A method for rendering an image including objects defined by surfaces. A rendering application selects an object in a first image and determines a surface of the object. An initial set of illumination values is calculated and is separated into low and high spatial frequency components associated with the surface of the object. The rendering application independently adjusts the illumination values of the low and high spatial frequency components based lighting information in the first image, and generates a modified set of illumination values by combining the adjusted low and high spatial frequency components. The surface of the object is then rendered using the modified set of illumination values. Advantageously, embodiments of the invention provide techniques for rendering an object without introducing halo effects around the object. Additionally, embodiments of the invention provide for rendering a sequence of frames without introducing fluctuations in the low frequency components from across frame.