How to Remove Shadows in Photoshop

Harsh shadows are one of the most unwanted outcomes in a photo that is captured in broad daylight. Sometimes, they may add to the image’s appeal, but mostly they obscure essential details which I need to recover. Learn how to remove shadows in Photoshop using multiple methods so that you can bring improvement to your images.

How to Remove Shadows in Photoshop Using Various Methods

Certain effects in brightly lit images are unavoidable, shadows being one of them. In real estate photography, where your prime focus is to show a property’s best possible view, shadows can be a hindrance, due to which even the most attractive property may look gloomy. Here is where photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop comes into play.

Although it is an undeniable fact that you cannot get rid of shadows completely, there are editing features that can reduce shadows to a great extent. Adobe Photoshop CC has a comprehensive set of tools that help you significantly recover details otherwise hidden by harsh shadows.

Removing Shadows Using the Blending Mode

This technique uses two very useful features of Photoshop combined together to solve the issue of shadows in the image below. One is the selection of RGB using Channels, and the other one is Screen blending mode.

1. Choose an image from which you want to remove shadows, and open it in Photoshop. Since the image will open as a background layer, navigate to layer and choose Duplicate Layer to create a new layer

2. With the duplicate layer selected, select the Channels panel on the right-hand side. If you can’t see the panel, go to the Window menu, and make sure Channels has a checkmark beside it.
3. Press and hold CTRL (Windows) / CMD (Mac) and click on RGB to select areas in the image based on the luminosity. This is a very useful feature as it selects the bright areas of your image. 

4. As in this image, I need to select the dark areas of the image. I will Inverse the selection. You can do it by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + I (Windows) or CMD + SHIFT + I (Mac). Alternatively, you can go to the Select menu from the top menu bar and choose Inverse. This step actually selects the shadow area where you need to work on.
5. Press the keyboard shortcut buttons CTRL (Windows) / CMD (Mac) + J to duplicate the layer and create the second duplicate layer. It will form a separate layer of the dark areas selected, making sure any effects you apply will only impact the shadow.
6. Select the Blending Mode to Screen. The screen mode brightens the dark areas as soon as you select it.
7. Doing so will solve your issue to a great extent. You can see how closely Photoshop blends the layers, resulting in a significant difference between before and after views. However, if you still see some dark areas which need some extra brightness, use the brush tool to do that.

8. Create a negative mask by pressing and holding ALT (Windows) / Option (Windows) and click on the Create a mask icon found at the bottom of the Layers panel.
9. Select the Brush Tool from the toolbar.
10. Make sure that the foreground color is set to white, and then paint the dark areas with your brush. This will further reduce the shadow by brightening the affected areas.

Removing Shadows With The Dodge Tool

Photoshop’s Dodge tool is highly effective in tackling shadows.  Also, the process of dodging the shadowed areas is straightforward. However, you need to be a bit patient when using the dodge tool as you need to zoom in to apply the effect accurately.

1. Open the image that has important details obscured by shadows.
2. In the layers panel, click on the background layer and make a duplicate of it by pressing CTRL (Windows) / CMD (Mac) + J. Making a duplicate would ensure non-destructive editing besides letting you see the before and after view (by hiding the duplicate layer).
3. Select the Dodge tool from the toolbar on the left-hand side.
4. With the Dodge tool selected, go to the Range option under the dodge menu, and select Shadow. Set it below 50% at first. You can change this range later depending on the effects of the Dodge tool.

5. Using the Dodge tool brush, paint over the areas from where you need to reduce the shadows. You can always undo this effect by pressing CTRL / CMD + Z keyboard shortcut buttons. Or, go to the Edit menu and click on Undo Dodge Tool.
6. Much of the shadows from your subject will be reduced using this method, revealing appealing details. Keep in mind that completely removing the shadows can make your photo look unrealistic. 

Shadow Removal Using Patch Tool

Another Photoshop tool helpful for removing shadows in Photoshop is the Patch tool. The Patch tool is used on images where a shadowless area matching the shadowed area is available. Basically, Photoshop will replace a shadowed patch with a well-lit patch seamlessly via the Patch tool.

1. Like in the other four methods, open the image that needs shadow removal in a new workspace.
2. Right-click on the background layer in the Layers panel, and click on the Duplicate layer to create a new layer from the original file.
3. Now select the Patch tool from the toolbar on the left-hand side. You should see a drop down menu under the patch toolbar
4. In the drop down menu, click on the Content-Aware option. Usually, the content-aware ensures seamless blending of selection with the surrounding non-selected or non-shaded area. 

5. To remove shadows in Photoshop using the contents method, make a selection around the shadows using one of the selection tools, and move it to a different background section. 
6. Select a surface without shadows to work as the Photoshop source point for refering to the color and pattern that it needs to fill in the blank space.
7. After the shadowed area has been replaced with the brightened area, you can use the healing brush to clean up any mess and further removal of shadows. Typically, the spot healing brush helps to enhance the blending such that viewers can’t notice the edits even if they zoom in 

Using the Adjustment Layer to Remove Shadows

If you want to remove shadows in Photoshop and retain with softer shadows that have some details, you can consider using the adjustment layer to brighten the harsh shadow rather than replacing the pixels. 

1. In Photoshop CC, open the image that has unwanted shadows which you need to remove.
2. Create a Duplicate layer of the Background layer by pressing CTRL (Windows) / CMD (Mac) + J or right-click on the layer and then select Duplicate Layer.
3. From the toolbar on the left-hand side, choose the Magic Wand tool.
4. Click on the shadowed area in the image.
5. Up on the Magic Wand settings, choose the tolerance value according to shadow selection. Increase it if all shadows aren’t selected, and decrease if more area beside the shadow is selected.
6. Click on the Layer menu from the Photoshop workspace menu, and select New Adjustment Layer.
7. Click on the sun-like icon to expand the Brightness properties panel.
8. Remove shadow by clicking on the Brightness slider and taking it to the right to adjust brightness and decrease the shadow. Adjust it until the shadow area matches the rest of the image.
9. Click on the Contrast slider, and take it to the left to manage the contrast between shadow area and surrounding areas. 

10. After you adjust brightness and contrast, you might need to create a new adjustment layer to set the Hue and Saturation. Take care to not overdo it as you might excessively remove shadow and lose texture and detail, and the photo might not look realistic

Read my article on how to remove shadows in Lightroom!

Using the Clone Stamp Tool

Although many people believe the Photoshop clone stamp tool is challenging to use, it's one of the best Photoshop tools you can use the clone stamp to remove shadows and get more accurate results. The clone stamp tool allows you to clone in Photoshop and copy the detail and color balance from one region of a photo to another by painting the new pixels copied from the clone source. 

That means you can copy the pixels from the bright areas of the photo to the shadowed areas. Like when using the patch tool, Photoshop artificial intelligence helps the new pixels to blend seamlessly with the rest of the photo. 

The clone stamp tool method works best when the pixels in the source point and target area are almost similar, only that one area is brighter than the other. Duplicate the layer so you can make non-destructive edits, and then use the following clone tool steps to remove shadows.

Set the Clone Stamp Tool Brush

Since you are copying pixels from one source point to another, it's advisable to first zoom in on the image so you can have a clearer view of whether the pixels in the source point are almost similar to the pixels in the target region. This helps you get a more natural and realistic blending effect.

Pick the clone stamp tool from the toolbar on the left side of the interface or press the S keyboard shortcut key. In the tool's properties panel, adjust the size of the brush depending on the size and hardness of the shadows you want to remove. 

The brush's hardness affects how hard the edges will be, while the brush size affects the area the brush will cover in a single click. For instance, you can set a soft, medium-sized brush so you can cover the entire shadows you want to remove and still get smooth edges. 

Clone the Pixels

Place the mouse cursor on the region you want to copy the pixels, press Alt on your Windows computer or the Option key on your Mac, and then click the left mouse button to confirm the pixels. Usually, the cursor changes into crosshairs, showing the pixels you have cloned. 

Move the mouse to the target region and start painting to remove shadows. You can vary the zoom to different levels in Photoshop when painting so you can check whether the effect looks natural and realistic. If you are working on complicated shadows, consider using different reference points, so the end results are not noticeable. 

When replacing the dark pixels with bright ones, you can remove the shadow completely, making your photos look unrealistic. For instance, if it's a property shot at an angle, it's expected to have shadows on one side. Avoid complete removal by reducing harsh shadows using less bright pixels.   

Frequently Asked Questions

Takeaway 

Dark shadows in the resulting image are mainly due to intense light falling upon the subject. Although shadows add a dramatic effect in some images, it mostly hides shadow areas with specific details which are not what we actually want. Therefore, learning the Photoshop techniques explained above will help you deal with unwanted shadows effectively.