When it comes to photography, iPhones are a formidable foe. Most individuals are learning that you do not need a fancy camera to capture incredibly breathtaking photos. However, there are times when you may have to fix an overexposed photo.
You can fix your overexposed photo on iPhone by opening the photo that is overexposed in your camera roll. Next, you will want to click on the edit button and then the dial button towards the bottom screen. There you can adjust the Brightness levels to whatever you like.
There are more in-depth details that will be discussed on how to change the exposure levels among your photos. Other tips will be talked about so that you can have an idea of how to control the exposure touching your photo.
Fixing Your Overexposed Photo On iPhone
While you are using your iPhone you may notice that your photo has too much brightness. There are many who think that the photo may be ruined but there are ways that will recover it. You can fix your overexposed photos in the following methods:
- Edit Brightness in the Photos App
- Use Adobe Photoshop
- Use Adobe Lightroom
Understanding these methods will help you to salvage any picture that becomes overexposed on your iPhone.
Edit Brightness in The Photos App
The first method is exceptionally easy. Just open your Photos app on your iPhone. Tap on the photo you wish to change the overexposure and at the bottom of the screen, you will see a Dial button. You will have these options to choose from:
- Light
- Color
- B&W (Black and White)
For an overexposed photo, you will want to select the Light tab. Once you tap on the Light tab you will have many selections to sort through, but you want to pic the Brightness option that should have the number 0 beside it.
Select the Brightness tab and the Brightness slider will appear under the picture. Now all you have to do is pull the slider in the negative direction that is comfortable. The negative number is meant to underexpose the light and the positive direction will continue to brighten the picture.
Be sure that you hit the Done button so that all of your work is saved. Note that if later on, you do not like the changes you have made to the photo, that you can hit the Revert or Undo button.
Use Adobe Photoshop
For this method, you will have to load the overexposed photo to your computer. Once you have uploaded your photo to your computer, you can now follow these steps:
- Look at your Layers panel to see where your photo is. More than likely it is in the Background layer as it is the only photo and the first photo.
- To lessen the overexposure of the photo you will need to open up the Levels adjustment layer. To add this layer, look at the bottom of your Layers panel and you will see a circle that is half full.
- Tap on the circle and select a Levels layer which will now appear on top of your photo in the Layers panel.
- Make sure you have highlighted the Levels layer that is above your Background photo. In the Properties panel click on the Layers tab and you can begin to head towards Blend Mode.
- Blend Mode will have the word Normal in the box, but you want to change it to Multiply.
- Instead of leaving Blend Mode in Normal and that you have now changed it to Multiply, you can determine if the photo is dark enough.
- To change the darkness of the photo you can travel back to the Properties panel. You will see the word, Opacity and from there you can lessen it.
By lessening the opacity, you now have control over how light and how dark your photo is. If you prefer to use Adobe Lightroom you can.
Use Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom is meant for situations such as these. You can even download the Adobe Lightroom app for iPhone and iPad if you are constantly moving. So, here are the necessary actions to take when correcting your overexposed photos:
- Just like Adobe Photoshop’s Properties panel, Lightroom has the Basic panel. This is the panel where you can change anything about the photo.
- First, upload your photo to the software. Next, you want to look at everything in the Basic panel. If you are dealing with a color photo, then make sure your treatment is set to color. If it is a black and white photo, change the treatment to Black & White.
- You can head down to the Exposure slider once you have figured out your treatment. Making this slider reach the negatives will make the picture darker.
- Next, you may want to look into the Contrast slider. Contrasting the picture can either make your colors pop or you can dull them out a bit for a more natural look.
- Both the Highlights and Whites sliders will target the parts of your photos that are the brightest. So, if you have a photo of someone with a neon shirt in a dark room, the slider will brighten or darken the shirt only.
- Now, you can look into the Shadows and Blacks sliders. Just like the Highlights and Whites sliders, these will make the darker areas of your photo more prominent.
- Your Clarity slider will reduce the noise or grain in your photo.
Using Adobe Lightroom to Adobe Photoshop may be easier for you since Lightroom was meant for correcting photos specifically. If you are not sure that your photo is overexposed there are ways to know.
Identifying Your Exposed Photo
There are times when enough overexposure is warranted. Maybe you have a shot that includes the sun or snow. The place of your shoot may be in an open field with an abundance of natural light. This will cause overexposure at one point during your shoot.
The same can be said for underexposure if you are taking pictures at night or during a sunset. The shadows are more prominent, and the blacks of your photos stand out more. The key is to find that balance on your iPhone.
With too much light and too many shadows, you will lose the detail necessary in your photo to make it believable. You can use a reflector or shade to bring down the light to a level that is comfortable. There is also a trick that many photographers use to compensate for under or overexposure.
If your photos are looking a bit overexposed, you will want to increase your shutter speed. To do this on the iPhone you will want to download a photo editing app. The faster your shutter speed is plus mixing with or fixing the f/stop lowering it will reduce how much light enters your photo.
The same can be said for underexposing your photos. You can raise the f/stop or you can slow down your shutter speed. If you slow down your shutter speed, place your iPhone on a tripod. With slower shutter speeds this leaves room for error if you slightly move your phone.
The photo will pick up the slight movement and potentially ruin your photo. Therefore you will need a tripod when using slower shutter speeds.
Identifying what makes your photo under or overexposed is half the battle. The other part of this battle is to learn how to take charge of any overexposure before you take the shot.
How To Take Charge Of Your Exposure On an iPhone
There are days when time is of the essence as you are taking photos for other people against the clock. You may forget a step here or forget to change the setting there. However, if you can just take a breath and follow these tips on how to control your shots, you will be better off in the long run.
This section is to help you work with the setting and lighting that you have for your shot. While it seems like there are elements that are working against you, there are ways in which you can take back the odds.
- Open your iPhone’s camera. As you find the shot that you want, you can then tap the screen. Tapping the screen allows the Sun icon to pop up. The slider on the side adjusts the brightness of your photo and you can lock this exposure level in. You can lock the exposure level by pressing and holding the AE/AF Lock.
- If you have an iPhone that carries the Portrait mode, then you also have access to different apertures from f 1.4 to f 16.
- In Portrait mode, you have three options:
- Natural Light: Offers the sun icon for the exposure and the different apertures.
- Studio Light and Contour Light: Both of these portrait methods have the sun icon, the different apertures, and a Light slider.
So, while you now know how to control the shot and stop the overexposure there are other tips that can help you manage. Learning these different steps to managing your exposure, in general, can help you to take the best photos you can.
Learning Different Way to Manage Your Exposure
Learning how to manage the exposure before you take the shot saves you from a lot of headaches later. Take the necessary actions needed to prep your iPhone’s camera before taking the shot. This will help you to learn more about your iPhone and its capabilities.
Underexpose When Necessary
Although there are some shots that require light to be let into the photo, you may be letting in too much light. There are other individuals who thought that their viewfinder showed them exactly what they were shooting. Only to find out that once they uploaded their photo to the computer that they overexposed the shot.
So, to combat this problem, you may wish to underexpose your photo. Use the Sun icon when you tap on the screen and scroll slightly downwards on your screen. Underexposing a photo can still give you back some details of the photo when you are editing it. Overexposing the photo makes you lose any details that even editing will not help fix.
Pick Your Best Angles
Unless your photo requires the sun to be in it, it is best if you take your photos away from it. Stand in different locations to have the best angle that takes enough of the overexposure out of your shot.
Maybe your subject can stand under a tree or can lay on the floor for an aerial shot? You want to limit the light as much as you can and choosing your angles is more controllable than limiting the amount of light around you.
Use the location to your advantage. If the lighting is harsh in each possible direction, try to find a hallway or a bridge that lets in just a bit of light to still brighten up the picture. The exposure should be just low enough for you to see the details you want.
Use HDR When Faced with Harsh Lighting Situations
The HDR feature on your iPhone is a necessary fix when it comes to having the wrong light in your shoots. What HDR does is take a total of three pictures with different exposure level and then combines them. HDR works for both under and overexposed shots.
Once they are all combined you should then have one photo that has the right exposure. HDR is not always turned on with each photo you take, so there is a choice you can make to turn it on or off whenever you please.
- You can turn your HDR feature on and off by tapping on the Setting app.
- Then scrolling down to the Camera tab, you want to look towards the bottom of the screen for Smart HDR.
- From there if you tap the HDR button on, it will continue to take HDR photos until you tap it off again.
Adjusting Your Highlights and Shadows
This section may err more on the side of post-production. Taking the shot at the right time and the right angle will be key with this method. You may want to take the photo when the sun is starting to become lower and when darker objects are more prominent.
This dynamic allows your shadows and darker features to take the center stage, while still having light to play with. Once you upload your photo or you begin to edit it on your iPhone, you can easily brighten or darken your photo to highlight the exact colors that you need.
As you underexpose, do not forget the shadows of your subjects. The shadows can lend a great detail or story to your photo. Maybe the shadow is your subject and you want to create a more dramatic feeling. Shadows can play a crucial role in your photos and underexposing your shot can lend you that opportunity.
Try to Change The Color To Black And White
The black and white feature comes in handy when you have nowhere to hide from the harsh light. The whites will start to pop even more but everything else will be dark enough to lend a bit of dimension. You will also be able to tell the direction of the light and how it allows for a more dramatic look.
Black and white photos live on the greyscale. This means that the colors, white all the way down to black, will be present in your photos. Black and white photos are meant to be more mysterious and if this is the kind of look you want for your photoshoot, then do it.
Use the Subject’s Face As a Guide
While you can tap anywhere on your iPhone’s screen to bring up the Sun icon, try your subject’s face. Tapping on your subject’s face will ensure that you are still able to see the details of their face even if the rest of the photo is overexposed.
While you are using their face to see which parts you do not want to overexpose, take a better look at them. You may realize that some parts of their face are totally different shades. Tap on the area of the skin that you wish to control the exposure.
The same steps can be done if you have one subject in the shot. If you only want to shoot an apple, then you can tap on the apple and the exposure should work around it to allow for great detail.
Conclusion
The iPhone’s camera is a great camera to have if you do not have access to DSLR-type cameras. Overexposure shots can happen at any moment and with the actions, you have learned to correct this problem, there is no need to throw away a perfectly good shot.
Take all these processes and implement them where you can. Find out which corrective step is easiest. Once you understand what your iPhone is capable of, you will never worry about an overexposed shot again.