What Does Overexposure Mean When Talking About Photography?
When talking about photography the term ‘overexposure’ describes what happens when a photographic medium is exposed to incoming light for too long. The resulting image will be ‘overexposed’ and appear extremely bright with highlights appearing ‘blown’ and detail often being completely lost amongst patches of pure white. Overexposure is problematic in situations where a scene contains detail in both light and dark areas; Exposing the image to capture detail in shadows will often result in overexposed light areas, often exposing for both light and dark is impossible without using some form of supplemental lighting. The opposite of overexposure is known as ‘underexposure’