Remove Harsh Shadows in Photoshop (Quick Method)
In this quick Photoshop workflow, you’ll target the shadow regions and brighten them selectively. You’ll create a highlight-based selection from Channels, invert it to isolate shadows, then apply a Screen blend layer with a negative mask. Finally, you’ll paint in the correction precisely where you need it.
Step-by-step instructions
Select the highlights from Channels
Open Window → Channels.
Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac) + click the RGB channel thumbnail to load a selection of the bright areas.
Invert and copy the shadow selection
Switch back to Window → Layers.
Go to Select → Inverse to target the shadow areas.
Press Ctrl/Command + J to copy the selection to a new layer.
Set the brightening blend mode and mask
Change the new layer’s blend mode from Normal to Screen.
Alt/Option + click the Add Layer Mask icon to create a black (inverted) mask.
Paint in the shadow lift
Press B to select the Brush Tool.
Set Foreground color to white.
Choose a Soft Round brush.
Paint over the shadow areas to reveal the Screen effect where needed.
