chalk comes with a number of filters. These can be used to enhance or otherwise modify the image, either in whole or in part. Some filters are applied directly, others are customizable, meaning that you are presented with a dialog in which you can tune the result to your liking before the filter is applied. If a selection is active, a filter is applied on the selected part of the image. If no selection is active, the entire image is modified.
This chapter describes the available filters in detail. To make comparing the filters easier, each filter has been applied to the same image and each description contains a comparison image, showing the result of applying the filter described. The original image (with thanks to the photographer, Christian Peper) is shown below at half the original size. The sample images demonstrating the results of applying the filters, with the original image at the left and the modified image at the right, are shown at 25% of the original size.
Some filters yield reasonable results for most images. For other filters though, quite some tweaking needs to be done before the desired outcome is achieved. If a filter does not do what you want, it might need more or less customising. The examples in this chapter are exaggerated to give a good impression of the filters. You will usually want to have more “gentle” modifications.
Tip: If you want to apply a filter to everything except a certain part of your image (for example, you want to desaturate your image except for the centre), select the part you do not want to apply the filter to, use the -> menu option, and then apply the filter.
See the Dialogs for working with filters section for descriptions of the settings available for the customizable filters.
The original image
The Auto Contrast filter changes the contrast of your image to what should be the best settings. Usually this works out fine, but in some cases (for example photos taken under unusual lighting circumstances), the filter will not yield satisfying results.
You can find the Auto Contrast filter in the -> menu. This filter is not customizable.
The image with the Auto Contrast filter applied to it
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