filter property value.
Blur
Soften images and decorative layers with five blur steps from
blur-sm to blur-xl, plus filter-none to reset.Brightness
Lighten or darken a layer using five steps from
brightness-75 to brightness-125.Contrast
Increase or reduce color contrast on media with steps from
contrast-75 to contrast-125.Saturate
Control color intensity from
saturate-0 (fully desaturated) to saturate-200 (doubly vivid).Hue Rotate
Shift the hue of all colors on an element across the color wheel in increments from 15° to 180°.
Color Effects
Apply grayscale, invert, sepia, and partial variants for editorial and state-driven treatments.
Shipped Filter Families
AtomicKit includes the following filter classes:- Blur —
filter-none,blur-sm,blur,blur-md,blur-lg,blur-xl - Brightness —
brightness-75,brightness-90,brightness-100,brightness-110,brightness-125 - Contrast —
contrast-75,contrast-90,contrast-100,contrast-110,contrast-125 - Saturate —
saturate-0,saturate-50,saturate-100,saturate-150,saturate-200 - Hue Rotate —
hue-rotate-15,hue-rotate-30,hue-rotate-60,hue-rotate-90,hue-rotate-180 - Color Effects —
grayscale,grayscale-50,invert,invert-50,sepia,sepia-50,filter-none
Common Use Cases
Decorative media backgrounds — applyblur-lg or blur-xl to a full-bleed background image to keep it visually rich without competing with foreground text.
Hero backgrounds behind text — combine brightness-75 or brightness-90 to darken a photo just enough to make white text legible without a separate overlay layer.
Inactive and muted states — use grayscale on an image, icon, or card to signal that it’s unavailable, completed, or de-prioritized.
Editorial tone and mood — sepia warms a photo for vintage or lifestyle aesthetics; contrast-110 or contrast-125 punches up an image for a graphic, bold look.
Filter Combinations
AtomicKit applies onefilter property per element. For multi-effect combinations — for example blurring and dimming the same layer — the recommended approach is to use a wrapper element:
Blur
Soften images and decorative elements to move them visually into the background.| Class | CSS Property |
|---|---|
.filter-none | filter: none |
.blur-sm | filter: blur(4px) |
.blur | filter: blur(8px) |
.blur-md | filter: blur(12px) |
.blur-lg | filter: blur(16px) |
.blur-xl | filter: blur(24px) |
Brightness
Lighten or darken a layer. Values below 100 darken; values above 100 lighten.| Class | CSS Property |
|---|---|
.brightness-75 | filter: brightness(0.75) |
.brightness-90 | filter: brightness(0.9) |
.brightness-100 | filter: brightness(1) |
.brightness-110 | filter: brightness(1.1) |
.brightness-125 | filter: brightness(1.25) |
Contrast
Increase sharpness between light and dark areas, or flatten an image for a softer effect.| Class | CSS Property |
|---|---|
.contrast-75 | filter: contrast(0.75) |
.contrast-90 | filter: contrast(0.9) |
.contrast-100 | filter: contrast(1) |
.contrast-110 | filter: contrast(1.1) |
.contrast-125 | filter: contrast(1.25) |
Saturate
Control the vibrancy of colors on an element. Usesaturate-0 to strip all color and produce a grayscale effect with full CSS filter flexibility.
| Class | CSS Property |
|---|---|
.saturate-0 | filter: saturate(0) |
.saturate-50 | filter: saturate(0.5) |
.saturate-100 | filter: saturate(1) |
.saturate-150 | filter: saturate(1.5) |
.saturate-200 | filter: saturate(2) |
Hue Rotate
Shift all colors on an element around the color wheel. Useful for generating color variants from a single image, or for animated states.| Class | CSS Property |
|---|---|
.hue-rotate-15 | filter: hue-rotate(15deg) |
.hue-rotate-30 | filter: hue-rotate(30deg) |
.hue-rotate-60 | filter: hue-rotate(60deg) |
.hue-rotate-90 | filter: hue-rotate(90deg) |
.hue-rotate-180 | filter: hue-rotate(180deg) |
Color Effects
Apply full or partial tonal treatments to images and media layers.| Class | CSS Property | Effect |
|---|---|---|
.grayscale | filter: grayscale(1) | Fully desaturated — removes all color |
.grayscale-50 | filter: grayscale(0.5) | Partial desaturation — muted, faded look |
.invert | filter: invert(1) | Full color inversion — negative image effect |
.invert-50 | filter: invert(0.5) | Partial inversion — washed-out or ghosted look |
.sepia | filter: sepia(1) | Full sepia tone — warm vintage brown tint |
.sepia-50 | filter: sepia(0.5) | Partial sepia — subtle warmth without full tinting |
.filter-none | filter: none | Removes all active filter effects |
Best Practices
- Apply blur to decorative media, not body text. Blurred text is unreadable. Reserve blur for background images, decorative shapes, and layers that sit behind foreground content.
- Use brightness to prepare background media for text.
brightness-75orbrightness-90on a photo is often more elegant than a separate overlaydiv— it reduces the image to a readable contrast level with fewer DOM elements. - Use
filter-noneto reset inherited filter chains. When a child element inside a filtered parent needs to appear unaffected, applyfilter-nonedirectly to that child to cancel out the inherited value. - Use
grayscalefor muted and inactive states. Desaturating an image, icon, or card thumbnail is a clear, accessible way to signal that something is unavailable or disabled — paired with reduced opacity, it reads unmistakably as inactive. - Keep filter use intentional. Stacking many filter values or applying filters to large portions of a page layout can be visually noisy and computationally expensive on lower-end devices.
Related Utilities
- Opacity — Combine with filters to control transparency alongside visual effects.
- Box Shadow — Add elevation and depth to the same elements you’re filtering.