Remove shadows from photos
Your own shadow across a document, a phone shadow over food, a hard shadow on a face: brush over it and AI relights just that area to match the surface around it.
Brush over the whole shadow, including its soft edge, then press AI clean-up. Instant Erase works for small shadows on plain surfaces.
"Erase" runs on your device. "AI clean-up" sends a resized copy of the photo and your marks to our AI provider and pastes the result back only inside the marked area.
How to remove shadow from photo
Mark the shadow
Cover the dark area and its soft edge (the penumbra) so no grey outline is left.
AI clean-up
AI relights the marked surface to match the lit area around it, keeping texture such as paper, fabric or tablecloth.
Or lift all shadows
If the whole photo is too dark in the shadows rather than one cast shadow, use the Shadows slider in the image enhancer.
Cast shadows vs dark shadows
A cast shadow is a shape: something stood between the light and the surface. It needs to be relit locally, and that is what AI clean-up does with your mark.
Dark shadow areas are a tonal problem: the camera exposed for the bright parts. The Shadows slider in the enhancer lifts every dark area at once without touching highlights.
For documents, shoot with the light behind you and slightly to the side, or use two light sources from opposite sides; prevention beats repair.
Need more control? Open the full object remover, remove people from photo or remove emoji from photo.
Questions people ask
How do I remove a shadow from a picture?
Brush over the shadow including its soft edge and press AI clean-up. For many small shadows on a plain surface, Erase is instant and runs on your device.
Can I remove a shadow from a face?
Yes, mark the shadowed part of the face only. Check the result closely: AI relights skin convincingly but can change small features, so compare with the original.
How do I remove my shadow from a document photo?
Mark your shadow and run AI clean-up, then raise contrast in the enhancer so the paper turns white. Next time, hold the phone so the light is not directly behind you.