Apply Photo Filters and Presets

Every preset in this panel is a color lookup table, or LUT - the same mechanism film colorists use to grade movies. A LUT is a precomputed mapping that says, for every possible input color, exactly which output color to produce. Applying one is just a table lookup per pixel, which is why previews update instantly even on large photos and why the effect is perfectly consistent: the same preset gives the same color response on every image you feed it.

The intensity slider is the difference between a filter looking applied and looking overdone. At 100 percent you get the LUT's full opinion; sliding down blends the graded result back toward your original, so 50 percent means each pixel lands halfway between the two. Strong stylized presets - heavy fades, split tones, deep monochromes - almost always benefit from being dialed back, because a look that reads well on a thumbnail can feel heavy-handed at full size.

Filters and corrections are different jobs, and the order matters. A LUT maps colors; it cannot rescue a photo that is too dark, too flat or off-white-balance - it will faithfully stylize the problem along with everything else. Fix exposure and color balance in the adjust panel first, then choose a preset. Grading a corrected image is how the presets were designed to be used, and it is why the same filter can look wildly different on an uncorrected shot.

Because the presets are deterministic tables rather than an AI making per-image choices, you can build a consistent visual identity with them: pick one preset and one intensity, apply it to every image in a series, and the set will hang together - useful for shop listings, blog headers or a photo essay where mismatched grading looks sloppy.