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Glite Dictionary
📸 To make too bright ⚠️ To give too much
to overexpose

to overexpose

2 6.0
Make a photo or film too bright by too much light
  • verb
  • /ˌoʊvərɪkˈspoʊz/
translation icon : sobreexponer
  • I was out shooting today and overexposed some of the photos.
  • overexpose images
  • slightly overexposed

So those muzzle flashes, which may have been photographed in a dark stage against black, they may be completely overexposed, super hot, white.

Examples

  • When taking landscape photos, it's important not to overexpose the bright areas, or they will lose detail.

  • Another approach I usually try is to overexpose the picture so that the faces can be made brighter.

    Blog text (13)

  • Most of the pictures and slides were washed out or overexposed.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Your pictures should render slightly overexposed on a normally adjusted camera's LCD screen.

    Academic text (2010)

  • My first photos were overexposed when I used the camera meter setting, aperture priority, no filters, or lens hood.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Andy had shot the whole thing from distorted angles in grainy black and white, the film just a hair overexposed to sharpen the contrast.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • If you overexpose your photos, they can appear washed out and lack clarity.

  • To avoid losing details in the clouds, make sure you don't overexpose the sky in your images.

Synonyms

to overlight
vsto overexpose
7.9

To make a place or picture too bright

applies specifically to film or photos, producing washed out brightness

Antonyms

to underexpose
  • Specialized
1 7.7

To give film or a camera sensor too little light so pictures look too dark

How Bright

to overexpose
2 6.0
to expose
16 5.2
to underexpose
  • Specialized
1 7.7

Surface Forms

overexpose infinitive
overexposed past
overexposed past participle
overexposing present participle
overexposes third person singular

Morphology

overexpose = expose (transparent) = over + expose

In photographic contexts the verb 'expose' retains its basic meaning, and 'over-' adds the meaning 'too much', creating a clearly derived sense.

Etymology

Overexpose comes from over- 'too much' and expose 'to put in light' or 'to show', the same idea behind exposure in photography. So, to overexpose a photo is to let in 'too much' light and make the picture too bright or washed out.