How to correct exposure on multiple images?

wilt

wilt

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Steven
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I have a number of images taken with the same camera but under different conditions. I have placed a white/grey/black card in each shot to correct the white balance, but i find them to be of varying exposure(brightness).
Is it possible to correct the exposure across all these images? So they are the same brightness.
 
You haven't mentioned what software you are using :rolleyes:

If you are using Lightroom, you can select a master image, then select multiple images, go to settings menu and use "match total exposures".

If you're not using LR, this will be of no help at all :D
 
wilt said:
I do have lightroom, will this give me a common correct exposure?
Click to expand...

It will match the exposure, referencing the "master" photo, but whether that is the correct exposure is dependent on the images, e.g. images taken in the same lighting conditions will be fine.
 
The images are all of the same thing, taken with the same camera, with the same settings, just in different lighting conditions.
Is there anyway to correct the exposure for each photo?
If one is too bright i want it reduced and if too dark then increased, but all to be correctly exposed. So once i white balance correct them then they will look the same?
I can manually adjust them but how do i know they are at the same level?
If i select one and sync across them all it just applies the same increase or decrease, so an over exposed image may become even more over exposed .etc
 
What exactly do you mean with they are in different lighting conditions? Do you mean different white balance?, or is the lighting totally diferent between shots. If it's the latter the contrast range may well be different as well as background/subject lighting, it may be difficult to match them up exactly in that case.
Can you post a few so we can see what your seeing?
 
I think what you're after is for LR to decide what the correct exposure should be. An Auto Correct? Just press Auto Correct. And copy and paste to all images.

As your requirements are subjective, 'correct' exposure means different things to different people then the best answer is no, I'm not aware of anything that sets each photo to a 'correct' exposure other than auto correct which I think iirc, adjusts everything.
 
In lightroom WB correction with a grey card is just two clicks; one to activate the WB eyedropper and second on the grey card.
Then copy the WB and paste onto all other images taken under the same lighting.

I'm not a fan of exposure Auto Correct.
It will guess the wrong exposure if the subject is predominantly light or dark.
If shooting people, look at the skin tones and correct their exposure; nothing else matters - everything else can take care of itself with a hint of control from the highlights and shadows sliders.
For landscapes, look at the histogram to check if it is over exposed (too much on the right) or under exposed (too much on the left); I usually aim to put grass in the middle of the histogram.
 
Which is great but I think the OP is looking for a one click exposure adjustment for a whole batch of images whether under or over exposed?
 
@wilt Sure, it's not complicated and gets much faster with practice.
Get the white balance from your grey card shot, paste WB onto other images taken at the same time.
I grade the grey card with 1 star to make sure I don't delete it later.
Then step through the other images, first making a gross correction for exposure, then tweaking highlights and shadows as needed. Give the image a rating (or reject). Then move on to the next image.
I give two stars for something that supports the story I'm trying to tell and 3 to 5 stars for 'real' images.
With landscapes I find I reject about 2 out of 3 images.
Once the first pass is complete I go back and put some proper thought into my 4 and 5 star images (usually only a handful per shoot), and apply localised dodging and burning to get the best from the image. This should be the best bit of the workflow and a cracking time to have a glass of wine at hand.
End result is pretty much everything you are going to keep from the shoot - fast and efficient :)

Hope that made sense....
 
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