Burnt Retinas

Technically, photography is about exposing either film or an electronic sensor array to just the right about of light. Too little light makes no impression on the medium and results in black, and too much makes such a strong impression that the result is all-out white. Having too much light is different from taking a picture of a white wall, because the wall will actually be a shade of grey, which the brain interprets as white. Too much light, or overexposure is pure white. It’s as white as the medium can possibly go.

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Many photographers, like the prolific Ken Rockwell, feel that overexposure is “death”, and many digital cameras have playback modes that highlight any pixels that are overexposed to alert you of the situation.

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However, overexposure can be a neat effect (although — if you do it on purpose, is it still overexposure?) It’s great, for example, for emphasizing the subject by washing out distracting background details.

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