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Fixing underexposed photos:
 | Process the film by "pushing" it to a higher ISO number. If your
camera allows, you can set your camera's speed higher than the actual film,
and have your photo lab "push process" the film to develop the
film longer. For example, You could load Kodak Royal Gold 400 in your
camera, set the camera to ISO1600 and have the lab "push process 2
stops". The camera thinks that you have ISO 1600 film, and the lab
pushes the ISO400, knowing it was underexposed two stops. Note that if your
camera automatically sets the film speed by reading the film canister, you
may be out of luck with this trick. |
| Scan or import the photo and lighten it using a PC program. If you shoot
digital, then transfer the photos to your PC. If you shoot film, have the
lab put the pictures on a CD, or scan them yourself. Once the photos are on
your PC, you can use just about any PC program to adjust an underexposed
photograph. One of the best programs is PaintShop
Pro, which is very full featured, yet affordable. Adobe PhotoDeluxe is
another good program. Another great program for fixing photos is PhotoGenetics.
This intuitive program does not require any knowledge of photo editing;
instead, it "evolves" an image, letting you vote on which
enhancement makes the photo better. I have used this program to rescue
dozens of dim photos. |
Before: The shutter was fast enough to prevent blur, but the exposure was
too dark.
 - After: Many PC packages will brighten up underexposed photos. I
used PhotoGenetics to fix this one. Photoshop Elements, Paintshop Pro
and many other programs will do this task well.
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