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If you removed all shadows and highlights then you would end up with a 50% greycard, so it may be better to explain what you are after by using an example image.
That said for use in 3D applications there are tools to de- light an image so that all lighting effects are removed and the basic surface colour information can be extracted to use in the Base Color of a 3D material. I am not aware of tools to do that in Photoshop but Adobe Substance Designer and Adobe Substance Alchemist can both do
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When I read the inquiry I thought the OP was inquiring about creating a Ghost (also called Phantom) image that is often used as a background design element…usually as a duotone as shown above or with a flat color over a ghost. In it the highlights are toned down a bit and the shadow end of the scale is lightened considerably. In the film days, we were provided with a normal-range photograph and the designer’s instruction to the lithographer was “Ghost to 70%” or “Ghost to 50%" to specify the maximum shadow value of the final image. Today it is a simple Curve adjustment.
Take this example, it has highlights and shadows. I want to remove all the highlights and shadows from the image and equalize the image.
Removing all shadows and highlights necessarily removes all details resulting in two blobs of color like this.
I did this with a quick mask and paint brush.
You doing it in extreme. You want to keep the info of the image but if there are highlights or shadows from when the image was taken, you want those removed.
Without shadows and highlights, there are NO details. Maybe what you're really asking is how to remove camera artifacts and lighting imperfections in post. That's a totally different question. And solutions to those problems vary greatly depending on many factors. Unfortunately, there are no one-size-fits-all-answers. We must see the actual image. Sometimes an image can be salvaged in post, sometimes it can't.
BTW, we see a lot of these types of questions in Adobe Stock Contributors forum. Check it out. Even if you're not a Stock photographer, you might pick up a few tips on how to work with your own photos.
Your relating it as though it's a Stock specific question, which it's not.
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No, I never said it was Stock specific. I feel like we're spinning our wheels here. Maybe we have a language barrier. Or perhaps it's because you just aren't familiar enough with the terminology and concepts yet. I don't know. What you're asking for still makes no sense. I said it at the top and I'm saying it again. Until you show us an actual image, I have nothing more to say.
if there are highlights or shadows from when the image was taken, you want those removed.
I'm beginning to think this is really about bad lighting.
In that case it has to be approached on a case by case basis, it's not possible to give a general answer.
"You want to keep the info of the image but if there are highlights or shadows from when the image was taken, you want those removed."
I'm sorry but that still does not make sense to me. If you remove the highlights and shadows then you are removing the detail. You showed us a "before" image but I don't understand your explanation of what you want the "after" image to look like. Just repeating the same thing is not helping our understanding so that we can help you. Just removing the range of luminosity to leave the colour does this, which I am sure is not what you want :
I mentioned 3D software early - such as Substance Designer and Alchemist, which you told me was the wrong answer, but in way of an explanation this is what Adobe Alchemist does to your image with it's conversion to a Base Color map :
It also uses the information in the original to build roughness, normal and height maps :
so that the material can be reconstructed in 3D
It would be helpful if you can show us with a simpler example a before and after of what you want to achieve so that we can apply that example to the image you posted earlier
Dave
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