Video: Photoshop adds virtual lighting with new Relight tool

Bad window light or a harsh shadow across a face no longer necessarily means reaching for the dodge and burn tools, or doing the shoot again.

That's because Photoshop’s new Relight feature, currently in beta, lets you adjust the direction, intensity, softness and colour of light in an existing image.

If you want to get a sense of what it can do, it's worth watching this video by Photoshop Training Channel’s Jesús Ramirez, where he tests the feature on portraits, interiors and composites.

Essentially, Relight creates a new layer, with controls that let you reduce the original lighting and introduce virtual light sources.

You can drag the light around the frame, adjust its intensity and diffusion, and move it in front of or behind the subject. The latter can produce a useful rim-light effect.

The controls will feel familiar to photographers. Diffusion essentially changes the apparent size of the light source, while colour temperature lets you introduce warmer or cooler light.

There is a catch however: Relight uses Photoshop’s generative credits. The preview is free, but rendering the finished image costs 30 credits, with another 30 required if you make further changes and render again. Ramirez also notes that the final result can differ from the preview.

Relight appears most useful with portraits and interiors, while landscapes can look less convincing. It also works on the active layer, which can make it trickier to use with complex composites.

It is still a beta feature, but Relight could prove a handy way to experiment with lighting after the shutter has been pressed, or even test a lighting idea before setting up the real thing.