Pixelate Filters (Exclusive Tutorial)

Pixelate filters combine pixels of similar colors into cells creating an impression of a magnified pixel image, as if you are looking at an image through a powerful magnifying glass.

1. Color Halftone

This filter divides the image into rectangles for each color channel and substitutes every rectangle with a dot of a corresponding color on a white background. The size of the dot is proportionate to the brightness of the rectangle.

So now, open the image and select Filter>Pixelate>Color Halftone to see the following settings:

Max. Radius - adjusts the size of the dot in pixels (I used 5).
Screen Angles (Degrees) - In this section an angle of bitmapped lines' tilt/incline is set for each color channel. For an image in the RGB palette, the angle needs to be set only for the first three lines. For a CMYK palette image, all the four angles need to be determined.
Channel 1 - corresponds to cyan color (I used 108).
Channel 2 - corresponds to magnetta color (I used 162).
Channel 3 - corresponds to yellow color (I used 90).
Channel 4 - corresponds to black color (I selected 45).

And here's what I got:

2. Crystallize

This filter combines pixels of the same color in rectangle-shaped cells.

So, open the image and move to Filter>Pixelate>Crystallize. You'll find the following settings there:

Cell Size - changes the size of a cell allowing to create either more detailed or more blurred images (I used 4).

Here's my result:

3. Mosaic

This filter combines pixels into square cells.

Well, open your image and select Filter>Pixelate>Mosaic to find these settings:

Cell Size - changes the size of a cell allowing to vary the degree of detail/blur in your image (I used 4).

And this is what I got:

4. Facet

This filter joins same color pixels into geometrical figures, creating an effect of a hand painted image. As a result of applying the filter, blurred edges of color areas become sharper. The effect created by the filter does not immediately catch the eye and sometimes a significant zooming is needed to detect the changes.

This filter has no settings. Just open the image and apply Filter>Pixelate>Facet.

Here is my filtered image:

5. Fragment

This filter creates 4 copies of the image that are slightly shifted against each other, and as a result the image becomes blurred. The filter does not have any settings.

So, you just have to open the image and select Filter>Pixelate>Fragment.

This is what I got:

6. Pointillize

This filter breaks the image into chaotic dots of the colors present in the image using the current background color for the background.

Open your image and move to Filter>Pixelate>Pointillize to see the following settings:

Cell Size - changes the size of a cell allowing to create more detailed or blurred images (I used 4).

Here's what I got:

7. Mezzotint

The filter combines pixels in a chaotic pattern of maximally intense colors. In half-tone, this pattern consists of black and white pixels.

Well, open the image and select Filter>Pixelate>Mezzotint. You'll see these settings:

Type - lets you choose the filter pattern.

These variants are available: Fine dots, Medium Dots, Grainy dots, Coarse dots, Short lines, Medium lines, Long lines, Short strokes, Medium strokes, Long strokes (I selected Short lines).

This is the result: