Ready to get started? Open the free Light Effects App here.
How can you make an ordinary photo look more dramatic?
The Light Effects tool lets you add realistic lighting to almost any photograph. Whether you want a gentle glow, warm sunshine, dramatic rays of light or bright cinematic highlights, the app gives you full control while keeping your original image unchanged.
Unlike a simple brightness adjustment, the effects are designed to recreate the way light behaves in real photographs. You can introduce subtle improvements or create a much more striking look using a combination of adjustable controls.
What the app does
The app combines several lighting effects in one place. You can add a glowing light source, create realistic photographic bloom, make bright objects such as lamps, candles, windows and reflections glow naturally, introduce lens flare and light leaks, add atmospheric haze and darken the edges with a vignette.
The position of the light source can also be moved simply by clicking on the image, allowing you to place the light exactly where it looks most convincing.
How to use the tool
Click Upload Image or drag a photograph into the upload area. Once the image appears, either choose one of the built-in presets or begin adjusting the sliders individually.
Click anywhere on the preview to move the light source, then experiment with the different controls until you're happy with the result. When you've finished, choose JPG, PNG or WebP and download your edited image as a new file.
Understanding the controls
Core Glow creates the main light source, while Photographic Bloom adds a soft glow around bright areas without affecting darker parts of the image.
Glow Around Bright Objects detects naturally bright areas such as candles, headlights, windows, reflections and bright clouds, surrounding them with realistic halos that become brighter and wider as the slider increases.
Light Rays creates visible beams of light, while Lens Flare Rings and Light Leaks reproduce familiar camera lens effects. Atmospheric Haze softens the scene slightly, Warmth adjusts the colour of the light and Vignette darkens the edges to help draw attention towards the centre of the photograph.
Presets and custom adjustments
The built-in presets provide quick starting points for different styles of lighting, from warm sunshine to cinematic effects. After selecting a preset, every control remains available so you can continue refining the image until it looks exactly as you want.
You can also choose different light colours and adjust the position, spread and direction of the light to suit each photograph.
Compare and save your results
The Undo, Redo, Original Image and Randomise buttons make it easy to compare different versions and experiment with new ideas without changing your original photograph.
When you're satisfied with the finished result, simply download the edited image as a new file. Your uploaded photograph always remains untouched.