Overexposed film photos

How Exposure Affects Film Photos

One of the things about film photography is that exposure on film, unlike in digital photography, is not equivalent at all to overall brightness of an image.

For example, in the digital photography world when someone speaks of an overexposed image, you instantly imagine a bright, all-white image with (probably) clipped highlights. In the film world this is not necessarily so.

Color film’s latitude is huge… like 2 to 3 stops for underexposure and up to 6 stops for over-exposure (depending on the film stock). Also, clipped highlights are literally impossible on film (straight from the scanner). What’s more, brightness can be controlled during the scanning process.

Now this “overexposed equals bright all-white” and “underexposed equals dark black” rules of thumb start to make less sense right?

So then what’s the big deal with all that “overexposed 1 stop” film talk you read everywhere on the Internet?

To answer these questions, we decided to shoot some stuff and show you guys how this thing works. Here is a shot of our colleague Héctor we shot on Fuji 400H film and a Contax 645 medium format camera.

We metered with our handheld (incident) light meter below his chin with the bulb out facing the shooter. That shot will be considered our “anchor” or “box speed” example, meaning it was shot at 400 ISO not over or under-exposing.

From there we shot in one stop increments down to 6 steps under (all the way to the left) and up to 6 steps over (all the way to the right… yeah, 1/15 handheld at f/2 right there!). We then scanned these on our Fuji Frontier SP3000 at the same brightness level (important).

Here’s the full spectrum of the 13 stops of the test:

Now zooming in on the overexposure side:

And finally the underexposure side of the test:

We did the same thing for these shots of our colleague Gloria, but this time in a totally different light situation and on Kodak Portra 400 film. The properly exposed shot:

The full spectrum of 13 stops:

Zooming in on the overexposure side:

The underexposure side:

What conclusions can be made from this test?

Well, first of all… 6 stops overexposed? And it still looks amazing? That’s pretty sweet. Overall, there seems to be a higher number of usable shots on the overexposure side than on the underexposure side. So what does this tell us?

Film loves overexposure.

Unlike what happens in digital photography, overexposed film gets a little more saturated and you get more details on the shadows, but definitely no clipped highlights or “all-white” burnt images. That’s why it’s totally safe to say that if you’re in doubt between two possible camera values for your exposure you’ll always be safer on the “over” side than on the “under” one.

It must be noted also that underexposure brings out grain and colors shifts, and that extreme overexposure will make images flat, contrast-less and with magenta or yellow highlights.

So again, remember that for these tests we scanned all images for equal brightness, so that’s why you get a -6 image full of grainy shadows and a +6 image that’s less bright than you’d expect. So underexposed images can be brightened by “bringing up” grainy shadows (hello VSCO look!) and overexposed images can be “brought down” so they don’t look hyper white-ish.

Also bear in mind that these were scanned and then posted unedited. It goes without saying that with very basic edits, the -1 shot can be made to look maybe similar to the correctly exposed one. And, for example, the -3 can be scanned darker and slightly edited to look more “chiaroscuro”-like.

That’s a lot of info to digest! Hope this clarifies some doubts that we’ve heard so often, and that it helps you somehow to be more confident when you’re shooting and getting you closer to the look you want out of your scans.

About the author: Carmencita Film Lab is a film lab based in Valencia, Spain, that’s dedicated to delivering outstanding-quality processed and scanned film to its clients. You can find out more about the lab and connect with it on its website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. This article was also published here.

What is Overexposure in Photography & How to Fix It

Overexposed Meaning

Overexposed photography definition

In photography and film, exposure is the process of using light to create an image. In the days of film, exposure was achieved with a chemical process between the light and the celluloid. Now in the digital age, exposure is achieved with light hitting the camera sensor, which digitally translates that information into the images we see.

The short answer to "What is overexposure in photography" is that in either scenario (digital or film), too much light was registered. Let's talk more specifically about that result and how to eliminate it (or use it creatively to tell its own story).

Overexposure Definition

What is overexposure?

Overexposure is when an image appears brighter than it should, or brighter than neutral exposure. When too much light hits the camera’s sensor, it results in an extremely bright image that is now overexposed. Overexposure limits detail in the photo and reduces any opportunity for shadowing or distinguishable highlights in the image.

In order to reduce that possibility of an overexposed picture or overexposed film, the photographer controls the amount of light that gets into the camera. There are two settings that control exposure — aperture and shutter speed. These two settings allow the photographer to collect light and bring that light into the camera.

ISO is another setting that can be adjusted to help regulate brightness, but because it doesn’t function to let light in, it doesn’t regulate exposure.

How to fix overexposed photos:

• Adjust aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings
• Use bracketing as you’re taking your shots
• Use exposure sliders in Lightroom or other post program

As we explore the world of exposure in photography, there is much more to it than what we're covering in this article. For a complete breakdown of exposure and the techniques photographers use to be able to work in any lighting scenario, download our free E-book: The Ultimate Guide to Exposure.

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Ultimate Guide to Exposure

The Exposure Triangle is something every photographer and cinematographer needs to master.  Download our FREE e-book to get in-depth explanations and tutorials on topics like aperture, ISO, shutter speed, and how to balance these settings to nail perfect exposure every time.

What is Overexposure in Photography

Overexposed photography examples

Before we get into how to fix overexposed photos, what does overexposure look like? Well, for starters it’s noticeably brighter than it should be.

Overexposed image

The brightness overpowers any distinguishing details we might see. No shadows exist and there aren’t any highlights other than the blobs of light all over the image.

Quite often, you can tell with the naked-eye when an image is overexposed, underexposed, or just right. Underexposed  is simply the opposite of overexposed, where the image appears too dark.

Under, correct, and overexposed image

So now how do we go from overexposed photo to correct exposure?

How to Avoid Overexposure

Camera settings for exposing photos

When you snap a photo or film a scene, lighting obviously plays a major role. But you don’t have to be a lighting expert to nail the exposure of those shots.

With just a simple understanding of how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO work together, you can trust those shots will be properly exposed.

Quick Reminder

Aperture adjusts how wide or narrow your lens opening is. The wider the aperture, the more light is let in, and the narrower, the less. Let's review how aperture works in the process of exposing images.

What is Aperture?  •  Subscribe on YouTube

Shutter speed is how fast or slow your camera’s shutter opens and closes will determine how much light gets let in when you snap a photo. Let's review how shutter speed works in the process of exposing images.

What is Shutter Speed?  •  Subscribe on YouTube

ISO is the setting that controls brightness. So it’s not what allows light to enter, but it works in unison with the two other settings. Let's review how ISO works in the process of exposing images.

What is ISO?  •  Subscribe on YouTube

These three pieces are what’s known as the Exposure Triangle.

The Exposure Triangle  •  The Key to Avoid Overexposed Photos

How do they all work together? Knowing this, is the best preventative against unwanted overexposed photos.

Fixing Overexposure

Tips on exposing photos

If you’re in a well-lit room using a wider aperture (say for a different reason like wanting a shallow depth of field), you’ll likely need to use a faster shutter speed so too much light doesn’t overexpose your shot. Because ISO controls brightness you’ll also want to keep this at a lower setting.

Perhaps you’re in a dim-lit space, and you want a really deep depth of field for a sharp and clear image, you’ll need a narrower aperture here — but what about the light? In this situation, a higher ISO setting and slower shutter speed might work best.

Remedying Blown Out Photography

How to fix overexposed photos

First things first. Learn how to take a properly exposed photo. No matter how well you know how to edit photos, having a strong understanding of how the Exposure Triangle works, can help eliminate your problems before they begin.

Manual mode gives you more control over your photos than auto modes. Learning manual, means learning how to properly expose your shots. 

Mess around with this until you’re comfortable. A great way to practice working with proper exposure while shooting is with a technique called bracketing.

Bracketing

Bracketing means taking two (or more) extra photos with different settings so you have three all together, with more opportunities to get a properly exposed shot.

The two extra photos are +1 and -1 exposure value than the shot you originally took, or what you deemed as best. Here's a great explanation of how to use bracketing while shooting and a tutorial on how to fix overexposed photos in Lightroom by combining multiple exposures into the final "perfect" image.

How to bracket your shot

So if you’re shooting in manual mode, test this out.

Take your shot with the settings that you believe work. And then raise and lower one of the settings we discussed in the Exposure Triangle.

Your settings are ISO 200 with an aperture of f/5.6, and a shutter speed of 1/500th. That’s the photo you took. Now for the second photo, pick one setting to change. And let’s do the -1 value first. We’ll change the shutter speed to 1/1000th. And then for the +1 value, we’ll change it to 1/250th.

Most cameras do this automatically with internal settings, but you can of course do this manually. If you choose to do this manually, make sure you’re on a tripod to get the identical composition of your initial shot.

Now in post, you can blend these three images together to create that perfectly exposed image.

You can also do +-2 or +-3 values. HDR or high dynamic range is a technique that reproduces a greater range of luminosity than what’s possible with standard photography. Stacking photos that are +/-3 is considered HDR.

Don’t forget that the shutter speed doesn’t just affect light. It affects the movement of the object. And aperture will affect your depth of field and the sharpness of the foreground and background. Change the setting that makes most for your scene.

Knowing how to fix overexposure in post-processing in programs like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom is essential.

Exposure Slider

The Exposure slider adjusts the overall brightness of your image. The numbers on these are the number of stops you can increase or decrease. Remember that this affects your entire photo, so go slow. It’s a good place to start but isn’t best for those final details.

More local details or exposure changes, you can use the Adjustment Mask. Here's how that process works in Lightroom.

How to use Lightroom’s sliders to avoid overexposed images

Whites and Highlights Sliders

The Whites slider adjusts the mid-tones in your image. The mid-tones hold a ton of contrast. Be careful not to go too far, as you can remove the majority of detail from a lit area.

Highlight sliders adjust the brightest areas of your photos and can help remedy any details you need to pull out.

Overexposing with Purpose

Overexposure in films (that work)

Now that we’ve got the fundamentals out of the way, we can talk bending those fundamentals. Like everything else, once you know the rules, you can break them. And overexposing your shots with purpose and intention goes a long way, not only for the shots themselves but sometimes for the film as a whole.

In Close Encounters of the Third Kind, blindingly bright spaceship lights completely light up the shot and here, overexposure makes sense! It fits the scene but more also creates tension.

Overexposed UFO lights

Both major motion pictures and obscure indie films, sometimes use overexposure to complement the story.

It works well in dream sequences like in Run Lola Run...

Overexposure in