How to invert colors of an image in pygame?

Last Updated : 26 Apr, 2025

In this article, we are going to learn how to invert the colors of an image using Pygame in Python programming language.

Pygame is a multiplatform Python module and framework designed for creating video games in Python. It includes several libraries that manage audio and visuals. Right now, Pygame is one of the best Python game development modules. This tutorial assumes that the reader has a basic understanding of Pygame.

Concept

To invert an image you take the value of each pixel and subtract it from 255 to get the new value. Once you do this across the whole image you have an inverted version of it. We will use Pygame’s blit’s inbuilt flags to accomplish this.

How to invert colors of an image in pygame?

Installing Pygame

If not already installed, install Pygame by running the command below in the terminal.

pip install pygame

Step-by-Step Implementation:

We will create a window that displays an image. When the image is clicked it will invert the colors. We will use Pygame’s blit flags to achieve this.

Step 1: We will first create a Pygame window.

Python

# importing modules in
import pygame as py
import os
 
# initialize pygame
py.init()
 
# setting window height and width
width, height = 400, 300
screen = py.display.set_mode((width, height))
 
# setting background to white and setting window title
screen.fill((255, 255, 255))
py.display.set_caption("Image Invert")
 
# update window
py.display.flip()
 
# Main loop
running = True
while(running):
    for event in py.event.get():
        # When quit even is called (by pressing 'X' button)
        if event.type == py.QUIT:
            # running is set to false exiting loop
            running = False
 
# when loop ends program closes
py.quit()

This creates a basic white window titled “Image Invert” that is sized 400×300.

Output:

Blank Pygame window

Step 2: Load the Image Function

Next, we will create the function that loads the image into our program. The function will also be responsible for scaling the image.

Python

# creating the image loading function
def loadimage(img, scale=1):
    pass

The function takes in the image file name and how much we should scale the image. Next, we will find the image and turn it into a Pygame surface.

Python

def loadimage(img, scale=1):
    # get image path
    imagePath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), img)
    # turn into a pygame surface
    logo = py.image.load(imagePath).convert()

Note: This only works if the image is in the same folder as the program.

Then we scale the image and return the Pygame surface.

Python

def loadimage(img, scale=1):
    # get image location
    imagePath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), img)
 
    # turn into a pygame surface
    logo = py.image.load(imagePath).convert()
 
    # scale image if need by getting current size 
    # and multiplying by scale to get desired size
    size = logo.get_size()
    size = (size[0] * scale, size[1] * scale)
 
    # scaling up to desired size
    logo = py.transform.scale(logo, size)
 
    # return image
    return logo

Code so far:

Python

# importing modules in
import pygame as py
import os
 
# initialize pygame
py.init()
 
# setting window height and width
width, height = 400, 300
screen = py.display.set_mode((width, height))
 
# setting background to white and setting window title
screen.fill((255, 255, 255))
py.display.set_caption("Image Invert")
 
 
# creating the image loading function
def loadimage(img, scale=1):
     
    # get image location
    imagePath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), img)
     
    # turn into a pygame surface
    logo = py.image.load(imagePath).convert()
     
    # scale image if need by getting current size
    # and multiplying by scale to get desired size
    size = logo.get_size()
    size = (size[0] * scale, size[1] * scale)
    # scaling up to desired size
    logo = py.transform.scale(logo, size)
    # return image
    return logo
 
 
# update window
py.display.flip()
# Main loop
running = True
while(running):
    for event in py.event.get():
        # When quit even is called (by pressing 'X' button)
        if event.type == py.QUIT:
            # running is set to false exiting loop
            running = False
 
# when loop ends program closes
py.quit()

Step 3: Loading in the image and detecting a click

Next, we load the image in and set the screen size to match. Then we display the image.

Python3

# importing modules
import pygame as py
import os
 
# initialize pygame
py.init()
# setting window height and width
width, height = 400, 300
screen = py.display.set_mode((width, height))
# setting background to white and setting window title
screen.fill((255, 255, 255))
py.display.set_caption("Image Invert")
# creating the image loading function
 
 
def loadimage(img, scale=1):
    # get image location
    imagePath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), img)
    # turn into a pygame surface
    logo = py.image.load(imagePath).convert()
    # scale image if need by getting current size
    # and multiplying by scale to get desired size
    size = logo.get_size()
    size = (size[0] * scale, size[1] * scale)
    # scaling up to desired size
    logo = py.transform.scale(logo, size)
    # return image
    return logo
 
 
# update window
py.display.flip()
 
# load image in for the first time.
# Change string to match your picture's name
logo = loadimage("gfglogo.png", 2)
# get image's height and width
width, height = logo.get_size()
 
# set window size to same size
screen = py.display.set_mode((width, height))
 
# display image to screen
screen.blit(logo, (0, 0))
 
# update screen
py.display.flip()
 
# main loop
running = True
while(running):
    for event in py.event.get():
        if event.type == py.QUIT:
            running = False
        # Add a new event type that only gets
        # triggered when a mouse button is pressed
        if event.type == py.MOUSEBUTTONDOWN:
            # Save the x, y positions of the mouse click
            x, y = event.pos
            # Check if the click is within
            # the bounding box of the image
            if logo.get_rect().collidepoint(x, y):
                print("Image Clicked")
 
py.quit()

Output after Click:

Step 4: Inverting the image

Finally, we create the code to invert the image. Replace the print() statement with the following code.

Python

if logo.get_rect().collidepoint(x, y):
     # create a blank surface the same size
    inv = py.Surface(logo.get_size())
 
    # fill it with white
    inv.fill((255, 255, 255))
 
    # Blit the logo to the screen but use "BLEND_RGBA_SUB"
    inv.blit(logo, (0, 0), None, py.BLEND_RGBA_SUB)
 
    # set logo as inv
    logo = inv
 
    # display logo
    screen.blit(logo, (0, 0))
 
    # update screen
    py.display.flip()

The BLEND_RGBA_SUB flag takes the original image and subtracts the new image. For example, if the Original (inv) image pixel has a value of (255,255,255) and the new image has a value of (100,0,100) then the result will be (155,255,155), creating the inverse.

Pygame blit() has 10 flags

BLEND_RGBA_ADD
BLEND_RGBA_SUB
BLEND_RGBA_MULT
BLEND_RGBA_MIN
BLEND_RGBA_MAX
5 more RGB versions of the above

Below is the complete implementation:

Python

# importing modules in
import pygame as py
import os
import numpy
 
# initialize pygame
py.init()
 
# setting window height and width
width, height = 400, 300
screen = py.display.set_mode((width, height))
 
# setting background to white and setting window title
screen.fill((255, 255, 255))
py.display.set_caption("Image Invert")
 
# image loading function
 
 
def loadimage(img, scale=1):
    # get image location
    imagePath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), img)
    logo = py.image.load(imagePath).convert()
 
    # scale image if need by getting current
    # size and multiplying by scale to get desired size
    size = logo.get_size()
    size = (size[0] * scale, size[1] * scale)
 
    # scaling up to desired size
    logo = py.transform.scale(logo, size)
 
    # return image
    return logo
 
 
# load image in for the first time.
# Change string to match your picture's name
logo = loadimage("gfglogo.png", 2)
 
# get image's height and width
width, height = logo.get_size()
 
# set window size to same size
screen = py.display.set_mode((width, height))
 
# display image to screen
screen.blit(logo, (0, 0))
 
# update screen
py.display.flip()
 
# main loop
running = True
while(running):
    for event in py.event.get():
 
        # detect quit event
        if event.type == py.QUIT:
            running = False
 
        # Add a new event type that only gets
        # triggered when a mouse button is pressed
        if event.type == py.MOUSEBUTTONDOWN:
 
            # Set the x, y positions of the mouse click
            x, y = event.pos
            if logo.get_rect().collidepoint(x, y):
 
                # create a blank surface the same size
                inv = py.Surface(logo.get_size())
 
                # fill it with white
                inv.fill((255, 255, 255))
 
                # Blit the logo to the screen but use "BLEND_RGBA_SUB"
                inv.blit(logo, (0, 0), None, py.BLEND_RGBA_SUB)
 
                # set logo as inv
                logo = inv
 
                # display logo
                screen.blit(logo, (0, 0))
 
                # update screen
                py.display.flip()
py.quit()