A computer-implemented method for modifying an image, the method comprising: receiving, using one or more computing devices, an input selecting the image for modification; detecting, using the one or more computing devices, a face in the image; determining, using the one or more computing devices, a first portion of the image including the face and a second portion of the image excluding the first portion; providing, using the one or more computing devices, a user interface including a user slider for modification of the image, wherein the user slider is a pop effect slider that enhances details of the image, wherein the pop effect includes one of a group of a saturation boost, or use of a local contrast; modifying, using the one or more computing devices, the first portion of the image for image enhancement corresponding to a first rate of image enhancement in response to the pop effect slider being selected to apply the pop effect; modifying, using the one or more computing devices, the second portion of the image for image enhancement corresponding to a second rate of image enhancement in response to the pop effect slider being selected to apply the pop effect, the first rate being lower than the second rate; wherein the modifications comprise: resizing the image into different resolution images to form a Laplacian pyramid having a number of levels, wherein the number of levels best matches a fixed lowest resolution range; selecting, using the one or more computing devices, a remapping level to be a fixed offset from the top of the Laplacian pyramid; and applying, using the one or more computing devices, the pop effect at the selected remapping level, by applying a local Laplacian smoothing to the first and second portions of the images; and storing, using the one or more computing devices, the modified image. receiving, using one or more computing devices, an input selecting the image for modification; detecting, using the one or more computing devices, a face in the image; determining, using the one or more computing devices, a first portion of the image including the face and a second portion of the image excluding the first portion; providing, using the one or more computing devices, a user interface including a user slider for modification of the image, wherein the user slider is a pop effect slider that enhances details of the image, wherein the pop effect includes one of a group of a saturation boost, or use of a local contrast; modifying, using the one or more computing devices, the first portion of the image for image enhancement corresponding to a first rate of image enhancement in response to the pop effect slider being selected to apply the pop effect; modifying, using the one or more computing devices, the second portion of the image for image enhancement corresponding to a second rate of image enhancement in response to the pop effect slider being selected to apply the pop effect, the first rate being lower than the second rate; wherein the modifications comprise: resizing the image into different resolution images to form a Laplacian pyramid having a number of levels, wherein the number of levels best matches a fixed lowest resolution range; selecting, using the one or more computing devices, a remapping level to be a fixed offset from the top of the Laplacian pyramid; and applying, using the one or more computing devices, the pop effect at the selected remapping level, by applying a local Laplacian smoothing to the first and second portions of the images; and resizing the image into different resolution images to form a Laplacian pyramid having a number of levels, wherein the number of levels best matches a fixed lowest resolution range; selecting, using the one or more computing devices, a remapping level to be a fixed offset from the top of the Laplacian pyramid; and applying, using the one or more computing devices, the pop effect at the selected remapping level, by applying a local Laplacian smoothing to the first and second portions of the images; and storing, using the one or more computing devices, the modified image.