A method for image relighting is presented which receives an input image having at least one spurious edge directly resulting from a first illumination present when the input image was acquired, performs anisotropic diffusion on the input image to form a diffusion image, removes the first illumination using the diffusion image to generate a reflectance image and applies a second illumination to the reflectance image. An apparatus for relighting is presented which includes a processor operably coupled to memory storing input image having a first illumination present when the input image was acquired, and functional processing including an anisotropic diffusion module to perform anisotropic diffusion on the input image to form a diffusion image, a combination module which removes the first illumination using the diffusion image to generate a reflectance image, a second illumination module which generates a second illumination, and a lighting application model which applies the second illumination.