Brighten a dark photo on iPhone

Open Lighting and raise Exposure. That lifts the whole photo and fixes most portraits taken indoors, in shade or against a bright window. Then add a little Contrast back, because a brightened photo tends to look flat and grey.

Both sliders run in both directions, so the same tool darkens an overexposed photo and softens one with harsh contrast.

Brightness is often only half the problem. Warm indoor bulbs turn skin yellow and overcast light turns it grey. The Edit tool has Warmth to cool down or warm up the photo and Vibrance to bring colour back without oversaturating skin.

Cool Down is a shortcut to the same Warmth setting pushed cooler, for a photo that came out too warm.

Filters has nineteen colour grades, from light portrait tints like Soft Warm, Clean and Portrait to film looks like Chrome, Tungsten and Instant, and two black and whites. Each has an Intensity slider, so a grade can be a light tint rather than a filter look.

Apply the grade after fixing exposure. A grade on a dark photo stays a dark photo.

Pushing exposure until the face looks bright can blow out the forehead and cheeks. Brighten until the eyes read clearly, add Contrast to recover shape, and compare with the original by holding the photo.

If small blotches show more once the photo is brighter, a light pass with Skin softens them while keeping texture.

Lighting, colour and grade settings are saved in a Preset. Photos from the same room or the same day usually need the same fix, so apply the Preset and adjust from there. Everything on this page runs on the iPhone with no connection.