After a long day of shooting, you get home and upload your images to your desktop. You discover that many of the photos are overexposed.
Before you think you wasted your time, it’s worth considering what you can do with these photos.
At some point or another, you are going to need to know how to fix an overexposed photo. Read on to learn how to deal with incorrect exposure.
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How to Understand the Problem of Overexposure
An overexposed photo could be down to several different reasons. Either you aren’t metering the light correctly, or your camera isn’t. We are so used to our eyes compensating light and dark areas; we forget cameras can’t do the same.
Take this as an example.
The facade of a building will hide in the shade if it is sunny and bright. Both the ground and sky are well lit. To our eyes, there isn’t much difference in the light. The details can be seen in both well-lit areas and the shadows.
Our camera, however, can’t do the hard work — they lack a brain. Your camera may notice that the shadowed areas are up to three stops darker than the well lit ones.
Overexposing an image can also be because we got used to looking at screens all the time. Sometimes, it is even hard to notice overexposure on your camera’s screen.
Imagine this scene: you’re trying to photograph a tall building on a sunny day with a few clouds. Either the sky’s perfect and your building is too dark, but it looks perfect while the sky is bright and clear. Or the sky is too dark and your building appears .
Understanding why your photos are overexposed can help you understand the problem.
How to Read The Histogram
Even though your camera doesn’t have a brain, it can still let you know that your photos are overexposed. You can use the histogram to help you.
A histogram shows you the tonal range for your exposed scene. It is divided into three equal parts: dark, mid-tones and light tones.
The dark tones can be further divided into shadows and blacks. The highlights and whites are for light tones.
Being able to read a histogram will help you know when your image becomes overexposed. You can identify the light sources in your image by looking at which areas your colored pixels fall within.
A histogram looks best when it is uniform in shape. The histogram should not be moved or distorted to the left or right.
Your image will have dark areas if you see a majority of the pixels to your left. The larger the area, the more pixels there are. As they fall more and more to the left, the areas are darker and darker.
As more pixels are added to the right areas, the opposite happens. This will result in larger areas of white that are stronger.
Contrast images will have pixels that are in all three areas and peak in the middle-tones. This will create a balanced image, depending on what scene it is.
Why You Should Shoot in RAW
Shooting in RAW is the only way we recommend taking photographs at all. RAW files can be up to 6 times larger than JPGs, and that is for good reason.
While RAW files have JPG embedded into them, RAW images hold more information about the scene then a JPG. This is due to the fact that RAW is not a compressed format, but a lossless one.
This allows you more control when it comes to editing your images. This works well to bring back detail in areas that are too exposed.
Raw files can be saved in many file formats. Canon uses CR2/CR3 file formats, while Sony uses ARW.
You will need Camera Raw to process them. They will not pose any problems as long as you use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. There are other programmes as well that allow you to process RAW files. Capture One is one such program.
Why Are My Photographs Overexposed?
What is the Exposure Triangle?
The exposure triangle is composed of the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. If they are not working together, it can lead to incorrectly exposed scenes.
If you are shooting in manual mode, it is very easy to create an overexposed image.
You may have set your ISO too high. An ISO setting of 100-200 should be sufficient for sunny days.
The aperture is the next thing you need to focus on after setting your ISO. The lower your aperture, the more light you will get into your lens. Your chances of overexposing your image are higher if you have more light hitting your sensor. For a better exposure, try closing the aperture.
After setting your ISO and aperture, turn your attention to the shutter speed. If your image is too bright, you need to increase your shutter speed. Raising it from 1/200th to 1/600th will help — as long as it doesn’t affect other settings.
The best part about the exposure triangle? All three settings can be co-dependent.
If you increase the amount of light entering your lens with one setting, you need to decrease it using another setting. Our exposure triangle article provides more details.
How to Choose a Metering Mode
Your camera has a built-in light meter. This helps you know when the scene needs to be changed.
There are three metering modes: Matrix, Centre-Weighted and Spot Metering. Each mode will look at your scene differently. The Matrix, or evaluative metering mode, looks at the whole scene to work out the best exposure.
A Centre-Weighted Metering mode examines the central part of an image and determines the best exposure. This is perfect when you need to correctly expose one area of your image, not considering the background.
Spot Metering is a method that exposes one point in your scene (or spot). It doesn’t take in the other 99% of the image.
The light meter can be both a curse or a blessing. The metering modes will help you find a correct exposure, but they can really mess it up if you aren’t careful.
If you place a portrait in the middle of an image, it could overexpose other parts of the picture.
When you want to capture a shot of the sky, your metering modes will find that correct exposure. However, clouds coming along means your camera needs to re-evaluate the scene.
How Can I Fix an Overexposed Photo?
Learn How to Take Well-Exposed Images
I know this sounds obvious, but it’s the best way. Understanding how you take a correctly exposed image will help to eliminate the problem. Post-production can also be helpful.
Make sure to properly meter your scene if you shoot in manual mode. If your scene is too light, then either the aperture or shutter speed needs to go up. Or the ISO needs to come down.
In terms of editing and correcting exposure, it is always better to underexpose your images manually. You can bring it back to an even exposure afterwards, and it is easier to do so than in the case of overexposure. Overexposure can cause loss of detail. You can only lose very little detail with underexposure.
As you get more skilled with your photography, you’ll see where the problems are.
Learn more about exposure settings in Photography for Beginners.
Use Bracketing
One way photographers get over the possibility of an overexposed photo by using bracketing. This is when you take two extra photographs of your scene, but with a +1 and -1 exposure value than what you find to be the best.
This idea gives you three chances to nail the shot. This was a favorite technique for film photographers as it allows them to confirm that they are using the correct exposure.
All you need to do is first set your camera mode to manual. You can then take a photo at the best setting, and then adjust one of the exposure triangle settings. You will get the -1 or +1 exposures.
If I had ISO 100 settings, shutter speed 1/1000, aperture f/5.6, and ISO 100 exposures, I would first capture it. Then, I would change the shutter speed to 1/500th for the +1 value, and then 1/2000th for the -1.
You can change the shutter speed to alter how you photograph scenes that have movement. You are free to move the aperture, but that may affect your depth of field. You can do what you think is best for your scene.
You can stack images together if you go for -3 or +3 instead of -1 and+1. This is called high dynamic range (HDR).
This technique allows you to bring out details in the lighter areas of each image by stacking them together. The darker areas are also exposed more.
For example, by photographing the interior of an apartment, you’ll find a correctly exposed interior and overexposed windows. The light is more balanced when you take three photos.
Add a Graduated Filter
In Lightroom, you have a Graduated Filter tool. This works the same as a Graduated Neutral density filter used by landscape photographers. The basic idea is that it adds a darkness gradient to an area of your image.
It is graduated to blend into your image better. When used correctly, this tool brings out the details in your images.
To use this, head over to Lightroom and into the Develop module. Under the Histogram, you’ll notice six little icons. The fourth icon is the Graduated filter.
Click on this icon to select it. Next, click on this icon and drag down to the area closest to the top.
For a simple landscape with the sky covering the top area, click at the top of the frame and drag down to the horizon.
Now, you are free to change the settings as you see fit, seeing a responsive preview as you do.
Best Post-Processing Tools to Fix Overexposed Photos
Exposure Slider
When it comes to post-processing your images, there are several things you can do to fix overexposure. The Exposure slider adjusts your image’s brightness. You should take it slow as it is very sensitive.
The numbers you see in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom relate to the number of stops you can increase or decrease the exposure. Slide it left and it will darken the image, while sliding it right will make it brighter.
This may not be the best way to finalise your image, but it is the best place to start. It’s a global action, meaning it affects your entire image. For more local exposure changes, you need to use the Adjustment Mask.
You will have approximately 4-6 stops of playback if you shoot RAW. This means that you could bring the exposure down to -2/-3 or up to +2/+3 without suffering any loss of resolution or quality.
Whites Slider
The Whites slider sets the overall brightness of the image too, but by adjusting the mid-tones. By pulling this slider to the right, you increase the brightness of the mid-tones.
When you pull it to the left, you take the brightness of your mid-tones down. You will see a lot more contrast in the mid-tones.
If you go too far, you’ll suck the life out of the light areas instead of bringing out detail.
Highlights Slider
Highlights are the brightest areas of your image. This slider can really help to recover that last bit of detail in a burnt-out area.
The slider can be adjusted to a 200-degree angle. It allows you to go to -100 and +100. This could be your last resort.
Using These Tools to Fix Your Image
You will find that moving one of the above three sliders will bring down some of the exposure, but not entirely. Both of these tools work together to get the best from your image.
My approach is to work internationally first and locally second.
This means that I reduce the Exposure value first. Then I go for the Whites, and if that doesn’t fix the problem, I go to the Highlights.
After that, if there are any areas of my image that are dark, I use the Adjustment Brush to paint it back in.
This is what I do when my image’s overexposed areas exceed 33%. The Adjustment Brush is used if the area of overexposed is smaller. This allows me to bring out details in lighter areas and not globally.
The workflow you use will vary depending on the scene and your work style. But it’s a good start for combating overexposure!
Conclusion
Getting the exposure right is something that even professional photographers sometimes struggle with. Luckily, there are ways an overexposed photo.
Whether it is in-camera or during post-processing, you can turn to different tools to help you with overexposure.
