decide the framing. Then push saturation and contrast until the picture has the punch you want.
- 3
Add a cast and export
Warm reads as sun-faded film, cool as cross-processed. Save individually or take the batch as one ZIP.
What goes wrong when you push saturation
Clipping changes the colour, not just the brightness
The usual way to add saturation is to push each channel away from the pixel's brightness by a fixed factor and then clamp anything that leaves the range. That clamp is where the damage happens. Take a strong red and push it hard: the red channel hits 255 and stops moving, so two reds that were clearly different before now come out identical. Across a whole flower or jersey that is what produces the flat, detail-free patch you have seen in over-saturated photos. This tool works out, for each pixel individually, the largest boost that keeps every channel inside the range, and uses the smaller of that and the amount you asked for. Because all three channels are still scaled about the same point by the same factor, the hue is preserved: across 300 test colours pushed by 80 percent, the largest hue drift we measured was 0.43 degrees. Tonal separation survives better too, though not perfectly. Given 26 reds that differed only in brightness, capping kept 15 of them distinguishable where clamping kept 10. Some compression is unavoidable once a channel reaches the top of an eight bit range; the point is to lose as little as possible rather than to pretend nothing is lost.
Contrast on luminance, not per channel
Contrast has the same problem in a quieter form. Running an S-curve independently on red, green and blue moves each channel by a different amount, and since the curve is not linear, the ratios between them change. The result is that saturated colours drift in hue as you add contrast, which is why heavily contrasted photos sometimes develop odd colour casts in the shadows. Here the curve is applied to the pixel's luminance and the three channels are then scaled by the single factor needed to reach that new brightness. Tone moves, hue does not. The same principle drives the vignette, which multiplies all three channels equally, so darkened corners stay the colour they were rather than sliding toward whichever channel survived.
What people use it for
Toy camera and film looks
The heavy vignette and pushed colour of a plastic lens, without needing the plastic lens.
Cross-processed film emulation
A strong cool cast with extreme saturation reproduces slide film developed in the wrong chemistry.
Travel and street photography
A vignette pulls the eye to a central subject in a busy frame far more effectively than cropping does.
Album and gig artwork
Punchy saturation with a tunnel vignette reads as energetic, which is why it keeps appearing on music imagery.
Social media presets
Applying identical settings across a set gives a feed a consistent look, which is most of what a preset pack sells.
Sun-faded vintage look
Warm cast with lower contrast and a gentle vignette imitates a print left in a window for years.
Focusing attention
Even at low strength, a vignette measurably directs where people look first in an image.
Rescuing flat photos
Contrast and saturation together give an overcast, lifeless shot some punch, though they cannot invent detail.
Six tips worth knowing
Set the vignette before the colour. It changes the framing, and a strong vignette already darkens the corners, so you usually need less contrast afterwards.
Reach matters as much as strength. Darkening that starts near the middle reads as a plastic lens; only in the far corners reads as a good one.
Cool cast plus high saturation is cross-processing. Warm cast plus low contrast is sun-fading. They are different looks, not different amounts of the same one.
Heavy everything reads as a preset. A strong vignette with moderate colour reads as a deliberate choice.
Photos with a clear central subject suit a heavy vignette. Landscapes with interest at the edges usually do not.
Keep JPEG quality above 85, since a big smooth vignette gradient is exactly what low quality settings band.
Troubleshooting
Reds turned into flat patches
That is saturation clipping. Capping reduces it but cannot remove it entirely, because once a channel reaches 255 there is nowhere left to go. Lower the saturation, or check whether the area was already clipped in the original photo.
There is a visible ring where the vignette starts
It should not appear, because the falloff is a cubic ramp. Try raising the reach so the transition happens over more of the frame.
The colours look wrong after adding contrast
Contrast here runs on luminance and preserves hue. If colours look off, it is more likely the warmth slider, which is a deliberate cast.
The photo looks muddy in the corners
The vignette is too strong or reaching too far in. Lower the strength, or raise the reach so the middle stays untouched for longer.
Frequently asked questions
What is a lomo effect?
It imitates photographs taken on cheap plastic-lensed cameras and cross-processed film: a heavy vignette, saturation pushed far past reality, strong contrast and a colour cast.
Why does pushing saturation ruin strong colours?
Because the usual method scales each channel and then clamps anything that leaves the range. In a strong red the red channel hits 255 and stops moving, so two reds that were clearly different beforehand come out identical, and the area loses its detail.
How does this tool avoid that?
It works out, per pixel, the largest boost that keeps every channel in range, and uses the smaller of that and your setting. Across 300 colours pushed 80 percent the largest hue drift was 0.43 degrees, and on 26 reds differing only in brightness it kept 15 distinguishable against 10 for the clamping approach. Some compression is unavoidable in eight bits; the aim is to lose as little as possible.
Why is contrast applied to luminance?
Because an S-curve run separately on each channel moves them by different amounts, which changes their ratios and shifts hue. Applying it to brightness and scaling the channels together moves tone without touching colour.
What does vignette reach do?
It sets how much of the middle stays untouched before the darkening starts. A low reach darkens from near the centre, which is what a cheap lens does; a high reach only darkens the far corners.
What is cross-processing?
Developing slide film in chemistry meant for negatives, or the reverse. It produces extreme saturation, strong contrast and a heavy colour cast, usually toward cyan and blue.
Should I use warm or cool?
Cool with high saturation gives the cross-processed look. Warm with lower contrast gives a sun-faded print. They are different aesthetics rather than different strengths.
How much is too much?
Pushing every slider at once reads as a preset rather than a choice. A strong vignette with moderate colour usually looks more deliberate than heavy everything.
Which photos suit this?
Anything with a clear central subject, because a heavy vignette pulls attention inward. Landscapes with important detail at the edges usually fight the effect.
Does the vignette leave a visible ring?
No. The falloff follows a cubic ramp that starts and stops at zero rate of change, so there is no line where the darkening begins.
Can I use just the vignette?
Yes, set saturation, contrast and warmth to zero. There is also a dedicated vignette tool if that is all you need.
Are my photos uploaded to a server?
No. All the colour maths and the export run in your browser using the canvas API. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Which format should I export?
PNG for the cleanest gradient, since a large smooth vignette is exactly what low quality JPEG bands. JPEG at 85 or above is fine otherwise.
Is transparency preserved?
Yes for PNG and WebP output. The alpha channel is untouched. JPG has no alpha, so transparent areas are filled with the background colour first.
Can I apply the same look to a whole set?
Yes, and it is the main reason to use a batch. Identical settings across a series is what gives a feed or a gallery a consistent identity.
Will it fix an underexposed photo?
Not really. Contrast and saturation add punch to what is there, but they cannot recover detail that was never recorded. Lift exposure first with a brightness tool.
Can the effect be undone?
No. The adjustments are baked into the pixels. Your uploaded file is never modified, so keep the original.
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.