What is the Difference Between Exposure and Brightness?

The difference between exposure and brightness lies in how they affect the tones in an image and their purpose in photo editing. Here are the key differences:

1. Exposure: Exposure is the amount of light per unit area falling on the sensor and is determined by the scene luminance, the shutter speed, and the F-ratio. In photo editing software, the exposure slider has a heavier bias towards highlight tones, meaning that adjusting exposure will affect highlights more in brightening or darkening an image. Exposure acts as if increasing the amount of light in the picture without much affecting the darker areas.
2. Brightness: Brightness is simply how dark or light a picture is. In photo editing, the brightness slider affects all pixel values equally, making the dark areas lighter and light areas lighter too. Brightness is used to adjust the overall darkness or lightness of an image.

In summary, exposure is more focused on adjusting the highlights in an image, while brightness affects all tones equally. When editing a photo, you should use exposure if you need to brighten or darken the highlights, and brightness if you need to adjust the overall darkness or lightness of the image.

Comparative Table: Exposure vs Brightness

Exposure and brightness are two different concepts in photography and image editing. Here is a table highlighting the differences between the two:

In summary, exposure is an objective measurement of the amount of light captured by the camera, while brightness is a subjective interpretation of how light or dark an image appears. Exposure is influenced by camera settings, while brightness is influenced by both exposure and other factors, such as the display device and the viewer's perception.