LightX Color Grading

LightX's browser tool for setting the colour and mood of a photo with sliders, and for grading the subject separately from the background.

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Overview

LightX Color Grading is the part of the LightX editor that sets the colour and mood of a photo. You work with sliders, not presets: hue and saturation shift the colours, white balance sets temperature and tint, and exposure, contrast, brightness, highlights and shadows change the light. LightX uses AI to tell the subject from the background, so you can grade one without touching the other.

It runs in a browser and in the LightX iPhone and Android apps. Grading is free and the download carries no watermark, but it comes out as a low-resolution JPG with no PNG option. A full-size file needs the Pro subscription or purchased credits. LightX states one-time credits never expire.

Key features

✓Hue & saturation sliders to shift colours
✓White balance: temperature & tint
✓Exposure, contrast, brightness, highlights & shadows
✓Red, green & blue gamma sliders
✓AI selection separates subject from background
✓Grade the whole photo, the subject or the background
✓Runs in a browser, nothing to install
✓Same editor in the iPhone & Android apps
✓Sits alongside LightX's retouch & cleanup tools
✓One-time credits with no expiry

When to use

Use LightX Color Grading if:

  • You want to set the mood of a photo with sliders and see the result immediately, without installing anything.
  • You want the subject and the background graded differently. The AI selection separates them for you rather than making you trace an outline.
  • You are already in LightX. The grading sits in the same project as its retouching, background and cleanup tools.
  • You edit on a phone as much as a computer. The same editor runs in the iPhone and Android apps.
  • You grade a photo now and then. The one-time credit purchase avoids a subscription, and LightX states those credits do not expire.
  • You want to try the look before committing. Grading is free, and payment only decides the size of the file you get.

When NOT to use

Skip LightX Color Grading if any of these describe you:

  • You need a full-size file at the end and do not want to pay. Free downloads are low-resolution JPGs.
  • You grade for a living. This is a slider panel, not a grading suite. Adobe Lightroom gives you curves, colour ranges and RAW files.
  • You shoot RAW. RAW files hold the colour data grading works on, and this browser tool does not read them. Compare other color grading tools.
  • You want a free editor that exports at full size. Photopea and Pixlr are browser photo editors that do.

Frequently asked questions

You can grade a photo free on the Starter plan, and the download carries no watermark. It comes out as a low-resolution JPG, and there is no PNG option. A full-size file takes the Pro subscription or bought credits.

It depends how you get them. A new free account starts with 12 AI credits. Pro includes a monthly allowance. Credits bought as a one-time purchase are the exception: LightX states they have lifetime validity, so they suit someone who edits every few months rather than every week.

Yes. LightX uses AI mask detection to tell the subject from the background, so you can apply a grade to the whole photo, to the subject only, or to the background only. Doing that by hand means tracing the outline yourself.

This is a browser tool built around ordinary image files and slider adjustments, not a RAW workflow. If you shoot RAW, you would be giving up the extra colour information in those files, and a desktop editor built for RAW is the better place to grade.

Yes. LightX runs as a website and as apps for iPhone and Android, and a Pro subscription covers you across them. The AI features work the same way on each, because the processing happens on LightX's servers rather than on the device. That also means every version needs a connection.

Alternatives to LightX Color Grading

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ImagiTool Color Correction

A free browser tool for fixing photo colors by hand with hue, saturation and temperature sliders, no account or watermark.

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Evoto AI Color Match

Copies the colour grade from a reference photo onto yours in one click, then syncs it across a whole shoot.

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Media.io Auto Color

Media.io's free one-click AI fixes colour, exposure and white balance in photos, watermark-free.

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