Give a picture a raised, 3D relief while keeping its colours. Set the depth and how much original colour shows through, then download in place.
Applies a diagonal emboss kernel whose weights grow with the strength you choose, centres the result on mid-grey, and then mixes the original colour back in. The relief supplies light and shadow along every edge; the colour mix keeps the picture recognisable. At the default 30 percent colour the result looks like the photo printed on textured foil; at 100 percent colour it becomes a subtle sharpen; at 0 it is a plain grey emboss.
A 2000 × 1500 photo of a brick wall: strength 3 with 30 percent colour turns each brick into a raised tile with warm terracotta still visible, and the JPEG stays within about 10 percent of the original size. Strength 8 exaggerates the mortar into deep grooves and makes a usable game or wallpaper texture. Strength 2 with 70 percent colour on a poster mock-up reads as a light letterpress impression without changing the palette.
Use it for textured backgrounds, embossed logo mock-ups, card and packaging previews, and to give flat illustrations a stamped feel. It suits images with clear edges: text, logos, architecture, fabric. On soft portraits the relief lands on noise and pores, so keep strength at 1 to 2 or use Sharpen Image instead. For a pure metallic look with no colour, Emboss Effect has eight light directions.
Strength multiplies the kernel weights, 1 to 10; 2 to 4 keeps the picture readable, higher values become texture. Keep colour is the share of the original colour blended back in; 30 percent is the classic mix, 0 is grey relief, 100 is almost the original. The light comes from the top left, which matches how the eye expects relief to be lit. The outer pixel ring is copied unchanged because the kernel needs neighbours on all sides.
How is this different from the grey Emboss tool? Emboss Effect produces a grey relief and lets you choose the light direction. Color Emboss fixes the light at top left and blends the original colours back so the picture keeps its palette.
Why does a high strength look like noise? Every tiny difference between neighbouring pixels is multiplied by the strength, so grain and JPEG artefacts become visible ridges. Lower the strength or run Remove Noise first.
Can I change the light direction here? Not in this tool. Rotate the picture with Rotate Image, apply the effect, then rotate back; or use Emboss Effect for its eight directions.
Does it work on transparent PNGs? Yes. Transparency is kept, and the relief is computed from the colour channels only, so soft cut-out edges get a slight ridge.
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