Colour Photocopy effect

A colour photocopy of your picture: toner lands in the shadows and breaks up along the tones, and the colour stays.

Made with the Colour Threshold filterWorks in

Colour photocopy effect on a portrait of a woman with black hair, hands on her head, made with the Colour Threshold filter in Filter Archive (Hard Copy preset)

BeforeAfter

Colour Threshold treats your photo like a trip through a colour copier. Toner collects in the shadows and breaks into specks along the edges of each tone, while the picture keeps its hue. Push it from a clean Xerox copy to blown toner and dust.

5presets
17settings
3apps

Same effect, different presets.

8 photos, each with its own preset. Try it on yours

Colour photocopy effect on a portrait of a woman with silver hair and blue sunglasses by the sea, made with the Colour Threshold filter in Filter Archive (Xerox preset) — Xerox

Colour photocopy effect on a wide-angle portrait of a woman looking up at the camera, made with the Colour Threshold filter in Filter Archive (Blown Toner preset) — Blown Toner

Colour photocopy effect on a portrait of a laughing woman with pink curly hair, made with the Colour Threshold filter in Filter Archive (Toner Dust preset) — Toner Dust

Colour photocopy effect on a portrait of a woman with copper red hair, made with the Colour Threshold filter in Filter Archive (Washed preset) — Washed

Colour photocopy effect on a portrait of a woman in headphones holding a CD, made with the Colour Threshold filter in Filter Archive (Xerox preset) — Xerox

Colour photocopy effect on a portrait of a person with goggles looking up, made with the Colour Threshold filter in Filter Archive (Hard Copy preset) — Hard Copy

Colour photocopy effect on a portrait of a woman in sunglasses against a blue sky, made with the Colour Threshold filter in Filter Archive (Blown Toner preset) — Blown Toner

Use the colour photocopy effect in Photoshop, Affinity or Figma.

One licence covers all three: $9.99 a month or $59.99 once. See pricing

Photoshop

Open Filter Archive from the Plugins menu, pick Colour Threshold and press Apply. The result lands on a new layer above your original.

Mac & Windows · Photoshop 2024+

Affinity

Choose Filters, Plugins, Filter Archive on a pixel layer, pick Colour Threshold and apply it to that layer.

Mac & Windows · Affinity 3

Figma

Select an image, frame or shape, run Filter Archive and apply Colour Threshold as a new layer or in place.

Figma Community

Settings worth touching.

BrightnessThreshold: Where the toner starts landing. This decides how much of the picture goes dark.
Break-upSpecks: How wide the speckled band is. At zero you get a clean hard threshold; opening it lets the specks gather along the tones.
Speck SizeSpecks: The size of the toner specks. Small reads as fine grain, the big end as grit.

Plus 14 more in the panel, all editable after you pick a preset.

Colour Photocopy Effect questions.

What is a colour photocopy effect?

A colour photocopy effect makes a photo look like it went through a colour copier: harder contrast, flattened tones, and a speckled toner texture where light meets dark, while the original colours survive.

How do I make a colour photocopy effect in Photoshop?

Open Filter Archive from the Plugins menu and choose Colour Threshold. Start from a preset such as Xerox or Hard Copy, adjust the settings while the preview updates, then press Apply. The result goes on a new layer and your original stays untouched.

Can I use it in Affinity or Figma?

Yes. The same Colour Threshold filter runs in Affinity 3 on Mac and Windows, from Filters, then Plugins, then Filter Archive on a pixel layer, and in Figma on an image, frame or shape. One licence covers Photoshop, Affinity and Figma.

Which presets come with Colour Threshold?

5 presets: Xerox, Hard Copy, Blown Toner, Toner Dust and Washed. Every setting stays editable after you pick one, and you can save a stack of filters to use again.

Can I change the colours?

Colour Threshold keeps the colours of the picture you run it on. To recolour the result, stack it with a filter that has its own palette, such as Thermal or Bitmap, in the same panel.