Solarization (or Sabattier effect) is a darkroom technique where a partially developed negative or print is briefly re‑exposed to light, causing a partial reversal of tones. Highlights become dark or metallic while shadows remain relatively normal. Our digital tool simulates this by inverting pixel values above a brightness threshold, giving your image that surreal, vintage look.

Simply drag and drop your photo onto the upload area, or click to select a file. Use the Threshold slider to control which brightness level triggers the reversal (low values create more extreme solarization). The Blend Strength slider lets you mix the original and solarized image for subtler results. Download your final image as a PNG – no signup required.

A full invert/negative turns every color to its opposite (255 - value), resulting in a complete color reversal. Solarize only reverses pixels above a certain brightness threshold, leaving darker areas untouched. This creates a unique blend of positive and negative tones, often with glowing edges and a metallic finish, characteristic of the surrealist photography style.

No. All processing happens locally in your browser using HTML5 Canvas. Your photos never leave your device, ensuring complete privacy and instant results.

This tool focuses on the pure solarize effect, but you can tweak the threshold and blend to achieve a wide range of looks – from subtle metallic highlights to intense psychedelic inversions. For more advanced edits (saturation, curves, filters), you might combine this with other tools – but we recommend starting with our sliders to master the darkroom mood.