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  • Portraits, documents, products and outdoor photos
  • Say which shadow to remove if there are several
  • JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 10 MB

Shadow

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Free to try, no sign-up

Remove Shadow from Photo

Remove shadow from photo online: lift harsh shadows from faces, documents and objects. Your first image is free, no sign-up.

Original: Man in his early 20s with a hard shadow across his face: Shadows on FaceBefore
Remove Shadow from Photo result: Man in his early 20s with a hard shadow across his face: Shadows on FaceAfter

Example result. Upload your photo to make yours.

How to Remove Shadow from Photo in Three Steps

No brush and no selection: pick the kind of shadow and the tool relights it for you.

  1. 1

    Upload the shadowed photo

    Drop in a JPG, PNG or WebP up to 10 MB, one photo per run. Portraits, documents, products and outdoor shots all work as input. Pick the photo where the shadow is the main problem.

  2. 2

    Pick the shadow type

    Choose Auto, Shadows on Face, Hard Sunlight or Document & Object. If there are several shadows, name the one to remove in the note, for example the left side of the face. The note takes up to 500 characters.

  3. 3

    Check it, then download

    The result appears beside your original. Compare the two, then press Download. Your first image is free, so check the photo before you run it.

Remove Shadow from Photo: AI vs Brightening vs Manual

Three ways to fix a shadow, and what each asks of you.

This toolBrightness sliderManual masking
Selecting the shadowNot needed, pick a presetNot neededPaint or select it yourself
What changesShadowed areas relit to match nearby lightThe whole photo gets lighterOnly the area you mask
Skin and textureAims to recover detail under the shadowLit areas can blow outDepends on your skill
Soft shading on facesAims to keep itFlattened with the restYou decide
Skill neededNoneNoneLayers, masks, curves
ResultA redrawn image to checkSame pixels, lighterSame pixels, edited
Time to first resultUpload, pick, pressMove one sliderOpen an editor, build a mask

Where You Need to Remove Shadow from a Photo

The four presets cover the shadows people ask about most.

Selfies and portraits

A hat brim, hair or a hand can leave a dark band across a face. Shadows on Face evens out the light and aims to keep the soft shading that gives the face its shape.

Photos for ID and applications

A dark patch on one cheek makes a headshot look rough. Even the light first with Shadows on Face, then check the photo against the rules of whoever asks for it.

Documents and pages

Your phone or hand often shadows the page you photograph, and the text gets harder to read. Document & Object clears the shadow so the page looks evenly lit.

Products and objects

A dark cast across an item makes it look dirty or flat. Remove it before you list, share or print the photo, then compare the result with your original.

Sunny outdoor snapshots

Midday sun leaves hard, dark edges on people and walls. Hard Sunlight softens them to match the surrounding light.

Family and travel photos

One person standing in another's shadow spoils a group shot. Name that shadow in the note, for example the shadow across my brother's face, and run Auto.

Frequently asked questions

Your first image is free, no sign-up and no credit card. The free image is per visitor for the whole site, not per page, so choose the photo you most want fixed. After that, a dialog lets you leave an email for when more images are available.

Upload the photo, choose Auto, Shadows on Face, Hard Sunlight or Document & Object, and press Remove Shadow. Then download the result.

Yes, if the file is a JPG, PNG or WebP up to 10 MB. Upload it from your phone's browser like any other photo.

Start with Auto when you are unsure. Switch to Shadows on Face for a portrait, Hard Sunlight for strong outdoor light, or Document & Object for a shadow over a page or item.

This is a web tool, so there is nothing to install. Open the page, upload the photo and download the result. There is no separate app.

Often the shadow is gone or much lighter, but not every time. Deep shadows, or ones that hide most of a detail, can leave a trace. In that case name the shadow in the note and compare the result with your original.

The tool aims to keep the same face, skin tone and expression and to leave the soft shading that gives a face its shape. It is AI output, so compare it with your original before you use it.

You can try. Name it in the note, for example the shadow of my head on the wall behind me. Auto also relights shadows it finds in the background, so check the whole frame.

Type which one to remove in the note, up to 500 characters, for example the shadow of the phone on the left of the page. Without a note, Auto relights the shadows it finds.

Your photo is only used to create your images and is never used to train AI models. The photo goes to the AI provider, which keeps the result for a limited time so you can download it.

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