Cinematic Video Effects, Green Screen, and a Pro-Grade Image Editor — All in One App
By The Pluto Photos Team · Published · Updated · 8 min read
Pluto Photos v2.3.14 adds letterbox bars, film grain, LUT color grading, chroma key, and a full photo editor with tone curves, HSL, portrait blur, and more.
This update is a big one
When I shipped the video editor two weeks ago, it already handled multi-clip timelines, transitions, audio overlays, and per-clip color grading. That was enough to combine vacation clips into a single video without leaving Pluto Photos.
But I kept thinking: what if the clips could look better? Not just cut-and-joined, but actually graded — the kind of look you see in travel vlogs and short films. Warm tones, cinematic aspect ratios, subtle grain. And on the image editing side, the tools were decent but missing the fine control that photographers actually want.
So I spent the last couple of weeks rebuilding both editors. Here's what's new.
Video editor: cinematic effects
Every clip on your timeline now has an Effects tab with six new tools. You can stack them, tweak the intensity, or apply a preset with one click.
Letterbox bars. Add horizontal black bars to your clips for a widescreen cinema look. The slider goes from standard 16:9 all the way to ultra-wide 2.39:1. If you've ever watched a movie and noticed the black bars at the top and bottom — that's letterboxing, and it instantly makes footage feel more cinematic.
Vignette. Darkens the edges of the frame, drawing the viewer's eye toward the center. Subtle vignette is one of those effects you don't consciously notice but it adds depth to every shot. Crank it up and it becomes a dramatic framing device.
Film grain. Adds organic texture to your footage. At low values it's barely visible — just enough to take the digital edge off. At higher values it looks like actual film stock. Works especially well combined with desaturated color grading for that vintage feel.
Blur. A gaussian blur across the entire frame. Useful for dreamy sequences, transitions, or softening a clip that's too sharp and clinical. This one's a creative tool — a little goes a long way.
LUT color grading. This is the big one. LUTs (Look-Up Tables) are the industry-standard way filmmakers color grade footage. Pluto Photos ships with six built-in LUTs:
- Cinematic Warm — golden shadows, pulled-back highlights
- Cinematic Cool — blue-tinted, high contrast, thriller vibes
- Vintage Film — faded blacks, warm mids, nostalgic
- Teal & Orange — the classic blockbuster look
- Desaturated — muted tones, editorial feel
- High Contrast B&W — dramatic monochrome
You can also load your own .cube files if you have custom LUTs from other tools. The LUT selector previews each option so you can see the look before you commit.
Green screen (chroma key). Pick a color with the eyedropper — green, blue, whatever your backdrop is — and it gets removed. Adjust the tolerance slider to dial in the edge quality. This works with actual green screen footage, but it's also useful for removing any solid-colored background from a clip.
Effects presets
If you want a quick starting point, there are three one-click effect presets:
- Trailer Look — 70% letterbox, 35% vignette, 15% grain. The "movie trailer" aesthetic.
- Dreamy — 30% blur, 20% vignette. Soft, ethereal, great for slow-motion clips.
- Retro Film — 50% vignette, 45% grain. Looks like footage from the '90s.
Each preset is a starting point. Apply it, then adjust individual sliders to taste.
Live preview
All six effects show up in the preview window in real-time while you're editing — no need to export just to see what your clip looks like. The letterbox bars, vignette, grain, and blur all render instantly as CSS overlays. The chroma key preview actually processes the video frame pixel-by-pixel on a canvas element, so you see the background disappear live as you adjust the tolerance.
The image editor got a ground-up overhaul. It went from "crop and adjust brightness" to a serious editing environment. Here's the full breakdown.
Light and color
These are the adjustment sliders you'd expect in Lightroom or Capture One:
- Light: Exposure, brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks
- Color: Temperature, tint, vibrance, saturation, split toning (separate color tints for highlights and shadows)
- Detail: Clarity, dehaze, sharpen
Every adjustment updates the preview in real-time. You can reset individual sections or everything at once.
Tone curve
A proper multi-channel tone curve editor. Draw control points on the curves for RGB (combined), Red, Green, or Blue channels independently. This is the same tool professionals use to fine-tune contrast, color balance, and overall tonal response. If you know what an S-curve does, you'll feel right at home. If you don't, the presets handle it for you.
HSL color tuning
Adjust individual color ranges independently. Eight bands: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Aqua, Blue, Purple, Magenta. For each band you can shift the hue, adjust saturation, and control luminance.
This is huge for targeted corrections. Want bluer skies without affecting skin tones? Push the Aqua and Blue luminance down and saturation up while leaving Orange and Yellow alone. Want autumn leaves to pop? Crank Red and Orange saturation and push the hue toward warm.
Portrait blur
Select a photo with a person in it, hit the Portrait Blur button, and it automatically detects the subject and blurs the background. Four presets — Soft, Natural, Studio, Dramatic — control how aggressive the blur is, plus manual sliders for blur amount, edge feather, background focus, and subject protection.
This turns a flat phone photo into something that looks like it was shot with a portrait lens. The subject detection runs on-device — no cloud processing.
Background removal
One click. The background disappears. The subject is isolated on a transparent background, ready to export as PNG or composite with something else. This uses the same on-device model as portrait blur but takes it further — full removal instead of just blurring.
Effects
Vignette and film grain made it into the image editor too. Same concept as the video editor — vignette darkens the edges, grain adds organic texture. They both have intensity sliders and they stack with all the other adjustments.
12 color presets
One-click looks, each with an intensity slider so you can dial it back if it's too strong:
HDR, Black & White, Cinematic, Matte, Vivid, Dramatic, Portrait, Golden, Velvia, Noir, Cool, Vintage
These apply combinations of the underlying adjustments (exposure, contrast, saturation, tone, grain, vignette) so you can use them as starting points and tweak from there.
Auto enhance
A single button that analyzes your photo and applies intelligent adjustments. It reads the histogram, detects underexposure or color casts, and applies appropriate corrections. It won't win any creative awards, but it makes bad photos acceptable in one click.
Real-time histogram
A live histogram at the top of the editor shows your tonal distribution as you make adjustments. Shadow and highlight clipping indicators light up when you're crushing the blacks or blowing out the whites. No more guessing whether your edits are technically sound.
Before/after comparison
Hold a button to see the original image, or use the split comparison view to see before and after side by side. This works at any point during editing — make 15 adjustments, then hold to see where you started.
Export controls
Save as PNG, JPEG, or WebP. Quality slider for lossy formats. Resize option for web use. Screen sharpening for social media exports. Every export saves as a copy — your original file is never modified.
Why this matters
The whole point of Pluto Photos is to keep your workflow in one place. Import photos, browse them, find duplicates, tag and organize, edit the ones you like, make a video from your trip clips, export and share. That entire loop now happens without switching apps.
These aren't toy features bolted on as checkboxes. The tone curve, HSL editor, and LUT grading are the same tools that professionals use in dedicated software. The difference is they're built into the same app that already manages your library.
Who gets what
The image editor adjustments (light, color, detail, crop, rotate) are available on all tiers including the free tier. Portrait blur, background removal, and the video editor are Pro features.
If you're already on Pro, update to v2.3.14 — everything is there. If you're on the free tier, you can open both editors and try the tools. Export in the video editor and the advanced image editor features are what require Pro.
Download the update or check the release notes for the complete changelog.
Download Pluto Photos for Windows, macOS or Linux, or read more from the blog.