How to Fix Overexposed Photos in Photoshop?

Photos are inevitably the most significant source to preserve our memories. Millions of people worldwide capture photos to catch the lovely moments spent in the past. But, nothing more irritating than finding your image with extra brightness.

Have you ever taken a photo in the sunlight or a room with a much brighter light source? If yes, you must have experienced overexposed photo problems. The word "overexposed" means the photo is brighter than it should be. It is why you must search for how to fix an extremely overexposed photo.

Part 1: The Reasons Why Photos Overexposed

Before going into the details of how to edit overexposed photos, it is more important to get familiar with why this problem usually occurs. Here are a few reasons behind this fact.

Once a photo gets overexposed, every color becomes brighter than the actual image, especially the white color starts growing too much.

Part 2: How to Fix Overexposed Photos in Photoshop? (2 Methods)

Do you prefer recovering photos using third-party repair tools? If yes, Photoshop would be a great support. Countless people often search online for how to fix overexposed photos in Photoshop. Are you on the same page? Well, you can use two different ways to get out of this trouble. Let's have a look at how they work.

Choose Shadow/Highlight

It is the easiest method to get rid of overexposed images. You can conveniently adjust the light effects on your photo by using a few sliders in Photoshop. Let's take a look at how you can do that.

Step 1: Download, install and launch Photoshop and open the desired image (to be recovered) in Photoshop.

Step 2: Tap on the "Image" option and click "Adjustments".

Step 3: Go to the "Shadows/Highlights" option.

Step 4: It is time to move the sliders (both under Shadows and Highlights) either right or left to cancel the overexposed effects.

A must-remember: A high percentage means darker highlights, lighter shadows, and vice versa.

Important Note: As soon as you open a photo in Photoshop, it will have default settings. Therefore, dragging the sliders is necessary if you want to reduce or mitigate the overexposed touches.

Step 5: Adjusting the "Tonal Width" would also be great.

Setting a lower percentage value will correct both the lightest areas of the highlights and the darkest areas of the shadow. A high percentage value produces a broader range of tones throughout the recovered photo.

Don't Forget: Adjusting Shadows/Highlights sliders is a super easy method to get rid of overexposed problems, but it can be destructive simultaneously. The reason behind this fact is that you directly modify the layer of the photo.

Method 2. Use Adjustment Layers

For fixing overexposed photos in Photoshop, adding adjustment layers to your image would be straightforward. The adjustment layers include contrast, brightness, exposure, levels, and curves. This method is known for providing you with complete control over the exposure effects. Let's see how it works.

Step 1: Open the image in Photoshop you wish to recover.

Step 2: Go to the layer panel and choose the background layer to make a duplicate layer.

For this:

If you are using Windows OS, press CTRL+J

If you have a Mac OS, press CMD+J

Doing this will create a duplicate layer for you to proceed with.

Step 3: It is time to make the exposure adjustment. Create a new layer to do that.

Go to the "Create a New Adjustment Layer" button (you will find it under the layer panel) and choose "Exposure". Keep reducing Exposure until you see some changes happen and are satisfied with the outcomes.

Step 4: If a lot of darkness is created due to reducing exposure, choose one more adjustment layer and tap on "Brightness/Contrast".

Step 5: Adjusting the Brightness will help you efficiently regain the darkness, the contrast adjustment results in enhanced outcomes.

Step 6: Add a Curve correction layer (if required) for your photo to be recovered and choose the "Curves" option.

You will find it in the "Create a New Adjustment Layer" menu.

Step 8: Reduce the curves a bit compared to earlier.

Step 9: Don't forget to group all the adjustment layers you created earlier.

Press CTRL (for Windows OS) or CMD (for Mac OS) and select all the layers. Press CMD/CTRL+G to group all the layers.

Step 10: Tap on the visibility symbol to see the final look.

You will find this symbol next to "layer group". Clicking one more time will help you see the after-look.

Part 3: Fix Overexposed Photos within 1-Click

Have you tried the above methods to fix overexposed photos? Didn't get satisfactory results? No worries. This section presents a premium-grade third-party photo repair tool to finish the job within a few minutes. First, let's have a look at what makes this tool credible.

Wondershare Repairit

It doesn't matter which device you have used to capture photos and what formats they are in, Repairit has got you covered. You can remove overexposure effects from your image with a few clicks. Repairing photos in batches is indeed a super benefit of this software. Moreover, you can preview the fixed images before you download them. It is another added advantage. A user-friendly interface makes repair super easy for you. While using Repairit, your data remains highly secure. Moreover, you get 24/7 tech support and a 7-day satisfaction guarantee.

Wondershare Repairit

Try It Free Try It Free

751,557 people have downloaded it.

• Support to repair damaged photos with all levels of corruption, such as overexposed/underexposed photos, pixelated photos, faded photos, grainy photos, etc.

• Support to repair images of diverse formats, such as JPG, PNG, CR3, CR2, NEF, NRW, etc.

• Repair critically damaged or corrupted photos available on SD cards, phones, cameras, USB flash drives, and more.

• Compatible with Windows PC, Mac OS, and supports PC to mobile transferring/sharing.

This application is a simple tool that helps us to fix overexposed photos quickly. It has two modes: normal mode and advanced mode. In the normal mode, it restores overexposed colors and brightness on photos from the left-to-right direction. In the advanced mode, it fixes seriously overexposed colors and brightness on photos by adding a good sample photo.

Now, let's check the steps you need to follow to fix overexposed photo.

Step 1: Download,install and run Repairit on your PC/Mac.

Select the "Photo repair" option from the main interface of Repairit, then press the "Add" button to upload your overexposed photos.

Step 2: Start the photo repairing process after uploading the overexposed photos.

Once you upload a photo (or multiple photos), Repairit will show you the different parameters on your screen, including image names, sizes, and resolution, as shown below. Then click on the "Repair" button to start the repairing process.

Step 3: Preview and save the repaired photos.

To check if the images are correctly repaired, press the "Preview" button in front of the uploaded images. If your image is appropriately repaired, press the "Save" button to get the photo on your computer or laptop.

If you didn't find the results (obtained from the above-listed steps) satisfactory enough, you can use the "Advanced Repair" option of Repairit. One thing you must keep in mind is don't forget to upload a good sample image that has the same format as the overexposed one. See the detailed guide for "Advanced Photo Repair".

Conclusion

Do you often look for how to fix an extremely overexposed photo? Don't want to lose your flashbacks captured in the few images? It is where this lends a helping hand. It has presented two different ways to fix this issue. In addition, a credible tool - Repairit is presented to let you know how it can help you repair overexposed photo in a simple way. So give it a try and be among the millions of users already benefiting from this software.