What this lighting editor does
AI Relight is a browser lighting editor for photos you already have. You drop in a still, drag a virtual lamp to set direction, then change brightness and color. The model rebuilds highlights and shadows so a flat snapshot can read as a studio portrait, a warmer product still, or a cooler night look — without booking a second shoot.
Search intent here is practical: change image lighting, not read a brochure. Upload, the light pad, and the compare slider live on this URL. You are not sent to another app after a form. A photo in, relit lighting out, download here.
Traditional relighting means moving stands, swapping gels, or painting layers in a desktop suite. This tool approximates that loop for a single file. It will not invent a room that was never there. It is a photo lighting pass for portraits, products, interiors, and stills that feel wrong because the original lamp sat in the wrong place. Credits show before you generate; signup credits cover first tries.
How to relight a photo with AI
Upload, set light direction, generate, and compare without leaving this page.
A relight photo workflow is useful only if the path from file to export is short. Start with a reasonably sharp original — a portrait or pack shot with visible form is enough — then spend attention on direction and color instead of writing a long prompt. The sample portrait is there so you can see shadow travel before you use your own file.
Upload your photo
Drop a JPEG, PNG, or WebP file (up to 10MB), or click the sample portrait. Faces and products show lighting changes most clearly because highlights and shadow edges are easy to judge.
Set light direction
Pick a preset (top, front, left, right, back, bottom) or drag the source on the pad. Direction is the main lever: it decides which cheek, product edge, or wall catches the key light.
Adjust light and color
Choose soft or hard light, set brightness, and pick a tone — warm gold, cool sky, or white. Soft wraps faces; hard carves contrast. Color shifts mood without restyling the whole scene.
Choose model and output
The default model is fast for everyday photo lighting. Switch to the alternative when you want extra variants or a different aspect ratio. Set resolution and format to match where you will publish.
Generate and compare
Click Relight, then use the before-and-after slider. If the mood is close, change one control — direction or color — and run again. Download when image lighting matches the brief.
Light direction, brightness, and color
Light direction is the difference between a believable relight and a glow pasted on the frame. Left or right key light sculpts a portrait. Top light can feel like a ceiling practical in an interior. Front flattens texture, which is useful for some product tiles and risky for faces. Back and bottom are accents; use them when you already like the key and want a rim or a footlight, not as the only source.
Brightness and hardness travel together. A hard source at modest brightness still reads as a studio strobe because shadow edges stay crisp. A soft source at high brightness fills the face but can wash the mood you came for. Keep both sliders visible so you can trade wrap against contrast instead of guessing from a text prompt.
Color is a grade, not a filter stacked on a random style. White keeps skin and packaging honest. Warm gold reads sunset or tungsten. Cool blue reads daylight window or night practical. If the original already has a strong color cast, start closer to white. Change one of direction, brightness, or color per run when you are iterating.
Why use AI Relight
Interactive light control
Drag a virtual source instead of describing lamps in a paragraph. Direction you can see is easier to repeat than a lucky prompt.
Cinematic mood shifts
Turn flat image lighting into a warmer portrait, a cooler night still, or a harder product look without reshooting the scene.
The tool is the landing page
Upload, generate, and download stay on this URL. Search intent to change photo lighting is satisfied here, not on a second screen.
Keeps composition
Subjects, labels, and layout should stay put. The pass is lighting, not a restyle that invents a new room.
Before and after compare
Judge shadow travel on a slider so you can tell a real lighting change from a global brightness bump.
No lighting kit required
No stands, gels, or layer stacks. Set direction and color, generate, and export if the mood holds.
When to change image lighting here
Use this page for files that already have the right subject and framing. You are fixing lamps, not casting a new scene from text.
Portrait and headshot mood
Move a key light off a shiny forehead, add a softer wrap, or cool a mixed-white snapshot so skin reads consistent across a set of talking-head stills.
Product and catalog stills
Relight a pack shot so chrome, glass, or matte boxes share one direction. Pair with Photography Studio later if you also need a new set, not only new lamps.
Interior and real-estate frames
Lift a dim corner or shift a window feel without rebuilding the room. Keep furniture honest; only photo lighting should move.
Campaign tests before a reshoot
Try warm versus cool, or left versus top, on one hero still. Share the slider frames so the real lighting plan starts from a shortlist, not from scratch.
Tips for natural photo lighting
Give the model form to light. A side-lit portrait or a product with clear edges beats a tiny subject in a dark room. If the original is noisy or blown out, recover exposure first — a lighting pass cannot invent detail that is already gone.
Change one variable when a result is close. If the cheek shadow is right but the grade is cold, keep direction and only shift color. If you jump every control at once, you will not know which lever worked. Soft light is the safe default for faces; hard light is for products and graphic portraits.
Match output to the destination. Square crops for avatars, taller frames for stories, wider frames for banners. Download the relit file, then use Background Remover or Expand Image if the next step is a cutout or a new canvas — do not ask the lighting pass to do those jobs too.
Related Pixwit tools after you relight
Photo lighting is often step one. Isolate a subject, restyle a set, or expand the canvas without starting over.
- Photography Studio
Build a full product scene — set, camera, and lamps — when you need more than a lighting pass on the original file.
- AI Image Editor
Prompt a local change, swap an object, or retouch a region after the lamps are locked.
- Background Remover
Cut the subject to a transparent PNG once image lighting looks right.
- AI Inpaint
Paint out a fixture, cable, or distraction that the relight made more obvious.
- Expand Image
Grow the canvas for a banner or story crop after you like the new photo lighting.
- Pricing and credits
See how signup credits and paid packs map to relight volume.
Background reading: Photographic lighting (Wikipedia)
AI Relight FAQ
What is AI Relight?
- AI Relight is a browser tool that simulates a new light source on an existing photo. You set direction, brightness, and color; the model updates highlights and shadows while it tries to keep the original subject and layout. It is a lighting editor, not a text-to-image generator that invents a new scene.
How do I relight a photo for free?
- Sign in to receive credits, upload a JPEG, PNG, or WebP, set light direction, and click Relight. Cost is shown on the button before you run. Free credits are for learning the pad; volume uses paid packs without changing the same workflow.
Will AI Relight change the person or product?
- The pass is instructed to preserve content and composition. Only image lighting should move. Complex scenes, tiny subjects, or heavy compression can still drift — check the slider and rerun with a smaller change if identity or a label slips.
Which photos work best?
- Portraits and pack shots with clear form. Interiors and landscapes work when there is already a readable space. A dim, tiny subject in a busy room is a poor start because there is little surface for new photo lighting to catch.
How is this different from a generic AI image editor?
- A general editor waits for a text prompt. This page exposes direction, hardness, brightness, and color the way a gaffer would talk — so you can repeat a left soft key without rewriting adjectives. Use the image editor when you need to restyle or inpaint, not when the only job is lamps.
What file types can I upload?
- JPEG, PNG, or WebP up to 10MB. A sharp original with the subject filling most of the frame gives a cleaner relight than a cropped thumbnail or a screenshot.
Start a relight on this page
Upload a photo above, set light direction and color, then generate a new mood you can download.