LBM Relighting vs IC-Light: Which AI Lighting Tool Is Better 2025

AI portrait relighting has two major contenders: IC-Light and the newer LBM Relighting from JasperAI. Both promise to transform flat lighting into dramatic illumination, but they take fundamentally different approaches.

Quick Answer: LBM Relighting outperforms IC-Light in preserving facial details and limiting changes to subjects only. IC-Light affects both subjects and backgrounds, sometimes introducing unwanted shadows. Choose LBM for portrait work and IC-Light for full-scene relighting.

Understanding the Core Differences

The fundamental difference between these tools lies in their approach to lighting:

IC-Light treats the entire image as a lighting canvas. When you apply new lighting, it affects everything—subject, background, and all elements. This creates consistent lighting but can cause unwanted changes to backgrounds and introduce shadows where you don't want them.

LBM Relighting intelligently identifies main subjects and adjusts only their lighting. The background remains mostly untouched, making it ideal when you want to relight a person without changing the environment.

LBM Relighting excels at isolating subjects for targeted lighting changes

Detailed Feature Comparison

IC-Light Strengths

IC-Light remains popular for good reasons:

Mature Ecosystem: Years of development means robust workflows, extensive tutorials, and community support. When you encounter issues, solutions exist.

Two Modes: Text-conditioned and background-conditioned modes offer flexibility. The background mode is particularly powerful for compositing.

Video Support: IC-Light has established video workflows for frame-by-frame relighting with reasonable temporal consistency.

Integration: Works seamlessly with SD 1.5 models and integrates well with other ComfyUI workflows.

LBM Relighting Strengths

LBM brings newer technology with specific advantages:

Subject Intelligence: The model understands what's a subject versus background without manual masking. This automation saves significant time.

Detail Preservation: Facial features, especially fine details like eyelashes and skin texture, survive relighting better than with IC-Light.

Natural Results: By limiting changes to subjects, results look more natural and require less cleanup.

Modern Architecture: Built on more recent AI advances, suggesting potential for faster improvement.

Both tools can create dramatic golden hour effects, but with different approaches

When to Choose IC-Light

IC-Light is better when:

• You want to relight the entire scene
• You're doing compositing with background-conditioned mode
• You need video relighting
• You want extensive community workflow support
• You're already familiar with the tool
• Your background should change with the subject

When to Choose LBM Relighting

LBM Relighting excels when:

• You only want to change subject lighting
• Preserving facial details is critical
• The background lighting is already good
• You're doing high-volume portrait processing
• You need the most natural-looking results
• Manual masking isn't feasible

Installation Comparison

IC-Light Installation:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/kijai/ComfyUI-IC-Light
# Download models to models/unet/

LBM Relighting Installation:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/kijai/ComfyUI-LBMRelight
# Download models to models/LBM/

Both require downloading specific model files from HuggingFace. IC-Light has more documentation on setup; LBM requires more exploration.

Quality Comparison Results

In testing both tools on identical portraits:

Facial Detail Test:

• IC-Light: Some softening of fine details, occasional shadow artifacts
• LBM: Details preserved well, minimal unwanted changes

Lighting Direction Accuracy:

• IC-Light: Good directional control with prompts
• LBM: Excellent automatic direction matching

Background Consistency:

• IC-Light: Background changes with lighting, sometimes unwanted
• LBM: Background largely unchanged

Processing Speed:

• IC-Light: 3-5 seconds per image
• LBM: 4-6 seconds per image (slightly slower)

Combining Both Tools

For maximum flexibility, use both:

1. LBM for Subject: Apply desired subject lighting
2. IC-Light for Background: If background also needs relighting
3. Composite: Blend the results for best of both

This workflow is more complex but gives complete control over all lighting elements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use LBM for product photography?

Yes, LBM works well for products. Its subject isolation handles product shapes effectively.

Does LBM support text prompts like IC-Light?

LBM uses a different interface focused on direction and intensity rather than descriptive prompts.

Which is better for video?

Currently IC-Light has better video support with more established workflows.

Can I use both in the same workflow?

Yes, they can be chained in ComfyUI for different effects on different image regions.

Which requires more VRAM?

Both are similar, around 6-8GB for comfortable operation with SD 1.5.

Conclusion

LBM Relighting represents a genuine advancement in AI portrait lighting, particularly for its ability to isolate subjects and preserve facial details. However, IC-Light remains valuable for full-scene relighting and compositing workflows.

For pure portrait work where subjects matter most, LBM Relighting is the better choice in 2025. For creative projects requiring complete lighting control over all elements, IC-Light's maturity and flexibility make it preferable.

Many professionals now keep both tools in their workflow, choosing based on each project's specific needs.