I have a new favourite site in Haje Jan Kamps’ Photocritic.org, and the article In Photography, Rules aren’t Laws he reminded me in the first point about exposure.

Recently my family went to India to fulfil a desire of my husband’s to take the kids to see the Taj Mahal at the same age that he first saw it. There were loads of images of the Taj Mahal, and I don’t flatter myself thinking that my images were any better than the myriad of photos that have been taken before, but there was one photo that I took of my darling, gorgeous husband that just plain floats my boat (or rocks my socks, whichever you prefer).

My Love - at the Taj Mahal

Is this a great photo? No, not really – it breaks a lot of rules about focus and exposure. But I think this is why this particular photo works for me. As a portrait it conveys a lot about the character of the person.

I have some other great classic shots of him, however the grittiness of him on vacation, smiling, carrying the kids’ shoes over his shoulder, with one of the most classic symbols of love in the background seems to be expressing him better in this overexposed shot than in some of the more traditional shots that I took that day.

Is there a formula for over- or under-exposing shots? Well it certainly involves letting more or less light into the photograph, but as for when or how to use it, there are better writers than me that can describe this. However I will say that over-exposing tends to lend itself to more edgier and informal shots, and under-exposing adds moodiness and tends to increase contrast (especially with very light or bright elements within the photo). This can also serve to highlight shapes (eg. a silhouette), or increase the saturation in some colour elements.

Certainly I’m not the only one to appreciate this. Check out the links below.

• DPS – 15 Creative Uses of Overexposure. A nice gallery of over-exposed shots.
• Reuters’ Photographers – The Art of Underexposure. Told from a news/record keeping perspective.
• Glenn Race Photography - Using Intentional Overexposure To Create Artistic Photos.  Includes the adjustment of midtones in an overexposed photograph to create an edgier looking image.

Now some nice, edgy and/or moody images that have been over- or under-exposed, and don’t forget to check out the Over- and Under-Exposed Gallery on Flickr.

Overexposed by Marsup' aka MARS

Fly Overexposed by artic pj

Alice Overexposed by hickoryhollow113

underexposed by JonathanCohen

Caught in the Window by Stephanie Krishnan