is this over exposed?

[Kellidascope82]

I took pictures yesterday at my neices baptism and it was hard for me to figure out the lighting. The first pic is the original and the second I adjusted in photoshop. Is the second photo over exposed? and how do I know what would be the right when adjusting the exposer. Thanks.

[kencaleno]

no-that's underexposed

[Katie_Belmont]

It is underexposed. I tried to correct it in Photoshop but, as you can see from Ken's edit, just plain lightning it up makes it look awful because of the strange light in the original. The bottom right hand side is very dark compared to the mans face which is drastically lighter. Plus the light on his face looks white compared to the very warm/red light on her. I'm not sure what the lighting was
I'm not sure if someone else might be able to offer you some sort of PP advice to correct it but I'm baffled.
I think exposure is something you just develop an eye for. When I'm adjusting things I usually pull the highlight value down just a little to far so it's a little blown out and then bring it back up. I think it sort of gives you some perspective. I do the same thing with the darks.

Anyone else have anything to help? I didn't end up helping much at all. Lol.

[AnneWynne]

Work with layers so you can click on and off to see the effect on the overall photo, and easily discard if you don't like. Isolate parts of the photo you want to enhance using the selections tools (use the one that works best for you). Once selected do a new layer by copy (of the selected area) and work on that new layer. Change the layer name to what you are doing (ie, exposure adjustment) and only adjust one thing per layer. It may take you some time, but you may be able to save this photo.

Don't forget that you can adjust the opacity of the copied layer...can be a quick trick if you overexpose (or something) too much...reduce opacity and let the lower layer show through a little.


Also, learn to use your histograms on your camera display to help you judge if your camera is over/underexposing. Really helpful tool. And when you can, shoot in raw...you can save a lot in PS or lightroom in the raw before going tot the editing field.

GL,
Anne