• Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
    Dedicated community for Japanese speakers
  • 한국 커뮤니티
    Dedicated community for Korean speakers
Exit
1

Can Illustrator lighten/darken photos?

Participant ,
Jul 16, 2010 Jul 16, 2010

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Are there basic controls for some minor photo editing light lightening photos that are too dark or anything?  Not looking for anything as extensive as Photoshop, just a few basics

Views

209.9K

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines

correct answers 2 Correct answers

Explorer , Jul 03, 2014 Jul 03, 2014

I have found a way to lighten photos in Illustrator. Select the image you want to lighten. EDIT- EDIT COLOURS - ADJUST COLOUR BALANCE - select this. Move all of the little arrows over to the left by the same value- I have just lightened a Spiderman pic I got off Google that was printing out too dark. I moved all the arrows to the left by 20% and it prints out  now like I have used the 'brighten' feature in Photoshop. The colour vibrancy is maintained and it doesn't look washed out like adding a

...

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert , Jun 02, 2017 Jun 02, 2017

Effects > Stylize > Inner Glow.

"From center" (Radio button)

This thread is 3 years old.

The people discussing here might have already left the forum years ago.

Votes

Translate

Translate
Adobe
LEGEND ,
Jul 16, 2010 Jul 16, 2010

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Yes, AI has some basic adjustment filters inherited from PS and of ycourse you can use blending modes to achieve specific colorization effects. Just be aware that this stuff will always affect the whole image and you cannot easily limit it with selections and masks...

Mylenium

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Participant ,
Jul 16, 2010 Jul 16, 2010

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Where are they located or what are they called? The only way I can find to

lighten an image is to add transparency which will not work for what I need.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
LEGEND ,
Jul 16, 2010 Jul 16, 2010

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Reckon you need to embed photos before you can mess with them.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
May 29, 2014 May 29, 2014

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

The short answer is no.

There are a couple ways to just lighten them, sort of, though. It's really just a white wash. So you're adding a white object with a screen mode on top of it.

One way is to do just that. Add a white object right on top of your image. But then if you change the scale/shape/mask it, then you have to deal with 2 objects.

So option 2, a better option, is to add the "inner glow" effect. Choose the from center option and set blur to zero. It should be set to screen mode by default, and will preset to something like 70%. You'll probably want to start closer to 20 and work +/- from there. To darken an image, it's the same tool. Just change the mode to multiply, and change it's color to black. You're making an inner shadow, but since it's Really the same exact tool, Adobe didn't feel the need to add it, or to change the name to something like Inner Glow/shadow, which might help a bunch of people out when trying to find inner shadow. Then again, Adobe is Terrible when it comes to consistency between software. AfterEffects doesn't even have inner shadow. It's built in as an option to drop shadow. And it has outer glow, not inner glow. Inner glow is done through the drop shadow option if you need it. They should Probably have a cross program manager overseeing these things to help with consistency. Especially since they are trying to force Everyone to buy  rent the master collection.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Jun 02, 2017 Jun 02, 2017

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

"Choose the from center option" - what does this mean? The center option from where?

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jun 02, 2017 Jun 02, 2017

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Effects > Stylize > Inner Glow.

"From center" (Radio button)

This thread is 3 years old.

The people discussing here might have already left the forum years ago.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Jul 03, 2014 Jul 03, 2014

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I have found a way to lighten photos in Illustrator. Select the image you want to lighten. EDIT- EDIT COLOURS - ADJUST COLOUR BALANCE - select this. Move all of the little arrows over to the left by the same value- I have just lightened a Spiderman pic I got off Google that was printing out too dark. I moved all the arrows to the left by 20% and it prints out  now like I have used the 'brighten' feature in Photoshop. The colour vibrancy is maintained and it doesn't look washed out like adding a white mask does! The percentage you change it by depends on how dark your image is to start with, so you will need to have a little play around with the %. Hope this helps others- it's taken me a while of frustration to find this answer- I used to take all my imaged into Photoshop which was a pain.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Feb 02, 2021 Feb 02, 2021

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

This worked for me. Thankyou.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Aug 06, 2021 Aug 06, 2021

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I know this thread is more than 10 years old, and @Jojo Berry your comment is about 7 years old, but your suggestion worked like magic! Thank You!

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Dec 14, 2021 Dec 14, 2021

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Great TIP, works for me too

 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
May 02, 2022 May 02, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Thank you!! 🙂

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Dec 12, 2022 Dec 12, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

This worked me too, 8 years after you comment 🙂 Thanks!

 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Dec 22, 2022 Dec 22, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Thank you! This is just what I needed! Just wonder if there is any way to make this in panel or button... 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Dec 23, 2022 Dec 23, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Great. Lifesaver! Thanks!

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Feb 04, 2024 Feb 04, 2024

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

LATEST

This tip is still alive and well in 2024. Thanks!  😃

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Jan 18, 2021 Jan 18, 2021

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I figured out a different way to lighten up objects, placed or vectors. Place a shape using the pen tool or shape tool, make the fill white and in the opacity options on the shape. You then change the blending mode to lighten and change the opacity to your desired lightness. I hope this helps someone out there Googling like me.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Feb 06, 2022 Feb 06, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I had more luck with the 'Overlay' blending option. Gave me a more natural look. Or the look that I was after.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Participant ,
Dec 23, 2022 Dec 23, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Go old school. Place a box on top of the photo filled with white (or another color or even a gradient) and use transparency/blending mode to allow the photo to show thru in an edited way.  You'll be surprised how much control you'll have. Using effects/svg can be a bit unpredictable if you are heading to print. 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines