Here’s how I fix overexposed photos on my smartphone

Overexposing your photos can create amazing effects, but if it’s not intentional, it can be annoying. Fortunately, there are many apps and tools that solve this problem. Here are my top smartphone apps to make overexposed photos look good.

1 A native application for editing my smartphone

Before using any other tool from this list, I recommend starting with your smartphone’s native editing app. Since I have an iPhone, I use Apple Photos. The application is significantly better at editing images than it used to be, actually replacing more powerful tools for some functions.

An obvious place to start is with Exposure table The slider will go to +100 to the right and -100 to the left. Since we’re trying to correct an overexposed photo, we’ll need to shift it to the left. Do this until you are happy with the overall lighting.

Brightness is another tool I recommend using when you’re not happy with the exposure of your photo. This slider will mainly affect the highlight of your image and I recommend using it next to it Highlighting slider. You can also edit depending on the image Black point; however, this is not mandatory.

2 Lightroom

Lightroom offers you a variety of options to fix overexposed photos on your smartphone. First I recommend using Exposure rider; it works just like in Apple Photos. The Highlighting The slider is also ideal for this and you should modify it Contrast so that you are satisfied with the balance of light and dark.

The White tab is one of Lightroom’s most underrated editing tools for overexposed images, and I highly recommend adjusting it to get the look you want. Sometimes it actually makes sense to move the slider to the right; Doing so can add a nice contrast to the rest of the image and bring out its personality.

However, you’ll need to make sure you don’t make these mistakes in Lightroom that could ruin your photos. For example, many photographers ignore a lot of features and don’t go deeper with their adjustments, resulting in suboptimal looking photos.

Once you’ve adjusted the sliders above, I recommend switching to Curve function. To make the image less overexposed, I recommend moving the slider to the right; start from the top to reduce the highlights a bit. Then move the other parts of the curve tool until the lighting improves.

In addition to manual adjustments, you can use presets. I suggest creating Lightroom presets for different photography styles so you don’t have to do multiple edits each time.

Download: Lightroom for iOS | Android (free, in-app purchases available)

3 Canva

Canva is, in my opinion, the best all-around app for basic designs; you can create more things in Canva with zero effort. If you don’t need to go into as much detail as you would with Lightroom, it’s a handy tool for quick and easy image editing. I also recommend using Canva if you are already going to create some kind of design like Pinterest pins or banners for your social media profiles.

When using Canva, you can choose to edit the entire image or just the foreground/background. So you have a lot more control over your edits without having to add masks and such. Start with a change brightness until you are satisfied with how the image looks.

Once you set the brightness, change white and contrast sliders. You can use the auto-adjust feature, but I recommend just trying it out and seeing if it works; mostly i think your edits will look better with manual edits.

Download: Canva for iOS | Android (free, in-app purchases available)

4 VSCO

VSCO is my favorite mobile app for editing filters and gives Lightroom a run for its money. However, in addition to the filters, you’ll also find some basic sliders that you can use to adjust your overexposed photos.

Unlike Apple Photos and Lightroom, Exposure the slider in VSCO only goes from a scale of -6 to +6. However, the principle is the same; simply move the slider down until you are satisfied with the lighting of the photo. Another way to adjust overexposed images in VSCO is to add some vignette once you change the exposure. I find this especially helpful if the highlights are blown out.

Sadly, you’ll need a paid subscription to access many of VSCO’s other sliders. Since many free ones add brightness to your image, I recommend using them with caution.

Download: VSCO for iOS | Android (free, in-app purchases available)

5 Instagram

Instagram might not be the first tool that comes to mind for fixing overexposed images, but some filters can make your images less overexposed. I think the New York, Oslo, Juno, and Slumber filters do a good job of toning down the light in your image. For each of these, you can move the slider to the left if you need to lower the exposure.

Click on the magic wand (Lux) tool to automatically edit your photo; if necessary, you can move the slider to the left to reduce the effects. Knowing which Instagram filters are the best will help you choose the right ones.

6 Photoshop Express

Photoshop Express is another app I’ve spoken highly of in the past, and as one of Adobe’s many mobile apps worth using, it’s perfect for editing your overexposed photos.

Just like in Canva, you can select different parts of an image to edit – but at a much more detailed level. For example, you can select specific objects in the image. This is especially useful if only certain parts of your photo require editing.

You will find that many basic sliders are available in Lightroom, such as White, Shadowsand Highlighting. I also suggest changing brightness to change the overall illumination of the image. If necessary, you can double-tap the screen to zoom.

Download: Photoshop Express for iOS | Android (free, in-app purchases available)

7 Darkroom

Darkroom has similar tools to Lightroom, with sliders like Brightness and Highlighting. You can also use the tone curve tool to adjust different parts of the image along with adjusting the brightness for different areas in the photo. For example, if you have an overexposed sky, you might consider lowering the blues.

You can also access several presets and sliders. In addition, the application provides access to luminance masks.

Download: Darkroom for iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

Fixing overexposed photos is very easy on your smartphone, and there are tons of apps and tools to help you do it. I always recommend starting with your native editing app, but tools like Lightroom are better if your photography needs more advanced tools.