Cloudinary Blog

Re-creating the Color Pop Effect on Google Photos With Cloudinary

By Joshua Slivken Nov 25, 2019

Creating Color Pop Effect on Google Photos With Cloudinary

One photo can morph into a thousand photos through a simple application of bits and pieces of transformation effects. A few examples of the common effects are Black and White, Duotone, Blurs and Fades, Cartoonification, and Color Pop.

Given the wide use of the Color Pop effect on Google Photos, you can show off your photos on social media after applying that effect. No kidding: I’ve seen that several times and absolutely love those photos every time they pop on my timeline on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Webinar

5 Visual Engagement Tactics That Convert Online Buyers

In this article, I’ll show you how we can re-create the Color Pop effect on Google photos.

Cloudinary’s many transformation capabilities can turn out stupendous effects. For example, these two steps generate the image below:

Upload a photo to Cloudinary twice, once with the original and then again with the background removed from the photo. Both versions have separate public IDs.
Reference the original photo with the grayscale effect and overlay it with the background-removed version.

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

URL:

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image/upload/e_grayscale/l_mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai/mac-frog-original.jpg

Ruby:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-original.jpg", :transformation=>[
  {:effect=>"grayscale"},
  {:overlay=>"mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"}
  ])

PHP:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-original.jpg", array("transformation"=>array(
  array("effect"=>"grayscale"),
  array("overlay"=>"mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")
  )))

Python:

CloudinaryImage("mac-frog-original.jpg").image(transformation=[
  {'effect': "grayscale"},
  {'overlay': "mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"}
  ])

Node.js:

cloudinary.image("mac-frog-original.jpg", {transformation: [
  {effect: "grayscale"},
  {overlay: "mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"}
  ]})

Java:

cloudinary.url().transformation(new Transformation()
  .effect("grayscale").chain()
  .overlay(new Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))).imageTag("mac-frog-original.jpg");

JS:

cloudinary.imageTag('mac-frog-original.jpg', {transformation: [
  {effect: "grayscale"},
  {overlay: new cloudinary.Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")}
  ]}).toHtml();

jQuery:

$.cloudinary.image("mac-frog-original.jpg", {transformation: [
  {effect: "grayscale"},
  {overlay: new cloudinary.Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")}
  ]})

React:

<Image publicId="mac-frog-original.jpg" >
  <Transformation effect="grayscale" />
  <Transformation overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai" />
</Image>

Vue.js:

<cld-image publicId="mac-frog-original.jpg" >
  <cld-transformation effect="grayscale" />
  <cld-transformation overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai" />
</cld-image>

Angular:

<cl-image public-id="mac-frog-original.jpg" >
  <cl-transformation effect="grayscale">
  </cl-transformation>
  <cl-transformation overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai">
  </cl-transformation>
</cl-image>

.Net:

cloudinary.Api.UrlImgUp.Transform(new Transformation()
  .Effect("grayscale").Chain()
  .Overlay(new Layer().PublicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))).BuildImageTag("mac-frog-original.jpg")

Android:

MediaManager.get().url().transformation(new Transformation()
  .effect("grayscale").chain()
  .overlay(new Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))).generate("mac-frog-original.jpg");

iOS:

imageView.cldSetImage(cloudinary.createUrl().setTransformation(CLDTransformation()
  .setEffect("grayscale").chain()
  .setOverlay("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")).generate("mac-frog-original.jpg")!, cloudinary: cloudinary)

That’s similar to this photo, which resulted from an application of Google Photo's Color Pop effect:

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

URL:

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image/upload/mac-frog-color-pop.jpg

Ruby:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-color-pop.jpg")

PHP:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-color-pop.jpg")

Python:

CloudinaryImage("mac-frog-color-pop.jpg").image()

Node.js:

cloudinary.image("mac-frog-color-pop.jpg")

Java:

cloudinary.url().imageTag("mac-frog-color-pop.jpg");

JS:

cloudinary.imageTag('mac-frog-color-pop.jpg').toHtml();

jQuery:

$.cloudinary.image("mac-frog-color-pop.jpg")

React:

<Image publicId="mac-frog-color-pop.jpg" >

</Image>

Vue.js:

<cld-image publicId="mac-frog-color-pop.jpg" >

</cld-image>

Angular:

<cl-image public-id="mac-frog-color-pop.jpg" >

</cl-image>

.Net:

cloudinary.Api.UrlImgUp.BuildImageTag("mac-frog-color-pop.jpg")

Android:

MediaManager.get().url().generate("mac-frog-color-pop.jpg");

iOS:

imageView.cldSetImage(cloudinary.createUrl().generate("mac-frog-color-pop.jpg")!, cloudinary: cloudinary)

Here’s a detailed rundown on how to re-create the Color Pop effect:

Start with the original and a version with the background removed.

To remove the background, leverage Cloudinary’s AI feature or, manually, with an image-editing tool, such as Pixelz or Adobe Photoshop.

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

URL:

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image/upload/mac-frog-original.jpg

Ruby:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-original.jpg")

PHP:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-original.jpg")

Python:

CloudinaryImage("mac-frog-original.jpg").image()

Node.js:

cloudinary.image("mac-frog-original.jpg")

Java:

cloudinary.url().imageTag("mac-frog-original.jpg");

JS:

cloudinary.imageTag('mac-frog-original.jpg').toHtml();

jQuery:

$.cloudinary.image("mac-frog-original.jpg")

React:

<Image publicId="mac-frog-original.jpg" >

</Image>

Vue.js:

<cld-image publicId="mac-frog-original.jpg" >

</cld-image>

Angular:

<cl-image public-id="mac-frog-original.jpg" >

</cl-image>

.Net:

cloudinary.Api.UrlImgUp.BuildImageTag("mac-frog-original.jpg")

Android:

MediaManager.get().url().generate("mac-frog-original.jpg");

iOS:

imageView.cldSetImage(cloudinary.createUrl().generate("mac-frog-original.jpg")!, cloudinary: cloudinary)

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

URL:

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image/upload/mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg

Ruby:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg")

PHP:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg")

Python:

CloudinaryImage("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg").image()

Node.js:

cloudinary.image("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg")

Java:

cloudinary.url().imageTag("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg");

JS:

cloudinary.imageTag('mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg').toHtml();

jQuery:

$.cloudinary.image("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg")

React:

<Image publicId="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg" >

</Image>

Vue.js:

<cld-image publicId="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg" >

</cld-image>

Angular:

<cl-image public-id="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg" >

</cl-image>

.Net:

cloudinary.Api.UrlImgUp.BuildImageTag("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg")

Android:

MediaManager.get().url().generate("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg");

iOS:

imageView.cldSetImage(cloudinary.createUrl().generate("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai.jpg")!, cloudinary: cloudinary)

Overlay the background-removed version on top of the original.

If the new version looks different from the original, ensure that the image dimensions match and that no other cropping occurred.

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

URL:

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image/upload/l_mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai/mac-frog-original.jpg

Ruby:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-original.jpg", :overlay=>"mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")

PHP:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-original.jpg", array("overlay"=>"mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))

Python:

CloudinaryImage("mac-frog-original.jpg").image(overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")

Node.js:

cloudinary.image("mac-frog-original.jpg", {overlay: "mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"})

Java:

cloudinary.url().transformation(new Transformation().overlay(new Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))).imageTag("mac-frog-original.jpg");

JS:

cloudinary.imageTag('mac-frog-original.jpg', {overlay: new cloudinary.Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")}).toHtml();

jQuery:

$.cloudinary.image("mac-frog-original.jpg", {overlay: new cloudinary.Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")})

React:

<Image publicId="mac-frog-original.jpg" >
  <Transformation overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai" />
</Image>

Vue.js:

<cld-image publicId="mac-frog-original.jpg" >
  <cld-transformation overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai" />
</cld-image>

Angular:

<cl-image public-id="mac-frog-original.jpg" >
  <cl-transformation overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai">
  </cl-transformation>
</cl-image>

.Net:

cloudinary.Api.UrlImgUp.Transform(new Transformation().Overlay(new Layer().PublicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))).BuildImageTag("mac-frog-original.jpg")

Android:

MediaManager.get().url().transformation(new Transformation().overlay(new Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))).generate("mac-frog-original.jpg");

iOS:

imageView.cldSetImage(cloudinary.createUrl().setTransformation(CLDTransformation().setOverlay("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")).generate("mac-frog-original.jpg")!, cloudinary: cloudinary)

Apply effects, such as grayscale as in this example, to the original layer.

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

URL:

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image/upload/e_grayscale/l_mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai/mac-frog-original.jpg

Ruby:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-original.jpg", :transformation=>[
  {:effect=>"grayscale"},
  {:overlay=>"mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"}
  ])

PHP:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-original.jpg", array("transformation"=>array(
  array("effect"=>"grayscale"),
  array("overlay"=>"mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")
  )))

Python:

CloudinaryImage("mac-frog-original.jpg").image(transformation=[
  {'effect': "grayscale"},
  {'overlay': "mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"}
  ])

Node.js:

cloudinary.image("mac-frog-original.jpg", {transformation: [
  {effect: "grayscale"},
  {overlay: "mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"}
  ]})

Java:

cloudinary.url().transformation(new Transformation()
  .effect("grayscale").chain()
  .overlay(new Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))).imageTag("mac-frog-original.jpg");

JS:

cloudinary.imageTag('mac-frog-original.jpg', {transformation: [
  {effect: "grayscale"},
  {overlay: new cloudinary.Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")}
  ]}).toHtml();

jQuery:

$.cloudinary.image("mac-frog-original.jpg", {transformation: [
  {effect: "grayscale"},
  {overlay: new cloudinary.Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")}
  ]})

React:

<Image publicId="mac-frog-original.jpg" >
  <Transformation effect="grayscale" />
  <Transformation overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai" />
</Image>

Vue.js:

<cld-image publicId="mac-frog-original.jpg" >
  <cld-transformation effect="grayscale" />
  <cld-transformation overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai" />
</cld-image>

Angular:

<cl-image public-id="mac-frog-original.jpg" >
  <cl-transformation effect="grayscale">
  </cl-transformation>
  <cl-transformation overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai">
  </cl-transformation>
</cl-image>

.Net:

cloudinary.Api.UrlImgUp.Transform(new Transformation()
  .Effect("grayscale").Chain()
  .Overlay(new Layer().PublicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))).BuildImageTag("mac-frog-original.jpg")

Android:

MediaManager.get().url().transformation(new Transformation()
  .effect("grayscale").chain()
  .overlay(new Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))).generate("mac-frog-original.jpg");

iOS:

imageView.cldSetImage(cloudinary.createUrl().setTransformation(CLDTransformation()
  .setEffect("grayscale").chain()
  .setOverlay("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")).generate("mac-frog-original.jpg")!, cloudinary: cloudinary)

That technique can produce a wealth of fun effects, such as bokeh. Simply blur the original:

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

URL:

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image/upload/e_blur:400/l_mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai/mac-frog-original.jpg

Ruby:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-original.jpg", :transformation=>[
  {:effect=>"blur:400"},
  {:overlay=>"mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"}
  ])

PHP:

cl_image_tag("mac-frog-original.jpg", array("transformation"=>array(
  array("effect"=>"blur:400"),
  array("overlay"=>"mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")
  )))

Python:

CloudinaryImage("mac-frog-original.jpg").image(transformation=[
  {'effect': "blur:400"},
  {'overlay': "mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"}
  ])

Node.js:

cloudinary.image("mac-frog-original.jpg", {transformation: [
  {effect: "blur:400"},
  {overlay: "mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"}
  ]})

Java:

cloudinary.url().transformation(new Transformation()
  .effect("blur:400").chain()
  .overlay(new Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))).imageTag("mac-frog-original.jpg");

JS:

cloudinary.imageTag('mac-frog-original.jpg', {transformation: [
  {effect: "blur:400"},
  {overlay: new cloudinary.Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")}
  ]}).toHtml();

jQuery:

$.cloudinary.image("mac-frog-original.jpg", {transformation: [
  {effect: "blur:400"},
  {overlay: new cloudinary.Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")}
  ]})

React:

<Image publicId="mac-frog-original.jpg" >
  <Transformation effect="blur:400" />
  <Transformation overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai" />
</Image>

Vue.js:

<cld-image publicId="mac-frog-original.jpg" >
  <cld-transformation effect="blur:400" />
  <cld-transformation overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai" />
</cld-image>

Angular:

<cl-image public-id="mac-frog-original.jpg" >
  <cl-transformation effect="blur:400">
  </cl-transformation>
  <cl-transformation overlay="mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai">
  </cl-transformation>
</cl-image>

.Net:

cloudinary.Api.UrlImgUp.Transform(new Transformation()
  .Effect("blur:400").Chain()
  .Overlay(new Layer().PublicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))).BuildImageTag("mac-frog-original.jpg")

Android:

MediaManager.get().url().transformation(new Transformation()
  .effect("blur:400").chain()
  .overlay(new Layer().publicId("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai"))).generate("mac-frog-original.jpg");

iOS:

imageView.cldSetImage(cloudinary.createUrl().setTransformation(CLDTransformation()
  .setEffect("blur:400").chain()
  .setOverlay("mac-frog-cloudinary-bg-ai")).generate("mac-frog-original.jpg")!, cloudinary: cloudinary)

Talk about fun! Try it for yourself by signing up for FREE today.

About Cloudinary

Cloudinary provides easy-to-use, cloud-based media management solutions for the world’s top brands. With offices in the US, UK and Israel, Cloudinary has quickly become the de facto solution used by developers and marketers at major companies around the world to streamline rich media management and deliver optimal end-user experiences.

For more information, visit www.cloudinary.com or follow us on Twitter.

Recent Blog Posts

Introducing a Text-Overlay Creator

By Akshay Ranganath Jan 25, 2021

A New, Simple Tool for Creating Text Overlays for Images

Many Cloudinary users desire a UI for tasks like creating text overlays for images, which they then embed on webpages or download for marketing campaigns. Generating such overlays with the Cloudinary Media Library UI involves a bit of a learning curve, especially if they require multiple fonts or text lines, which even experienced users might find challenging to implement.

By Jon Sneyers Jan 20, 2021

Transitioning JPEG-Based to JPEG XL-Based Images for Web Platforms

When the JPEG codec was being developed in the late 1980s, no standardized, lossy image-compression formats existed. JPEG became ready at exactly the right time in 1992, when the World Wide Web and digital cameras were about to become a thing. The introduction of HTML’s <img> tag in 1995 ensured the recognition of JPEG as the web format—at least for photographs. During the 1990s, digital cameras replaced analog ones and, given the limited memory capacities of that era, JPEG became the standard format for photography, especially for consumer-grade cameras.

Implement Dynamism in Static Sites With Serverless Functions

By Obinna Ekwuno Jan 18, 2021

Serverless Functions Deliver Dynamism to Static Sites

In this age of most sites being static, a frequently asked question is how much dynamic functionality you can derive from Jamstack. The answer is a lot because you can incorporate reusable APIs in that architecture and leverage serverless, back-end-oriented functions with no back ends in place.

By Jon Sneyers Jan 13, 2021

Progressive Image Decoding Delivers an Enhanced Web Experience

Progressive image decoding is an excellent way in which to accelerate page loads and hence improve the web-browsing experience. This post explains why and elaborates on the recent developments for that approach.

Amplify Your Jamstack With Video

By Alex Patterson Jan 12, 2021

Amplify Your Jamstack With Cloudinary Video

As defined by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amplify is a set of products and tools with which mobile and front-end web developers can build and deploy AWS-powered, secure, and scalable full-stack apps. Also, you can efficiently configure their back ends, connect them to your app with just a few lines of code, and deploy static web apps in only three steps. Historically, because of their performance issues, managing images and videos is a daunting challenge for developers. Even though you can easily load media to an S3 bucket with AWS Amplify, transforming, compressing, and responsively delivering them is labor intensive and time consuming.

By Juli Greenwood Jan 11, 2021

Cloudinary Helps Move James Hardie’s Experience Online

While COVID has affected most businesses, it has been particularly hard on those that sell products for the physical ‘brick and mortar’ world. One company that literally fits that bill is our Australian customer James Hardie, the largest global manufacturer of fibre cement products used in both domestic and commercial construction. These are materials that its buyers ideally want to see up close, in detail. When customers have questions, they expect personal service.