Help & Reference
Complete guide to all Image Lab features
Getting Started
Image Lab is a powerful browser-based image editor. Here's how to get started:
1. Open an Image
Click "Open", drag & drop, or paste with Ctrl+V.
2. Edit Your Image
Use tabs to access Basic, Adjust, Filters, and Advanced tools.
3. Export
Choose format and quality, then Download or Copy to clipboard.
4. History
Every change is tracked. Restore any previous state anytime.
Supported Formats
| Format | Import | Export | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| PNG | ✓ | ✓ | Lossless, supports transparency |
| JPEG | ✓ | ✓ | Lossy compression, no transparency |
| WebP | ✓ | ✓ | Modern format, good compression |
| GIF | ✓ | ✓ | Animated support with special tools |
| BMP | ✓ | ✓ | Uncompressed bitmap |
| TIFF | ✓ | ✓ | High quality, larger files |
| HEIC / HEIF | ✓ | Apple format, converted to PNG for display |
Basic Tools
Crop
Interactive cropping with drag handles. Click Apply when done.
Flip
Mirror horizontally (H) or vertically (V).
Rotate
Quick ±90° buttons or custom angle input.
Rename
Change the file name used for downloads.
Resize
Change dimensions with various interpolation methods:
- Lanczos: Highest quality, best for photos
- Bicubic: Good quality, smooth gradients
- Bilinear: Fast, decent quality
- Nearest: Preserves hard edges (pixel art)
Adjust Tools
Sliders auto-apply when you release them. Adjustments are always applied to the image state before you started adjusting, so you can freely experiment without cumulative degradation.
Brightness
Multiply pixel values. 100% = no change.
Contrast
Adjust difference between light and dark areas.
Saturation
Color intensity. 0% = grayscale.
Gamma
Non-linear brightness. <1 brightens, >1 darkens midtones.
Hue Shift
Rotate all colors around the color wheel. Useful for creative color grading.
Temperature
Warm (positive) or cool (negative) color shift.
Auto Enhance
Automatic contrast optimization using auto-contrast with 1% cutoff.
Filters
Filters auto-apply when you check a box or change a value. Like adjustments, they apply from your base image state.
Grayscale
Convert to black and white.
Sepia
Warm vintage tones.
Invert
Create a negative image.
Sharpen
Enhance edges and details.
Edges
Sobel edge detection.
Emboss
3D relief effect.
Contour
Outline edges in the image.
Smooth
Reduce noise with smoothing.
Detail
Enhance fine details.
Solarize
Invert tones above a threshold for a surreal look.
Gaussian Blur
Smooth blur with radius control.
Median
Noise reduction, preserves edges.
Posterize
Reduce color depth.
Pixelate
Blocky pixel effect.
Advanced Tools
Histogram Equalization
Spread intensities for better contrast while preserving color information.
Background Removal (Simple)
Remove solid backgrounds by color tolerance.
Vignette
Darken corners for focus effect.
Border
Add solid color border.
Watermark
Add text overlay with position and opacity controls.
Seam Carving
Content-aware resize that preserves important features.
Metadata / EXIF
View and edit EXIF metadata embedded in your images. The metadata panel below the canvas lets you:
- View: See all EXIF tags (camera, date, GPS, etc.) in the info table
- Load: Read current metadata into the editor as JSON
- Edit: Modify JSON fields like artist, copyright, description, software, datetime, make, model
- Write: Save your changes back into the image
GIF Tools
- Resize GIF: Scale while preserving frames and timing
- Trim Frames: Remove frames from start/end
- Speed: Adjust playback speed (0.5x to 4x)
- Reverse: Play backwards
Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+V | Paste image from clipboard |
| Drop file | Open dropped image |
| Click canvas | Open file picker |
Technical Info
Backend: Python/Flask with Pillow
Seam Carving: seam-carving