Normalization is necessary to keep the image balanced (else any filter may quickly turn the image almost completely black or white).
Here is a short, easy-to-use, class to handle normalization automatically and make for easier input of the 3x3 matrix:
The code respects the "array of three arrays" syntax for use with the imageconvolution() function and automatically calculates the necesarry divisor for normalization.
<?php
class ConvolutionFilter {
    public $matrix;
    public $div;
    
    public function computeDiv() {
        $this->div = array_sum ($this->matrix[0]) + array_sum ($this->matrix[1]) + array_sum ($this->matrix[2]);
    }
    function __construct() {
        $matrix = func_get_args();
        $this->matrix = array(    array($matrix[0], $matrix[1], $matrix[2]),
                                array($matrix[3], $matrix[4], $matrix[5]),
                                array($matrix[6], $matrix[7], $matrix[8])
                                );
        $this->computeDiv();
    }
}
?>
Example usage:
<?php
$gaussianFilter =    new ConvolutionFilter(    1.0,    2.0,    1.0,
                                             2.0,    3.0,    2.0,
                                             1.0,    2.0,    1.0        );
imageconvolution($image, $gaussianFilter->matrix, $gaussianFilter->div, 0);
?>
Some common filters:
<?php
$identityFilter =    new ConvolutionFilter(    0.0,    0.0,    0.0,
                                             0.0,    1.0,    0.0,
                                             0.0,    0.0,    0.0        );
$sharpenFilter =    new ConvolutionFilter(    0.0,    -1.0,    0.0,
                                             -1.0,    5.0,    -1.0,
                                             0.0,    -1.0,    0.0        );
$edgeFilter =        new ConvolutionFilter(    0.0,    1.0,    0.0,
                                             1.0,    -4.0,    1.0,
                                             0.0,    1.0,    0.0        );
$findEdgesFilter =    new ConvolutionFilter(    -1.0,    -1.0,    -1.0,
                                             -2.0,    8.0,    -1.0,
                                             -1.0,    -1.0,    -1.0        );
?>
Remember you can use imagefilter() for such basic needs but the above class will make it easier for you when you want to create your own filters.