How to Increase Exposure in Photoshop: Step-by-Step Guide

In this blog, you will learn about how to increase exposure in Photoshop with a step-by-step guide. Photography is basically taking pictures of light, although sometimes you would notice the photo you took is not exactly as bright as it should be or you might catch a slight blur. Whether it’s a portrait, a landscape, or a product shot of interest, how to increase exposure in Photoshop can be a great way to enhance the image further visually.

One way to accomplish this is with the help of Photoshop, which includes various techniques and features that can add brightness to the picture and all presented without having to deal with quality loss. We will be instructing you to use Photoshop that is a complete procedure from importing the image to finally getting the desired brightness in this tutorial.

What Is Exposure in Photography?

In photography, exposure refers to the amount of light that hits the camera’s sensor when the shutter is open. Brightness and contrast are the most important aspects of an image, through this definition.

The three main factors controlling the exposure are listed.

• Aperture: It is the lens opening size that is then controlled for the light that falls on the sensor. This light adjustment is the most important step to get correct in terms of overall noise levels.
• Shutter Speed: Measures the time the camera’s light shield will be open, which in turn defines the exposure time.
• ISO: The camera allows for sensitivity and captures an image by adjusting the light. By using the Adobe Photoshop tool, you can fix the exposure by altering the pictures’ brightness, the highlights, and the shadows.

In the vast majority of situations, additional exposure in Photoshop will serve to restore what was originally existing in dark photographs as well as lighten the entire picture.

One can also use Photoshop to manage the Exposure by editing the image’s brightness, the highlights and the shadows. Increasing Exposure in Photoshop is almost certain to bring back whatever has been lost from low-key images or brighten the overall picture.

Tools You’ll Need to Increase Exposure in Photoshop

Firstly, let’s look through Photoshop’s tools and controls for available exposure correction:

• Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer: A simple tool useful for making basic exposure adjustments.
• Exposure Adjustment Layer: A more complex option for controlling the overall Exposure, the highlights, and the shadows.
• Curves Adjustment: A strong facility for manipulating Exposure in the specific tonal range.
• Levels Adjustment: It enables the manipulation of the shadows, mid tones, and highlights within the image, which can then raise the Exposure.
• Camera Raw Filter: The user is provided with wide-ranging options, which allow easy alterations to exposure correction.

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Increase Exposure in Photoshop

Step 1: Open Your Image in Photoshop

To start the whole process, the upload of the photo you want to work on to Photoshop is the first assigned action. Click New from menu and Open from the File panel, select the picture you would like to edit, then click on OK. Photoshop will automatically add the image to a new layer in the workspace.

Step 2: Duplicate the Background Layer

Do not give anything left to modify. Make an extra copy of the back layer to avoid losses. The safety net is the thing that has made it possible for reversion to the original picture in case the changes fail to meet your satisfaction. You should select the following: Right-click the picture layer in the Layers panel and pick Duplicate Layer. Give the new layer a name (e.g., “Exposure Adjustment”) and click OK.

Step 3: Use the Exposure Adjustment Layer

An adjustment layer of the Exposure is a most productive way to make a wide range of adjustments to the Exposure of the whole picture. Therefore, to enable the exposure adjustment do the following procedures.

1. In the Layers panel, click the Create a new fill or adjustment layer icon (the half-filled circle at the bottom).
2. From the dropdown menu, select Exposure. The Properties panel will appear, where you can adjust your image.

There are three main sliders in the Exposure Parameters:

• Exposure: This is the primary parameter for changing the exposure value and you do it using the slider. Thus, you drag the slider towards the right to bring up the image’s brightness and vice versa.
• Offset: The slider changes the mid tones you have on a picture. The increased value brightens the mid tones while the decreased one darkens the mid tones.
• Gamma Correction: Overall brightness of the shadows and highlights can be refined, thus allowing for further exposure fine-tuning.

The Exposure slider helps us to change the extent of the brightening process thus we can add light to the dark areas while we still keep the details while excluding the issue of overexposing the image which will lead to losing some of the most important ones in the brightest area.

Step 4: Adjust the Brightness and Contrast

1. Add Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer:
   • Click the Create a new fill or adjustment layer icon in the Layers panel.
   • Select Brightness/Contrast from the list.
2. Adjust Brightness:
   • Inside the Properties tab, you should move the brightness bar to the right to make it brighter or to the left to dim it.
3. Adjust Contrast:
   • Move the Contrast slider left or right to make the image lighter or darker, respectively.
4. Fine-tune the Balance:
   • Adjust both Brightness and Contrast sliders to find the right balance between exposure and contrast.

Step 5: Fine-tune with the Curves Adjustment Layer

You can get more precision in managing tone in your image using the Curves tool. Curves can change the tones in selective areas e.g., the tones of shadows, mid tones, or highlights.

1. Click on the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon and choose Curves.
2. The fields in Curves properties panel present a line that resembles a tonal range but slightly different. Your image’s tonal range is represented by a line with the bottom part marking shadows, the one in the middle for mid tones, and the topmost one indicating highlights.

Editing of the curves for exposure increase:

• Move the curve higher in the regions you want to brighten.
• In case you need to brighten the shadows, or mid tones use the pointer to click and drag corresponding points located at the curve’s end of those regions.

This method allows you to get the right amount of light and only on the areas you want it on instead of struggling with too much or too little Exposure that does not always result in the wanted effect.

Step 6: Use the Camera Raw Filter for More Control

If the user needs a more sophisticated set of exposure adjustments, the Camera Raw filter can be utilized to the required level by the user, namely, altering the Exposure, the highlights, the shadows, the whites, and the blacks.

Choose the Exposure Adjustment Layer you want to tweak if you have already made a digital copy of the background layer. You will notice the sliders for Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks in the Camera Raw workspace.

• Exposure is the slider, through adjusting it, you can change the brightness level of the entire image.
• Highlight will help correct too brilliant areas by lowering them, which will help restore some details lost on the sides where light was intense.
• Shadows brightens the darker parts.
• Whites allows the pixels to be lighter, often resulting in a clear image.
• Blacks controls the darkest parts of the image.

Using these sliders you can arrange to perfection your Exposure and ensure your image is brought to the fore of accuracy still not losing important detail in the highlights or shadows.

Step 7: Add Localized Exposure Adjustments Using a Mask

1. Add Layer Mask:
   • After making the exposure adjustments, select the adjustment layer and click the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.
2. Use the Brush Tool:
   • Select the Brush Tool (B) and adjust the brush opacity to around 10-20%.
3. Paint on the Mask:
   • Paint over the areas you want to adjust exposure on. Use white to paint areas you want to brighten, and black to mask areas you don’t want to affect.
4. Apply Localized Adjustments:
   • For portraits or specific areas, use this method to selectively brighten certain parts of the image (e.g., the face or specific areas in the landscape).

Step 8: Final Touches and Sharpening

1. Select the Top Layer:
   • In the Layers panel, make sure the Top Layer is selected.
2. Apply Unsharp Mask:
   • Go to the Filter menu, then select Sharpen and choose Unsharp Mask.
3. Adjust Sharpening Settings:
   • Set the Amount, Radius, and Threshold sliders to sharpen the image without causing noise or artifacts.
4. Reduce Noise (Optional):
   • If noise has been introduced, go to Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise to clean up the image.
5. Review and Refine:
   • Fine-tune the sharpening and noise reduction until the image looks crisp and clear without losing important details.

Conclusion

Using the adjustment of Exposure in Photoshop aids in the improvement of the quality of images considerably. For instance, in one of your projects, you may need a situation where the picture is unaffected; in which case, you will necessarily have to achieve its brightness.

With the new features of Exposure, Brightness/Contrast, Curves, and the Camera Raw Filter, any user has the right to decide on whether to lighten the image by adding more light or by adjusting the shadows and highlights. Many professionals like Pixelshouters do that work in an efficient way.

Subtlety has great importance in the process of changing; thus, only a slight change can result in the image loss of detail. You might also consider working on duplicate layers that permit the use of the outstanding feature of layer masks for the righteousness of the imposed changes. Besides these procedures, you can be sure to learn and implement the magical process in any of your photos by following up the steps we have given you. Thus, you can get the most out of your photos with the perfection of the art of Exposure and even develop its beauty.

February 1, 2025