k-hawinkler Posted March 29, 2011 Share #1 Posted March 29, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Photoshop provides in Adobe Camera Raw both an Exposure and Brightness slider. Both make the image darker or lighter. When do I use one or the other? Are they interchangeable? What's the difference? Thanks, K-H. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 29, 2011 Posted March 29, 2011 Hi k-hawinkler, Take a look here PS Exposure and Brightness Slider Difference?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
richfx Posted March 30, 2011 Share #2 Posted March 30, 2011 Same question for Aperture 3. Rich Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adan Posted March 30, 2011 Share #3 Posted March 30, 2011 "Exposure" brightens all the tones, just as additional camera exposure would. Even to the point of blowing out highlights. It stretches all tones on the histogram to the right - and even right over the edge if you ask it to. "Brightness" is more like using the "curves" control in Photoshop proper. It raises the middle tones without changing the end-points (blacks and whites). You can simulate "Exposure" by using Camera Raw's own curves palette and dragging the top right-hand point of the curve to the left to clip off tones. You can simulate "Brightness" using the curves palette and grabbing the MIDDLE of the curve and raising it (no end clipping). Exposure is good to use if the shot really is underexposed overall - the histogram falls well short of any pure white anywhere (doesn't reach the right side). Brightness is a better way of lightening a picture that already has a full histogram reaching the right side, but still looks too dark in the midtones. That's for Adobe's products (ACR and LightRoom) - I can't guarantee Apple follows exactly the same model (I haven't used Aperture) but expect it is probably similar. Both tools have their uses. While we're on the subject: "Recovery" is like a very limited "anti-Exposure." It can retrieve a fraction of a stop of detail from blown highlights. And "Fill Light" is like "brightness" applied only to the darkest 20% or so of tones - to open shadows without making the whole picture much brighter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
martha Posted March 30, 2011 Share #4 Posted March 30, 2011 Thank you, Adan. That is a clear and easy to understand explanation of the differences in function. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richfx Posted March 31, 2011 Share #5 Posted March 31, 2011 Thank you, Andy for the very clear explanation. Rich Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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