Image Exposure Adjuster

A brightness slider typically adds the same fixed amount to every pixel, in the encoded (sRGB) values your screen displays. Exposure instead multiplies the actual amount of light in linear space, before the sRGB curve is applied, which is how a camera's exposure setting physically works, doubling or halving the light for each stop rather than shifting every pixel by a flat amount.

A stop, or EV (exposure value), is the standard photography unit for doubling or halving the amount of light: +1 stop doubles the light, +2 stops quadruples it, -1 stop halves it, and so on. This tool lets you dial in fractional stops (e.g. +0.3) for finer control.

The color values stored in an image are gamma-encoded (sRGB), not physically linear, so directly multiplying them doesn't behave like real exposure and tends to blow out midtones far too quickly. Converting to linear light first, multiplying there, and converting back produces a much more natural, camera-like result, especially for values in the middle of the brightness range.

Values near white (255) are already close to the top of the range, so after converting to linear light there is very little headroom left to multiply before clipping. This mirrors how overexposed highlights behave on a real camera, they clip to white quickly regardless of how much more light is added.

No. The adjustment is computed and rendered entirely in your browser using the HTML canvas API. Nothing is sent to a server.