Pixaro User Guide

1. Getting Started

Loading Your First Image

There are three ways to load an image into Pixaro:

1. Click the "Load Image" button in the center of the screen
2. Drag and drop an image file directly onto the canvas
3. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+O (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+O (Mac)

Basic Workflow

Pixaro follows a professional editing workflow:

1. Load Image: Import your photo
2. Basic Adjustments: Set exposure, contrast, and white balance
3. Color Grading: Adjust colors and saturation
4. Detail Work: Apply sharpening and noise reduction
5. Effects: Add creative touches (vignette, grain)
6. Export: Save your edited image

2. Understanding the Interface

Main Areas

Navigation Controls

3. Basic Adjustments

Exposure

Controls the overall brightness of your image.

• Range: -3.0 to +3.0 EV (stops)
• Recommended: Use in 0.1-0.5 EV increments
• Tip: Adjust exposure first before other settings

Contrast

Adjusts the difference between light and dark areas.

• Range: -100 to +100
• Positive values: Increase contrast (more dramatic)
• Negative values: Decrease contrast (flatter, softer)

Highlights

Recovers detail in bright areas of your image.

• Range: -100 to +100
• Negative values: Darken and recover bright areas
• Use case: Rescue blown-out skies or overexposed areas

Shadows

Reveals detail in dark areas of your image.

• Range: -100 to +100
• Positive values: Brighten and reveal shadow detail
• Use case: Lift underexposed foregrounds or dark areas

Whites & Blacks

Fine-tune the brightest and darkest points in your image.

• Whites: Sets the white point (brightest value)
• Blacks: Sets the black point (darkest value)
• Best practice: Adjust subtly for tonal range optimization

Clarity

Enhances mid-tone contrast for local detail "pop".

• Range: -100 to +100
• Positive: Sharper, more defined (good for landscapes)
• Negative: Softer, dreamier (good for portraits)

4. Color Tools

White Balance

Adjust the color temperature and tint of your image.

Temperature

• Range: 2000K to 10000K
• Lower values (blue): Cooler, clinical feel
• Higher values (yellow): Warmer, sunset feel
• Neutral: Around 5500K (daylight)

Tint

• Range: -100 to +100
• Negative (green): Removes magenta casts
• Positive (magenta): Removes green casts

Saturation & Vibrance

Saturation

Increases or decreases the intensity of ALL colors equally.

• Range: -100 to +100
• At -100: Black and white image
• Use sparingly: Can easily look oversaturated

Vibrance

Smart saturation that protects skin tones and already-saturated colors.

• Range: -100 to +100
• Safer than saturation: More natural results
• Best for: Landscapes and portraits

HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance)

Target specific color ranges for precise adjustments.

Hue Adjustment

Shift a color toward a different hue (e.g., make blue skies more cyan or more purple).

Saturation Adjustment

Make specific colors more or less vivid without affecting others.

Luminance Adjustment

Brighten or darken specific color ranges (e.g., brighten blues to make sky pop).

5. Tone Mapping (Advanced)

Tone mapping compresses the high dynamic range of your image to fit within display limits while preserving detail and maintaining a natural look.

When to Use Tone Mapping

• High dynamic range scenes (bright sky + dark foreground)
• When you want film-like highlight rolloff
• For advanced color grading workflows
• To achieve specific "looks" (cinematic, vintage, etc.)

Filmic RGB

Professional tone mapper with film-like characteristics.

• White Point: Where highlights start rolling off (higher = more highlight detail)
• Black Point: Where shadows compress (lower = more shadow detail)
• Latitude: Contrast in mid-tones
• Contrast: Overall tonal contrast

Sigmoid

Simpler tone mapper with excellent color preservation.

• Contrast: S-curve strength
• Skew: Shift midpoint lighter or darker
• Easier to use with fewer parameters
• Great for quick, pleasing results

6. Detail Enhancement

Sharpening

Enhances edge definition and perceived sharpness.

• Amount: 0-200 (strength of sharpening)
• Radius: 0.5-5.0 pixels (size of details to sharpen)
• Threshold: Prevents sharpening smooth areas (avoid noise)

Noise Reduction

Reduces grain and digital noise, especially in underexposed areas.

• Luminance: Reduces brightness noise
• Color: Reduces color speckles
• Warning: Too much can make images look plastic

Texture & Clarity

• Texture: Enhances fine detail without affecting larger features
• Clarity: Boosts mid-tone local contrast

7. AI-Powered Removal

Remove unwanted objects, blemishes, or distractions from your photos using AI.

How to Use

1. Click the Removal Tool icon in the tools panel
2. Paint over the object you want to remove
3. Click "Remove" to process
4. Wait for AI to intelligently fill the area

What Can Be Removed?

• Blemishes and skin imperfections
• Power lines and cables
• Small distracting objects
• Tourists/photobombers
• Signs and text

8. Using Presets

Applying Presets

1. Open the Preset Manager
2. Browse built-in presets by category
3. Click a preset to apply it instantly
4. Adjust individual settings to fine-tune

Creating Custom Presets

1. Make your desired adjustments
2. Click "Save Preset"
3. Name your preset
4. Choose which adjustments to include

Built-in Preset Categories

• Film Emulation: Kodak, Fuji, Ilford looks
• Portrait: Skin enhancement presets
• Landscape: Nature and scenery presets
• Black & White: Classic B&W conversions
• Vintage: Retro and aged looks
• Cinematic: Movie-style color grading

9. Exporting Your Work

Export Options

1. Click "Export" or use Ctrl+S / Cmd+S
2. Choose format: JPEG, PNG, or TIFF
3. Set quality (for JPEG) or compression (for PNG)
4. Click "Download"

Format Recommendations

10. Keyboard Shortcuts

File Operations

View Controls

11. Troubleshooting

Image Won't Load

• Check file format is supported (JPEG, PNG, TIFF, RAW)
• File may be corrupted - try opening in another app first
• Very large files (>50MB) may take longer to load
• Try refreshing the page and loading again

Performance Issues

• Large images (>24MP) are downsampled for preview
• Close other browser tabs to free up memory
• Update your graphics drivers for better WebGL performance
• Use a modern browser (Chrome 100+, Firefox 100+, Safari 15+)

Colors Look Wrong After Export

• Ensure you're exporting in sRGB color space
• Some apps don't handle color profiles correctly
• Try viewing in a different app or browser

Adjustments Not Applying

• Check if WebGL is enabled in your browser
• Refresh the page to reset the editing engine
• Try adjusting slider by larger amounts to see effect