# Mistake with Exposure Compensation in camera



## NicholasG (Jan 9, 2019)

I have a number of RAW photographs shot with -3 stops of exposure compensation by mistake.

I'm pretty new to LR (LR Classic 8.1) so I often use the Auto Tone feature and then tweak the sliders. 

Would it be best with these photos to adjust the exposure by +3 in the Develop module and then use Auto Tone or just use Auto tone or is there a better approach?

Thanks in advance!

Nicholas


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## Rob_Cullen (Jan 9, 2019)

Start with your suggested settings  ( +3 Exp )   Make a Preset to apply to all the affected photos in Grid view.
[Auto]  might over-ride any Exposure adjustment, but worth trying also..

Note: Nothing is damaged by any editing you do in Lightroom- you can, at any time, cancel or adjust any changes you make to correct the exposure.
You may need extra Noise reduction in shadow areas of images.


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## NicholasG (Jan 10, 2019)

Thanks for the advice, makes a lot of sense!


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## antsyl (Jan 15, 2019)

Nicholas,
Also remember, if you shot lots of different photos, not all of them would possibly need the same correction. Predominantly dark subjects would need far less correction even at -3 stops than say mostly light subjects. Those would need more than +3 stops of correction. Another idea is to put them into Photoshop, make a duplicate and then set the blend mode to lighten. Then if thats not enough, duplicate that lightened layer and do the same thing again.
If it is to much, then just back off on the amount of that layer. Then you can use masks to adjust specific areas.


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## LRList001 (Jan 15, 2019)

Modern DSLRs are increasingly using so called 'ISO-less' sensor designs (or use a dual approach, switching from one ISO algorithm to another at around ISO400).
This design does not change the advice to 'expose to the right' (ETTR), but does mean that in essence it makes no difference if you underexpose by three stops and increase the exposure in LR or if you up the ISO in camera, the noise comes out about the same.  However, underexposing is exposing to the left, which is generally a bad idea.  If you can overexpose without losing highlights, then it is fine to do so and pull the exposure down in LR.
The snag with overexposure is you risk subject and/or camera movement.


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## tspear (Jan 16, 2019)

I-See-Light said:


> Start with your suggested settings ( +3 Exp ) Make a Preset to apply to all the affected photos in Grid view.
> [Auto] might over-ride any Exposure adjustment, but worth trying also..
> 
> Note: Nothing is damaged by any editing you do in Lightroom- you can, at any time, cancel or adjust any changes you make to correct the exposure.
> You may need extra Noise reduction in shadow areas of images.


Auto-tone will override the settings. 
Just apply auto-tone and do not worry about it.



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