Adjust Photo Brightness Online

Brighten a photo that is too dark or darken an overexposed one with a slider, without losing the original: the setting stays editable.

The editor is designed for a computer or tablet: open this page on a larger screen to edit your image.

100% local processing, nothing is uploaded

How does it work?

Drop your photo: it opens in the editor, already brightened by +15. In the right-hand panel, under “Adjustments and filters”, set the Brightness slider from −100 (darker) to +100 (brighter). The Exposure slider acts more strongly on the light areas, as in photography.

The adjustment is non-destructive: it stays editable until you export, and 0 restores the original photo. Adjust the contrast if needed, then click Export.

Examples

Brightening a backlit photo

With a brightness of +15, each color channel gains 15% of 255, or 38 levels: a face at 90 out of 255 goes up to 128, much more visible, while a sky already at 240 reaches the maximum (255).

Darkening a background before adding white text

A 1920 × 1080 photo darkened by −30 loses 77 levels per channel: a light background at 200 drops to 124, and a white title (255) becomes much easier to read on top.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between brightness and exposure?
Brightness adds the same value to every pixel: dark and light areas shift by the same amount. Exposure multiplies the values: light areas change more than dark ones, as if the photo had been taken with more or less light.
Why does the sky turn completely white?
An image cannot go beyond pure white: areas that are already light hit that maximum and lose their detail. Brighten less, or lower the contrast slightly to keep the shades in the sky.
Can I undo my changes?
Yes: Ctrl/Cmd + Z undoes, Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + Z redoes, and the “History” tab lets you go back several steps (40 steps per document). A move, a brush stroke or a slider adjustment counts as a single step.
Are my images uploaded to a server?
No. Images are opened, edited and encoded in your browser, on your device. No image, file name or layer text is uploaded: you can even go offline once the page has loaded. Closing the tab erases your work in progress.

Related tools