How to Fix Underexposed Photos on iPhone and Android

Low light conditions can result in underexposed, blurry, and lifeless photos, but you can easily fix this right in your phone's native photos app. Here's how to fix underexposed photos on iPhone and Android!

How to fix underexposed photos on iPhone

iPhone users can use the built-in Photos app to make basic exposure adjustments. There’s always the Auto feature that does the heavy lifting for you, but the automatic features adjust the entire photo, whereas we just want to target the underexposure and manually edit for the best results.

Find your photo in the app, tap Edit and follow the steps below:

1. The first slider you'll want to look for is Brightness under Adjust . Since the Brightness setting brightens both the dark and light parts of the image equally, you can drag it up as much as you like to see exactly what's going on in the image. If it seems a little too much, you can drag it back down.
2. Find the Exposure slider . This setting is a little different than Brightness , it focuses more on the highlights rather than the entire image, and its purpose is to adjust the exposure settings in the camera. Increase the exposure to an appropriate level.
3. Find the Contrast and increase it a little to add depth and make your photo pop. If you increase it too much, the bright parts of the image will be blown out and the dark parts will almost disappear.
4. Next, you'll want to tweak the Highlights and Shadows sliders . Increase Shadows to brighten up the dark areas in an underexposed photo. If the bright parts of the image are fine, you can leave them as they are or reduce the Highlights slider a bit.
5. Go back to Brightness and bring it down. You don't need to go all the way to 0, just to a level where the exposure looks natural.

You should now have a properly exposed photo, ready for further edits. If the lighting looks good but you still feel like your photo is a bit washed out, increase the Sharpness , Definition , and Brilliance to get the results you want.

How to fix underexposed photos on Android

The process is pretty much the same as using Google Photos on Android. Again, we’ll be ignoring any automatic or AI features to avoid changing the entire image. We’re just aiming for underexposure, so manual editing is best in this case.

Find your image in the app, tap Edit and follow the steps below:

1. Go to Adjust and find Brightness . Try increasing it to see more clearly what is happening in the photo now.
2. The next step is to increase the contrast. Don't go overboard, as there needs to be a good balance between the light and dark parts of the image.
3. Now it's time to get into Highlights and Shadows . Increase Shadows to brighten the dark parts of the image. You may also want to increase Highlights , but if the bright parts of the image are already bright, it's best to ignore it or even reduce it.
4. Google Photos' Black point setting is much better than the one in the iOS Photos app, so you should use it. If your photo is too dark to begin with, reduce the Black point . If your photo feels a little dull and still lacks contrast, crank it up a bit.
5. Go back to Brightness and slowly reduce it until you achieve a nice, natural exposure.

If you feel your photo needs a little more clarity, increase Pop and Sharpen . Your photo will now not only look brighter, but also more vibrant.

While smartphone cameras continue to improve, grainy or blurry shots in low light are still a challenge. But once you know which settings to toggle for better exposure, things will go smoothly.