# Cast shadow follows camera. How can I fix it. **URL:** \ **Category:** Rendering\ **Tags:** shadow, Shadows, cast-shadow, unreal-engine, question\ **Created:** [February 25, 2021, 4:30am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadow-follows-camera-how-can-i-fix-it/479377 "2021-02-25T04:30:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KentaDoi](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@KentaDoi](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/KentaDoi)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 4:30am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadow-follows-camera-how-can-i-fix-it/479377/1 "2021-02-25T04:30:02Z")
![330809-messageimage-1614226967990.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/4/4/f/44fab92db160607cfd81bb80ab636ad77b666abd.jpeg) Hi I got this shadow around my camera that follows me around as if the camera itself is casting it. How can I get rid of it?? ---
**Author:** ![Origenic](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Origenic](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Origenic)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 11:26pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadow-follows-camera-how-can-i-fix-it/479377/2 "2023-02-22T23:26:27Z")
I’m having the same issue, spent all day trying to get to the bottom of it, eventually found it’s where the skylight isn’t lighting the scene, but I can’t figure out why. ---
**Author:** ![Origenic](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Origenic](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Origenic)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 11:27pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadow-follows-camera-how-can-i-fix-it/479377/3 "2023-02-22T23:27:53Z")
Just seen your post was from two years ago, not yesterday lol Did you figure this out? ---
**Author:** ![Peng.yu](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Peng.yu](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Peng.yu)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadow-follows-camera-how-can-i-fix-it/479377/4 "2024-04-22T18:53:43Z")
ran into the same issue, clueless ![240423025051](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/7/1/d/71d5728b0c13246a360e36594f76198fec24796a.jpeg) ![240423025103](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/b/4/7/b47ede564923d4e4b59e723ee9771b7f890f3c16.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Peng.yu](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Peng.yu](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Peng.yu)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 7:04pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadow-follows-camera-how-can-i-fix-it/479377/5 "2024-04-22T19:04:18Z")
okay , in my case , it’s individual static mesh setting messed up , I deleted floor sm actor , drag new instance into the scene ,shadow is gone now,… but no idea wich setting lead to this artifact… ---
**Author:** ![gideonecho](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@gideonecho](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/gideonecho)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2024, 8:22pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadow-follows-camera-how-can-i-fix-it/479377/6 "2024-05-02T20:22:30Z")
I don’t know if it’s the same thing but I started experiencing this and other strange shadow and lighting issues in my scene. I had earlier been playing around with settings in my Ultra Dynamic Sky. I dragged a new Ultra Dynamic Sky blueprint into the scene, deleted the old one I suspected causing the issue and it fixed it. ---
**Author:** ![AJ\_Graphix](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/aj_graphix/32/1194669_2.png) [@AJ\_Graphix](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/AJ_Graphix)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadow-follows-camera-how-can-i-fix-it/479377/7 "2025-05-07T16:24:14Z")
There are actually several settings that contribute to the shadow following the camera (with Stationary and Movable lights), and I thank God for showing me how to fix it! Basically this is due to the shadow cascades. In your Directional Light, under the “Cascaded Shadow Maps” section, the higher the “Distribution Exponent” is set, the worse the effect will be, because it’s concentrating the shadow cascades closer to the camera. ℹ However, you can actually keep this value high if you want sharper shadows close to the camera, and instead change a different value under the “Light” section, called “ **Shadow Cascade Bias Distribution** ”. This is set to 1 by default, and I found that **setting it to 0.5 basically solved the issue.** With “Num Dynamic Shadow Cascades” set to 3 and “Distribution Exponent” set to 3, a value of 0.5 for the “ **Shadow Cascade Bias Distribution** ” seemed to work well, but you may need to tweak it a bit if you’re using different values and can still see the shadow. Additionally, you can increase the “Transition Fraction” setting to make the blend even smoother, but the tooltip claims this will increase shadow cost a bit). ---
**Author:** ![MostHost\_LA](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/mosthost_la/32/907035_2.png) [@MostHost\_LA](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MostHost_LA)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadow-follows-camera-how-can-i-fix-it/479377/8 "2025-05-07T16:32:40Z")
The screenshot with the visible ring around player location - that’s actually your post process setup. One of the settings in there - don’t recall which but related to something like athmosphere - is the main cause of it. And it can also be part of the eye adaptation bit since it works as a post process - so when checking/testing you want to turn off eye adaptation to be sure its not part of the final result. ---
**Author:** ![AJ\_Graphix](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/aj_graphix/32/1194669_2.png) [@AJ\_Graphix](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/AJ_Graphix)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadow-follows-camera-how-can-i-fix-it/479377/9 "2025-05-07T16:45:34Z")
It’s always a good idea to bypass any Post Process volumes to see if they might be affecting anything. In my case though, the dark shadow band following the camera was directly caused by the **Shadow Cascade Bias Distribution** being set to 1.0 on the Directional Light. Setting it to 0.5 solved it. ---
**Author:** ![Nico\_Steyl](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/nico_steyl/32/744853_2.png) [@Nico\_Steyl](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Nico_Steyl)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 10:12am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadow-follows-camera-how-can-i-fix-it/479377/10 "2025-10-06T10:12:44Z")
I had the same issue in 5.5, disabling nanite on the mesh seems to fix it. ---
**Author:** ![ZacD](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@ZacD](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/ZacD)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadow-follows-camera-how-can-i-fix-it/479377/11 "2025-10-06T12:57:53Z")
I’ve had this type of artifact in the editor with contact shadows before. Make sure the **Contact Shadow Length** on the directional light is 0.