Tips For Adjusting Exposure In Photos With Photoshop Easily – Almost every photographer has experienced the failure of importing an important photo into Lightroom, only to realize that at least half of the shots were overexposed or underexposed. A DSLR’s preview screen is known for showing a bright, exciting version of what you’ve captured, so if you rely solely on the back of your camera, you may not be disappointed. That’s why many photographers hedge their bets with strategic bracketing, and after reading this guide, you’ll have all the tools you need to get started!
It all starts with lighting. This is the thing that photographers struggle with the most because it really has a mind of its own. Artificial lighting is great for moving inconsistent natural lighting in the right direction, but it’s not right for every project. You’ll be at the mercy of Mother Nature (or her nasty cousin, house lighting) while you’re traveling. Shooting exposures with different settings increases your chances of getting the perfect shot, so your post-processing can focus on creativity instead of damage control.
Tips For Adjusting Exposure In Photos With Photoshop Easily
This technique is a simple way to make sure you capture the scene with the “best” exposure by taking a series of three to seven photos at different exposures. For example, if you take three photos, you will:
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After shooting, you can choose which photos suit your needs and continue. You can even go one step further and use Lightroom or Photoshop to combine all your photos into one image with different exposures (more on that later).
In this case, you probably set the “best” exposure using the camera’s built-in light meter. It’s a great starting point, but it only gets you part of the way. Light meters are designed to give you the best overall exposure in your image, and it’s great if everything in your image has the same approximate value. As you know, this is very rare.
When we see a scene, we can see a large range of values at once. Our eyes are usually smart enough to distinguish between dark and light areas, even if it takes a few seconds to adjust. For our cameras, it’s a little different. Without assistance, your camera will struggle to capture details in high-light scenes. This is why many photographers avoid taking pictures during the day. Even if you think it’s a great time to shoot, direct sunlight creates harsh shadows in post-processing that are difficult to process and difficult to measure correctly in-camera.
So, if you’re shooting a photo with highlights, midtones, and shadows, you may have a lot of detail in one light range, but you’ll find that you have to sacrifice detail in other light ranges. The exposure bracket allows you to find the settings that get the best range of values for your specific needs.
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If the sky is really your limit (meaning it’s too bright to show properly with the rest of the scene), you can buy a graduated neutral density (GND) filter and attach it to the lens (or buy a holder that allows you to use multiple filters). The GND filter consists of a transparent region and a dark region. If you place a dark part over the lightest part – say the sky – it will darken and help balance the range of light throughout the image.
The ISO bracket is when the camera’s shutter speed and aperture are the same. Bracketing is done by increasing and decreasing the gain or ISO value. Because of this, ISO bracketing can only be done when the camera is in manual mode.
Using exposure bracketing can also be useful when shooting raw photos. While RAW gives you the most editing flexibility, if it’s overexposed or underexposed, you can lose detail in the raw photo.
HDR means high dynamic range. The purpose of HDR photography is to increase the normal dynamic range of the camera, giving photos an ultra-realistic look. However, exposure bracketing is designed to find the correct exposure across multiple images.
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In short, correct exposure occurs when all camera settings are perfectly aligned to the conditions you are shooting in, resulting in optimal exposure. Correct exposure is achieved when you balance highlights and low lights and preserve detail in all aspects of your shot.
As we’ve just discussed, a human is still better than a machine (like your camera) who can decide a scene with a glance (or a click!). This is because our eyes have a much greater dynamic range than the sensors of our cameras.
We can understand dynamic range by thinking of a grayscale world, where everything is the white of white, the black of black, or somewhere in between. Low dynamic range can only cover the dark gray to light gray area. Images with low dynamic range will have shadow areas that may appear slightly black and highlights that may be closer to white. On the other hand, the maximum dynamic range extends from the darkest black to the lightest white. This results in a more evenly lit image and more detail in the photo.
Digital or film cameras can only capture a certain range of detail, so bracketed exposures can be used.
How To Correct Exposure In Photos
If you’re struggling with color meanings from the past, there’s an old artist’s trick that can help. Squint as you look at your scene. The lightest and darkest values are immediately apparent. Now you can spot problem areas in your scene before they disappear!
If you’re forced to shoot in less-than-ideal conditions, shooting in RAW can help capture as much detail as possible so you can recover some of the areas lost in post. However, this is not a panacea. While it’s easy to use a magic file type and never look in the mirror again, a single RAW image doesn’t give us as much information/data as multiple images.
First, you’ll encounter some digital noise when you lighten additional dark pockets of an image in post-processing. This noise can also occur during shooting, but is easier to deal with in-camera than out-of-camera.
On the other hand, there are no rules that say you have to choose between brackets and RAW. They actually complement each other well. If you have additional pictures that contain additional information, you can use many corrections in the post. With all of these in hand, you have a much better chance of getting at least one good exposure of every part of your image. In the immortal words of the (fictional) great Dr. Fraser Crane, “If less is more, think how much more is more!”
How To Correct Exposure In Photoshop For Better Photos
As you know, exposure bracketing is a great way to give yourself the chance to get the “perfect” shot. But you may want to create high dynamic range (HDR) images to increase the lighting and, in turn, the amount of particles that emit this light.
Let’s dive into the world of HDR by looking at two examples of these image types:
The HDR effect on the face can show character, as we see in the man on the left, but it can also result in a “photoshopped” look, as we see in the boy on the right. In these cases, using layer masks can help soften or enhance the HDR effect for different people in your image.
HDR is a favorite of landscapers who know how important it is to get it right the first time! Due to weather and other factors, ambient lighting can be difficult to replicate, so getting every value in an image well represented can be important in post-processing.
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Using these visuals, you can see how this method of combining multiple images into a single image gives you visual access to values at both ends of the spectrum. HDR is usually associated with a unique look that can be so hyperrealistic that it starts to look surreal. Don’t worry, if you want something more subtle to capture those details without making your technique the only thing viewers notice, you can use HDR more subtly.
Many cameras and phones have an HDR setting, so you can simply switch to it and see the results instantly. To do this technique manually, you’ll use the same photography process you normally do with exposure bracketing (you’ll combine them all later in post-processing), but there are some key differences.
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