How To Fix Overexposed Photo In Lightroom

Information technology's happened to every photographer…

You think you nailed the perfect shot, merely so when yous get home and load the images onto your computer, y'all realize that your perfect shot is really overexposed.

Luckily, Lightroom is one of the best tools you have for this, especially if you shot your image in RAW.

To fix overexposed photos in Lightroom, you should use a combination of adjusting the exposure, highlights, and whites of the image and and then utilize the other adjustments to recoup for any loss of contrast or nighttime areas of the prototype that result.

Keep An Heart On The Histogram

The start step towards fixing overexposed images is recognizing when an image is overexposed, where the overexposure is, and how bad it is.

To start with, striking the "J" keyboard shortcut to activate the Clipping Indicators. That will activate a feature in Lightroom that identifies areas of overexposure correct on the image by overlaying those areas with scarlet.

If the merely areas of overexposure are pocket-sized spots like a light bulb or a window, then mayhap you don't need to practise anything. Sometimes, it's ok to accept modest parts of an paradigm overexposed so long as they aren't distracting from the subject of the image.

You should as well take a look at the histogram. That's the graph that you'll come across in the upper right of your Lightroom Develop module.

This graph is a visual representation of how many pixels are in the photo at each level of luminosity. The brighter the pixel, the farther to the right of the graph it volition be represented. The more than pixels there are of a specific luminosity value, the higher the graph will be in that spot.

If the graph is higher on the right side, that ways there are a lot of bright pixels in the image. If the graph is pressed flat against the correct side, that is an indicator that a portion of your image is overexposed.

Remember that, even in Lightroom, the histogram is based on the software rendering a JPEG of the paradigm, not on the actual RAW information captured by the camera. And then even if you encounter a portion of the histogram pressed up against the correct side of the histogram, you may still exist able to recover a skillful amount of that if y'all shot in RAW.

Utilise A Combination Of The Luminosity Sliders

1. Exposure

I like to start here considering this will arrange the overall exposure of the image. If the entire image is overexposed, and so just moving this slider to the left can be all you need to prepare the prototype.

The downside to using the exposure slider is that it volition lower the brightness of the entire image so any nighttime areas of the image volition just get darker.

Just that tin be corrected later on as you lot'll run across below.

Most modern cameras actually recover darker areas better than they recover overexposed areas, and then going forward, you may want to err on the side of underexposing. Only get to know your camera and see how it handles different situations.

2. Highlights

The highlights slider affects only the bright areas of the image only not the brightest areas. I utilize this slider next to try and recover the overexposed parts of the image.

Move the slider to the left and yous'll see the brighter parts of the prototype condign less bright. Even if your histogram shows pixels all the way to the correct side, the highlights slider may be able to recover most of the overexposed pixels.

If that doesn't piece of work then try the next option.

3. Whites

The whites adjustment will affect only the brightest parts of the image. The reason I use this third is because lowering the whites volition tend to subtract the contrast in the image fifty-fifty more than than the highlights slider.

4. Shadows

So you may be wondering why the Shadows adjustment has annihilation to do with fixing an overexposed image…

You lot tin use the shadows slider to recover any areas that may accept gotten too night after y'all went through steps i-3 (unremarkably it's step 1 that affects the shadows).

5. Contrast

Finally, you may need to increase the dissimilarity of the image after lowering the luminosity of the bright areas.

If yous have gone through 1-4 to a higher place and your image looks dull and "flat," then move the contrast slider to the right until the image regains it's crispness.

Targeted Adjustments

Sometimes, you desire to exist more precise than the adjustments in a higher place will allow. The good news is that Lightroom will let you do more than targeted adjustments.

Graduated Filter with Luminosity Targeting

I of the newer exciting additions to Lightroom has been the ability to utilise luminosity targeting (or range masking). This has been possible in Photoshop for years and but came to Lightroom more recently.

The range mask allows y'all to target specific luminosity values with your adjustments.

It allows you to choose which luminosity (or brightness) values volition be targeted by whatever adjustments you lot make. The downside is that it's only available in the targeted adjustment tools like the graduated filter, the radial filter, and the brush tool.

My favorite fashion to utilise this on the entire image is by pulling a graduated filter across the entire image. You lot can also be more specific with the graduated filter if yous have a specific portion of the image you lot desire to target, such as a sky that might be overexposed.

And then you choose "Luminance" at the bottom next to where it says "Range Mask."

You'll so be able to use the Range slider to choose which luminosity values you lot want to target. You'll choose a loftier and a low (from a scale of 0-100, with 100 being the brightest).

Endeavour limiting your adjustments to only the higher values and then brand your changes.

How To Set up Overexposed Faces In Lightroom

Overexposed faces tin be one of the trickier things to handle in Lightroom. It's good to accept the faces of your subjects be a little brighter than the residue of the frame to make certain the viewer is focused on them, just sometimes you might overdo information technology a trivial.

Castor Adjustment

The all-time arroyo for fixing overexposed faces in Lightroom is to use an aligning brush.

Make sure auto masking is turned on and that the feathering is ready to at to the lowest degree 60 or above. I tend to get out the feathering at 100 unless I accept a reason to modify it.

Press the "O" push to show the red overlay of where you are applying the brush adjustment and and then pigment on the overexposed confront, beingness careful to keep the little plus sign in the heart of the castor within the boundaries of the face up you are applying the changes to.

From there you lot can use the apply the same process above with the Exposure, Highlights, Whites, Shadows, and Contrast sliders practical specifically to that area y'all brushed on.

How To Set up An Extremely Overexposed Photograph

The last thing nosotros'll talk about is attempting to recover an extremely overexposed photograph. That may or may not be possible.

Sometimes an image is just not salvageable and trying to do so will just event in a sub-par prototype. You may have to do this if it is a ane time opportunity to get the photo, but keep in mind that there are limitations.

Let The Bright Areas Go Completely White

In these situations, sometimes the all-time option is to go with information technology. Simply focus on your subject and let other areas of the image exist completely blown out to white.

This can happen if yous are photographing a person with vivid backlighting. Trying to recover the background might just plow it an ugly gray, so concentrate on the important role of the image (the person in my example).

Pay Attention To The Histogram Next Time!

This probably isn't what y'all desire to hear, but you may just accept to take it equally a learning experience and remember to keep a close eye on the histogram in your camera next fourth dimension!

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