Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Fixing Major Exposure Problems
If your photo is completely over- or underexposed, you need to add special layers to correct
the problem. You follow the same steps to fix either issue; the only difference is the layer
blend mode (
Image Views
)
you use:
Multiply
darkens an image's exposure while
Screen
lightens it.
Figure 7-1
shows Multiply in action and gives you a sense of the limitations of
this technique if your photo's exposure is
really
far gone.
Figure 7-1. In photography terms, each Multiply layer you add is roughly equivalent to stopping
your camera down one f-stop, at least as far as the dark areas are concerned. Left: This photo is
totally overexposed, and it looks like there's no detail there at all. Right: Multiply layers darken
things enough to bring back a lot of the washed-out areas and bring out quite a bit of detail. But as
you can see, even Elements can't do much in areas where there's no detail at all, like the sky and
the white framing around these windows. If you'd like to try this exposure fix yourself, download
brickwindow.jpg from this topic's Missing CD page at
www.missingmanuals.com/cds
.
Be careful, though: If only part of your photo is out of whack, using a Multiply or Screen
layer can ruin the exposure of the parts that were OK to start with, because these layers in-
