The sparkle effect adds four-point star glints — the kind a star filter creates on a real lens — and places them intelligently: on your photo’s actual brightest points. Catchlights in eyes, jewelry, sunlit water, glassware, fairy lights — the sparkles land where light already lives, which is why the result looks photographed rather than pasted on.
Sparkles controls how many stars appear, Sparkle size scales them, and On highlights only sets how bright a point must be to earn a glint — high values decorate only the strongest lights, lower values sprinkle more generously. Shuffle re-jitters the arrangement. A glamour staple for portraits, products and celebration photos. Free and fully on-device.
How to add the sparkle effect to a photo
Tips for the best sparkle look
- Photos with real specular highlights — eyes, water, glass, metal, lights — sparkle most naturally.
- Keep the threshold high so stars sit only on genuine light sources; scattering them everywhere reads as glitter clipart.
- One or two large sparkles often outshine twenty small ones — try low Sparkles with high Size.
Sparkle effect — FAQ
How does it decide where the sparkles go?
It scans your image for local brightness peaks — real specular highlights — and draws the star glints there, brightest first. That anchoring to actual light is what separates this from random glitter overlays.
Can I change the sparkle arrangement?
Yes — Shuffle re-rolls the selection and jitter among your photo’s qualifying highlights. Since placement is seeded, the arrangement you choose is exactly what exports.
What creates this effect on real cameras?
A cross-screen (star) filter — etched lines on glass that diffract bright points into star shapes. Jewelry and stage photography have used them for decades; this is the digital equivalent with placement control.