Cloudinary Blog

Techniques for Image Enhancement With Cloudinary: A Primer

By Jul 22, 2019

Indisputably, visual presentations of events, places, people, and even intangible things make deeper impressions and linger in our minds for longer than words or any other communication medium, hence the meteoric rise through the ages of transmitting ideas and promoting brands in the business sector through images. The recent discovery of the first image of a black hole has generated calls for techniques for enhancing digital images. Specifically, the clamor is for quality-oriented tweaks that would result in optimal display and increased visibility of slightly hidden yet important content.

This post shows you how to enhance images by setting intuitive and effective parameters on Cloudinary with a focus on several key aspects, including brightness, contrast, and sharpness. Also described are sophisticated enhancements you can add with Cloudinary add-on VIESUS and the simple steps for optimizing images on Cloudinary.

Image Enhancement Techniques

Adjusting the Brightness and Contrast

One of the image enhancement techniques you can utilize is to have Cloudinary automatically adjust the brightness and contrast of an image, set one of the following values for the effect parameter:

gamma, auto_brightness, auto_contrast, contrast, auto_color, fill_light, vibrance, and improve:outdoor.

In particular:

improve:outdoor enhances an image’s colors, contrast, and brightness, as in the code example below:
Copy to clipboard
<cl-image public-id="flower.jpg" > <cl-transformation effect="improve:outdoor"> </cl-transformation> </cl-image>
contrast raises or reduces an image’s contrast level according to the value you specify. The default value is 0; the minimum value is -300; and the maximum value is +100.
This code shows the syntax for a contrast value of 50:
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<cl-image public-id="wardrobe.jpg" > <cl-transformation effect="contrast:50"> </cl-transformation> </cl-image>

Boosting the Sharpness

But of course, sharp images make a world of a difference to the audience. To sharpen an image, set the sharpen value for the effect parameter, as in this example:

<cl-image public-id="front_face.jpg" >
  <cl-transformation effect="sharpen">
  </cl-transformation>
</cl-image>

Furthermore, to specify the exact effect you desire, add one of the following values to sharpen, preceded by a colon, e.g., sharpen:blur:blur, blur_region, blur_faces, unsharp_mask, pixelate, pixelate_region, pixelate_faces, ordered_dither, vignette, gradient_fade, or tilt_shift.

Set the Color Intensity

Cloudinary offers numerous color-related values for the effect parameter, including the following:

hue, red, green, blue, negate, grayscale, blackwhite, saturation, colorize, assist_colorblind, simulate_colorblind, replace_color, recolor, tint, and auto_color

Note

Try injecting your own image processing by using a custom function

As their names imply, by setting one of those effect values on an image, you can change its color intensity, correct its color imbalance, or apply colorization filters. You can also remove colors, replace them, or fix problems that pertain to colorblindness for accessibility.

This example specifies a saturation value with an intensity of 50 for an image:

<cl-image public-id="sample.jpg" >
  <cl-transformation effect="saturation:50">
  </cl-transformation>
</cl-image>

Applying Advanced Image Enhancements With Cloudinary Add-On VIESUS

With Cloudinary, you can perform numerous basic tasks geared toward beefing up your images: image cropping, resizing images without losing quality, add overlays to them, remove their background, and so forth. For more advanced tasks, tap into Cloudinary’s add-on repository for the VIESUS capabilities that automate those tasks.

All you need to do is set the effect parameter to viesus_correct, after which VIESUS would elevate the visual quality of your image to the maximum. See the examples below.

On the Angular Framework

<cl-image public-id="gate.jpg" sign-url="true">
<cl-transformation effect="viesus_correct" width="350" crop="scale">
</cl-transformation>
</cl-image>

On the Node.js Runtime Environment

cloudinary.v2.uploader.upload("local_file.jpg", 
{ public_id: "beach", 
eager: { effect: "viesus_correct", crop: "scale", width: 400 }}),
function(error, result) {console.log(result, error); });

For an enlightening example, see the image below for its original version, followed by the VIESUS-enhanced version:

URL Ruby PHP v1 PHP v2 Python Node.js Java JS jQuery React Vue.js Angular .NET Android iOS All

URL:

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image/upload/c_crop,g_east,h_0.35,w_0.8/c_scale,g_north_east,l_viesus_icon,o_40,w_400,x_10,y_10/c_scale,r_20,w_600/golden_gate_side.jpg

Ruby:

cl_image_tag("golden_gate_side.jpg", :transformation=>[
  {:gravity=>"east", :height=>0.35, :width=>0.8, :crop=>"crop"},
  {:gravity=>"north_east", :overlay=>"viesus_icon", :opacity=>40, :width=>400, :x=>10, :y=>10, :crop=>"scale"},
  {:radius=>20, :width=>600, :crop=>"scale"}
  ])

PHP v1:

cl_image_tag("golden_gate_side.jpg", array("transformation"=>array(
  array("gravity"=>"east", "height"=>"0.35", "width"=>"0.8", "crop"=>"crop"),
  array("gravity"=>"north_east", "overlay"=>"viesus_icon", "opacity"=>40, "width"=>400, "x"=>10, "y"=>10, "crop"=>"scale"),
  array("radius"=>20, "width"=>600, "crop"=>"scale")
  )))

PHP v2:

(new ImageTag('golden_gate_side.jpg'))
  ->resize(Resize::crop()->width(0.8)->height(0.35)->gravity(Gravity::compass(Compass::east())))
  ->overlay(
      Overlay::source(Source::image('viesus_icon')
        ->transformation((new ImageTransformation())
          ->resize(Resize::scale()->width(400))
          ->adjust(Adjust::opacity(40))))
      ->position((new Position())
        ->gravity(Gravity::compass(Compass::northEast()))
        ->offsetX(10)->offsetY(10)))
    ->resize(Resize::scale()->width(600))
    ->roundCorners(RoundCorners::byRadius(20));

Python:

CloudinaryImage("golden_gate_side.jpg").image(transformation=[
  {'gravity': "east", 'height': "0.35", 'width': "0.8", 'crop': "crop"},
  {'gravity': "north_east", 'overlay': "viesus_icon", 'opacity': 40, 'width': 400, 'x': 10, 'y': 10, 'crop': "scale"},
  {'radius': 20, 'width': 600, 'crop': "scale"}
  ])

Node.js:

cloudinary.image("golden_gate_side.jpg", {transformation: [
  {gravity: "east", height: "0.35", width: "0.8", crop: "crop"},
  {gravity: "north_east", overlay: "viesus_icon", opacity: 40, width: 400, x: 10, y: 10, crop: "scale"},
  {radius: 20, width: 600, crop: "scale"}
  ]})

Java:

cloudinary.url().transformation(new Transformation()
  .gravity("east").height(0.35).width(0.8).crop("crop").chain()
  .gravity("north_east").overlay(new Layer().publicId("viesus_icon")).opacity(40).width(400).x(10).y(10).crop("scale").chain()
  .radius(20).width(600).crop("scale")).imageTag("golden_gate_side.jpg");

JS:

cloudinary.imageTag('golden_gate_side.jpg', {transformation: [
  {gravity: "east", height: "0.35", width: "0.8", crop: "crop"},
  {gravity: "north_east", overlay: new cloudinary.Layer().publicId("viesus_icon"), opacity: 40, width: 400, x: 10, y: 10, crop: "scale"},
  {radius: 20, width: 600, crop: "scale"}
  ]}).toHtml();

jQuery:

$.cloudinary.image("golden_gate_side.jpg", {transformation: [
  {gravity: "east", height: "0.35", width: "0.8", crop: "crop"},
  {gravity: "north_east", overlay: new cloudinary.Layer().publicId("viesus_icon"), opacity: 40, width: 400, x: 10, y: 10, crop: "scale"},
  {radius: 20, width: 600, crop: "scale"}
  ]})

React:

<Image publicId="golden_gate_side.jpg" >
  <Transformation gravity="east" height="0.35" width="0.8" crop="crop" />
  <Transformation gravity="north_east" overlay="viesus_icon" opacity="40" width="400" x="10" y="10" crop="scale" />
  <Transformation radius="20" width="600" crop="scale" />
</Image>

Vue.js:

<cld-image publicId="golden_gate_side.jpg" >
  <cld-transformation gravity="east" height="0.35" width="0.8" crop="crop" />
  <cld-transformation gravity="north_east" :overlay="viesus_icon" opacity="40" width="400" x="10" y="10" crop="scale" />
  <cld-transformation radius="20" width="600" crop="scale" />
</cld-image>

Angular:

<cl-image public-id="golden_gate_side.jpg" >
  <cl-transformation gravity="east" height="0.35" width="0.8" crop="crop">
  </cl-transformation>
  <cl-transformation gravity="north_east" overlay="viesus_icon" opacity="40" width="400" x="10" y="10" crop="scale">
  </cl-transformation>
  <cl-transformation radius="20" width="600" crop="scale">
  </cl-transformation>
</cl-image>

.NET:

cloudinary.Api.UrlImgUp.Transform(new Transformation()
  .Gravity("east").Height(0.35).Width(0.8).Crop("crop").Chain()
  .Gravity("north_east").Overlay(new Layer().PublicId("viesus_icon")).Opacity(40).Width(400).X(10).Y(10).Crop("scale").Chain()
  .Radius(20).Width(600).Crop("scale")).BuildImageTag("golden_gate_side.jpg")

Android:

MediaManager.get().url().transformation(new Transformation()
  .gravity("east").height(0.35).width(0.8).crop("crop").chain()
  .gravity("north_east").overlay(new Layer().publicId("viesus_icon")).opacity(40).width(400).x(10).y(10).crop("scale").chain()
  .radius(20).width(600).crop("scale")).generate("golden_gate_side.jpg");

iOS:

imageView.cldSetImage(cloudinary.createUrl().setTransformation(CLDTransformation()
  .setGravity("east").setHeight(0.35).setWidth(0.8).setCrop("crop").chain()
  .setGravity("north_east").setOverlay("viesus_icon").setOpacity(40).setWidth(400).setX(10).setY(10).setCrop("scale").chain()
  .setRadius(20).setWidth(600).setCrop("scale")).generate("golden_gate_side.jpg")!, cloudinary: cloudinary)

URL Ruby PHP v1 PHP v2 Python Node.js Java JS jQuery React Vue.js Angular .NET Android iOS All

URL:

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image/upload/s--2iXhOJov--/c_crop,e_viesus_correct,g_east,h_0.35,w_0.8/c_scale,g_north_east,l_viesus_icon,o_40,w_400,x_10,y_10/c_scale,r_20,w_600/golden_gate_side.jpg

Ruby:

cl_image_tag("golden_gate_side.jpg", :sign_url=>true, :transformation=>[
  {:effect=>"viesus_correct", :gravity=>"east", :height=>0.35, :width=>0.8, :crop=>"crop"},
  {:gravity=>"north_east", :overlay=>"viesus_icon", :opacity=>40, :width=>400, :x=>10, :y=>10, :crop=>"scale"},
  {:radius=>20, :width=>600, :crop=>"scale"}
  ])

PHP v1:

cl_image_tag("golden_gate_side.jpg", array("sign_url"=>true, "transformation"=>array(
  array("effect"=>"viesus_correct", "gravity"=>"east", "height"=>"0.35", "width"=>"0.8", "crop"=>"crop"),
  array("gravity"=>"north_east", "overlay"=>"viesus_icon", "opacity"=>40, "width"=>400, "x"=>10, "y"=>10, "crop"=>"scale"),
  array("radius"=>20, "width"=>600, "crop"=>"scale")
  )))

PHP v2:

(new ImageTag('golden_gate_side.jpg'))
  ->resize(Resize::crop()->width(0.8)->height(0.35)->gravity(Gravity::compass(Compass::east())))
  ->adjust(Adjust::viesusCorrect())
  ->overlay(
      Overlay::source(Source::image('viesus_icon')
        ->transformation((new ImageTransformation())
          ->resize(Resize::scale()->width(400))
          ->adjust(Adjust::opacity(40))))
      ->position((new Position())
        ->gravity(Gravity::compass(Compass::northEast()))
        ->offsetX(10)->offsetY(10)))
    ->resize(Resize::scale()->width(600))
    ->roundCorners(RoundCorners::byRadius(20))
    ->signUrl(true);

Python:

CloudinaryImage("golden_gate_side.jpg").image(sign_url=True, transformation=[
  {'effect': "viesus_correct", 'gravity': "east", 'height': "0.35", 'width': "0.8", 'crop': "crop"},
  {'gravity': "north_east", 'overlay': "viesus_icon", 'opacity': 40, 'width': 400, 'x': 10, 'y': 10, 'crop': "scale"},
  {'radius': 20, 'width': 600, 'crop': "scale"}
  ])

Node.js:

cloudinary.image("golden_gate_side.jpg", {sign_url: true, transformation: [
  {effect: "viesus_correct", gravity: "east", height: "0.35", width: "0.8", crop: "crop"},
  {gravity: "north_east", overlay: "viesus_icon", opacity: 40, width: 400, x: 10, y: 10, crop: "scale"},
  {radius: 20, width: 600, crop: "scale"}
  ]})

Java:

cloudinary.url().transformation(new Transformation()
  .effect("viesus_correct").gravity("east").height(0.35).width(0.8).crop("crop").chain()
  .gravity("north_east").overlay(new Layer().publicId("viesus_icon")).opacity(40).width(400).x(10).y(10).crop("scale").chain()
  .radius(20).width(600).crop("scale")).signed(true).imageTag("golden_gate_side.jpg");

JS:

cloudinary.imageTag('golden_gate_side.jpg', {signUrl: true, transformation: [
  {effect: "viesus_correct", gravity: "east", height: "0.35", width: "0.8", crop: "crop"},
  {gravity: "north_east", overlay: new cloudinary.Layer().publicId("viesus_icon"), opacity: 40, width: 400, x: 10, y: 10, crop: "scale"},
  {radius: 20, width: 600, crop: "scale"}
  ]}).toHtml();

jQuery:

$.cloudinary.image("golden_gate_side.jpg", {transformation: [
  {effect: "viesus_correct", gravity: "east", height: "0.35", width: "0.8", crop: "crop"},
  {gravity: "north_east", overlay: new cloudinary.Layer().publicId("viesus_icon"), opacity: 40, width: 400, x: 10, y: 10, crop: "scale"},
  {radius: 20, width: 600, crop: "scale"}
  ]})

React:

<Image publicId="golden_gate_side.jpg" signUrl="true">
  <Transformation effect="viesus_correct" gravity="east" height="0.35" width="0.8" crop="crop" />
  <Transformation gravity="north_east" overlay="viesus_icon" opacity="40" width="400" x="10" y="10" crop="scale" />
  <Transformation radius="20" width="600" crop="scale" />
</Image>

Vue.js:

<cld-image publicId="golden_gate_side.jpg" signUrl="true">
  <cld-transformation effect="viesus_correct" gravity="east" height="0.35" width="0.8" crop="crop" />
  <cld-transformation gravity="north_east" :overlay="viesus_icon" opacity="40" width="400" x="10" y="10" crop="scale" />
  <cld-transformation radius="20" width="600" crop="scale" />
</cld-image>

Angular:

<cl-image public-id="golden_gate_side.jpg" sign-url="true">
  <cl-transformation effect="viesus_correct" gravity="east" height="0.35" width="0.8" crop="crop">
  </cl-transformation>
  <cl-transformation gravity="north_east" overlay="viesus_icon" opacity="40" width="400" x="10" y="10" crop="scale">
  </cl-transformation>
  <cl-transformation radius="20" width="600" crop="scale">
  </cl-transformation>
</cl-image>

.NET:

cloudinary.Api.UrlImgUp.Transform(new Transformation()
  .Effect("viesus_correct").Gravity("east").Height(0.35).Width(0.8).Crop("crop").Chain()
  .Gravity("north_east").Overlay(new Layer().PublicId("viesus_icon")).Opacity(40).Width(400).X(10).Y(10).Crop("scale").Chain()
  .Radius(20).Width(600).Crop("scale")).Signed(true).BuildImageTag("golden_gate_side.jpg")

Android:

MediaManager.get().url().transformation(new Transformation()
  .effect("viesus_correct").gravity("east").height(0.35).width(0.8).crop("crop").chain()
  .gravity("north_east").overlay(new Layer().publicId("viesus_icon")).opacity(40).width(400).x(10).y(10).crop("scale").chain()
  .radius(20).width(600).crop("scale")).signed(true).generate("golden_gate_side.jpg");

iOS:

imageView.cldSetImage(cloudinary.createUrl().setTransformation(CLDTransformation()
  .setEffect("viesus_correct").setGravity("east").setHeight(0.35).setWidth(0.8).setCrop("crop").chain()
  .setGravity("north_east").setOverlay("viesus_icon").setOpacity(40).setWidth(400).setX(10).setY(10).setCrop("scale").chain()
  .setRadius(20).setWidth(600).setCrop("scale")).generate("golden_gate_side.jpg", signUrl: true)!, cloudinary: cloudinary)

Image Optimization

Optimization techniques for images abound on Cloudinary. Setting them up for automation opens up endless possibilities for transformations.

Below are two examples.

Intelligent Content-Aware Encoding

A simply way of leveraging q_auto is to specify the value auto for an image’s quality parameter, like this:

<cl-image public-id="man.jpg" >
  <cl-transformation quality="auto">
  </cl-transformation>
</cl-image>

Afterwards, q_auto selects the optimal quality-compression level and encoding settings based on the content and format of the image, also the browser in which it is being displayed.

Alternatively, you can set a numerical value, e.g., 60, for the quality parameter, like this:

<cl-image public-id="train.jpg" >
  <cl-transformation quality="60">
  </cl-transformation>
</cl-image>

Here are the value choices for q_auto:

q_auto:best: This is the least-aggressive setting, which compresses files as much as possible without compromising their visual quality.
q_auto:good: This setting ensures an optimal balance between file size and visual quality, delivering relatively small files.
q_auto:eco: This setting delivers smaller files at the cost of a slightly lower visual quality, detectable only on close inspection.
q_auto:low: This is the most aggressive setting, which delivers the smallest files at the expense of lower visual quality.

Dynamic Format Selection

Once specified for the fetch-format parameter of your images, as in the following example, f_auto selects the best format for delivering them.

<cl-image public-id="beach_huts.jpg" >
  <cl-transformation width="600" crop="scale">
  </cl-transformation>
  <cl-transformation quality="auto" fetch-format="auto">
  </cl-transformation>
</cl-image>

For more details on image Optimization, see the related Cloudinary documentation.

Trying Things Out

Choices make for flexibility. Do try out the options described in this post and you’ll soon zero in on the ones that best meet your requirements. From then on, enhancing images would be a breeze.

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