Exposure

Exposure is controlled by three camera settings collectively called the exposure triangle: aperture (lens opening size), shutter speed (duration of light capture), and ISO sensitivity (sensor amplification). Underexposed images appear too dark with lost shadow detail, while overexposed images appear too bright with blown-out highlights. Correctly exposed images preserve detail across the full brightness range, from deep shadows to bright highlights.\n\nReal estate photographers face exposure challenges when photographing interiors with windows. The interior is much dimmer than the outdoor scene visible through the windows. Exposing for the interior makes the windows appear as blank white rectangles. Exposing for the window view makes the interior too dark. HDR techniques and exposure recovery in post-processing help balance both regions, producing images where both the interior space and window views are properly visible.\n\nPost-processing exposure adjustment has limits determined by the original file format. RAW files captured at moderate under or overexposure can be recovered with 2-3 stops of correction while maintaining quality. JPEG files have far less latitude, with even one stop of correction introducing visible noise and banding. AI enhancement can recover more detail from underexposed images than traditional tools because it generates plausible detail in dark regions rather than simply amplifying noise.\n\nMagic Eraser's AI Enhance automatically detects and corrects exposure issues. The AI identifies underexposed shadows and overexposed highlights, applying localized corrections that brighten dark areas and recover highlight detail without affecting properly exposed regions. This selective approach produces more natural results than global brightness adjustments. The AI understands that different image regions have different ideal exposure levels — a face in shadow should be brightened while a sunlit background should remain unchanged — and applies targeted corrections that preserve the scene's natural depth and dimensionality rather than flattening the image with a uniform brightness shift.