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If your internet search took you to this article, we guess you want to learn how to remove shadows in Lightroom.

No matter the time of day and how much lighting you have during your actual shoot, shadows will appear in some areas and distract the outcome of your real estate photography. Shadows can cover or distort some of the home’s best exterior features and hide the detail in the image.

In this post, we’ll show you how to remove shadows in Lightroom using 2 super easy steps to expose the detail in dark areas. 

But before we jump into the tutorial, let’s discuss what shadows in photos are and why you may want to remove them in your real estate photography.

What Are Shadows in Photos and Why Do They Appear?

How to remove shadows in Lightroom

Have you ever questioned why some areas of your photos appear dark and shadowy despite shooting in brilliant light? 

This occurs because not all portions of your image receive the same amount of light, resulting in some areas being darker than others and giving your images a spectrum of light and dark tones.

Shadows are different from regular blacks. The blacks in your images are the areas with no brightness whatsoever. They are so dark that the detail in those areas is completely lost. All viewers see is black!

Shadows, on the other hand, are the areas in the photo that are dark, but still, retain some detail.

Why Remove Shadows in Real Estate Photography?

How to remove shadows in Lightroom

The contrast of light and shadows is important to generate the proper balance of an image. Light makes an image seem brighter while shadows can add a dramatic look to a certain part of an image’s composition.

However, while shadows can add contrast and dimension to your images, they can also be distracting and make your real estate photography look less professional.

Even worse, shadows can cover up some of a home’s best features and even make certain areas look distorted. Removing shadows can help you to expose the detail in dark areas of your images.

Fortunately, you can easily recover any information hidden in the shadows with the help of real estate photo editing in Lightroom, which we’ll show you how to do next. 

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How to Remove Shadows in Lightroom (2 Super Easy Ways)

Now, let’s take a look at how to remove shadows using Lightroom to expose the details in dark areas using 2 super easy ways.

You can either watch the video tutorial or continue reading the text below:

Edit 1

Step 1. To get started, adjust the Shadow Slider up to brighten shadow areas.

Step 2. Then, bring down the Highlights to balance it with Shadows.

Step 3. Next, adjust the Exposure to brighten the photos a bit more.

Step 4. Since the shadows were brightened, adjust the Contrast, Blacks, and Clarity to boost the details and decrease the shadows.

Step 5. After some adjustments, the shadows are brightened and you can see more detail in the darker areas.

Edit 2

Another tip to brighten the shadows is to use the Local Adjustment Tool or the Brush Tool.

Step 1. First, Brush over the shadowed areas and make sure to avoid the highlighted areas.

Step 2. If you accidentally brushed the highlighted areas, simply Undo or Erase the highlighted section.

Step 4. To blend with the shadow a bit more, adjust the Light or Highlighted Areas as well.

And that’s it! 

We’ve now restored details and removed all of the darkest shadows in the image. Check out the Before and After preview to see the difference.

Before and after removing shadows in Lightroom

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We hope this blog post helped you learn how to remove shadows in Lightroom. If you enjoyed reading this post, you may also want to check out some related resources:

Stina Pettersson

Professional Blogger

Stina is an entrepreneur, digital marketer, and professional blogger who's passionate about real estate photo editing, being outdoors with her pup, and sweaty gym sessions. She loves the written word and has been writing for publications like Forbes and Thrive Global. Originally from Sweden, she's called South Florida her home since 2013.

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