How to use the advanced photo editor
This editor is for working with layers, painting and selections. If you only need to crop, rotate or adjust colours, the basic photo editor is simpler. It also has social media sizes, one-click looks such as Vintage, and a vignette.
This editor is in beta. It's still being built, so some things may not work as expected, and it's worth keeping your original photo. If something goes wrong, please report the problem.
- Drop a photo onto the page, or paste one with Ctrl+V.
- Choose a tool from the strip on the left. Hover over an icon to see its name. The options for that tool appear above the photo.
- Paint, erase or select on the photo. Every stroke and move can be undone with Undo.
- Choose PNG, JPG or WebP in Export, then press Download.
Zoom and move around
Scroll over the picture to zoom in and out around your pointer, or use the zoom buttons under it. The Hand tool is on when a photo opens, so you can drag straight away to move around. With any other tool, hold Space or drag with the middle mouse button to do the same. When you're close in, you see the real pixels of the photo, so you can place edits exactly. Scrolling over the picture zooms it, so scroll over the side panels or the page edges to move down the page.
The tools
- Select draws a rectangle. Hold Shift for a square.
- Lasso follows your pointer, so you can select any shape. Let go to close the shape.
- Move drags the selected part of the photo, or the whole layer if nothing is selected. Hold Alt, or tick Leave a copy when moving, to duplicate it. Hold Shift to move in a straight line. You can also drag inside a selection with Select or Lasso.
- Brush paints with your chosen colour, size, softness and opacity. If there's a selection, painting stays inside it.
- Eraser makes pixels transparent. Save as PNG or WebP to keep them clear, because JPG turns them white.
- Colour picker takes a colour from the photo. The square at the bottom of the tool strip shows the current colour, which the brush and Fill use. Click it to choose another.
- Crop trims the whole photo. Crop to selection trims it to the edges of what you've selected.
Working with layers
Layers are like clear sheets stacked on top of each other. Painting, erasing and moving only change the layer selected in the Layers panel, so you can paint or add a logo without touching the photo underneath. The buttons under the layer list are icons, so hover over one to see its name.
- The + button adds an empty sheet above the selected one. Add image brings in another picture as its own layer. Pasting or dropping a picture onto the editor does the same.
- From selection copies what you've selected onto a new layer, ready to move around.
- Untick a layer to hide it. Drag a layer up or down the list to change the order, and click its name to rename it. Move up and Move down do the same from the keyboard.
- Adjust and Filter change only the selected layer, and you can change them again later. The layer's original pixels are kept underneath.
- Layers can move past the edge of the picture without being cut off, so you can drag one back in later. Only what's inside the picture is downloaded. Crop keeps what's outside too.
- Opacity makes a layer see-through. Blend mode changes how it mixes with the layers below. Multiply darkens and Screen lightens, for example.
- Merge down joins a layer to the one beneath it, and Flatten joins every visible layer into one.
The download is one flat picture of all the visible layers. Layers aren't saved in the file, so keep the page open until you've finished.
Keyboard shortcuts
- + and - zoom, Ctrl+0 fits the picture, and Ctrl+1 shows actual size.
- H Hand, V Move, M Select, L Lasso, B Brush, E Eraser, I Colour picker, C Crop.
- [ and ] change the brush size.
- Ctrl+A selects everything, and Ctrl+D or Esc deselects.
- Delete clears the selected area. Arrow keys nudge a selection by one pixel, or ten with Shift.
- Ctrl+J copies the selection to a new layer, or duplicates the layer if nothing is selected.
- Ctrl+Z undoes, and Ctrl+Y redoes.
Good to know
- The tools edit the full-size photo, not a smaller copy. Very large photos can take a moment after each stroke.
- Adjust and Filter apply to a whole layer, not to a selection. To change only part of a picture, use From selection to put that part on its own layer first.
- Flatten joins the visible layers into one picture-sized layer, so anything past the edge is removed at that point.
Questions
Are my photos uploaded?
No. Every edit happens in your browser, and the picture stays on your device.
Does it work on a phone or tablet?
Yes. The tools work with touch, though a larger screen makes careful selections easier. Options that use the keyboard also have buttons.
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