Clipping in Photography (And How to Fix It)

Clipping is something that all photographers have to deal with at some point.

It doesn’t matter how much experience you have taking photos – clipping is part of photography.

Whether in the highlights or the shadows, I’ll explain how to prevent and fix clipping in your photos.

I’ll also give you some real-life examples so you can learn to identify image clipping and understand when it’s most likely to happen.

I’ll even include some shots where clipping is used creatively, so keep reading!

What Is Clipping in Photography?

 

Clipping in photography refers to a technical problem in which you don’t have any details in the highlights of your image.

It’s also possible to have shadow clipping when there are no details in the darkest areas of your image. However, this is less common. Usually, you’ll hear about clipped highlights.

Examples of Photo Clipping

Here are some real-world images where there’s clipping.

In this low-key photo, the background and the flame are intensely contrasted.

Technically, there is image clipping in the shadows and the highlights. However, the photo is correctly exposed.

Reflections and reflective surfaces often create hotspots with clippings on images.

Shooting against the sun to do a silhouette image creates shadow clippings because your exposure is set to the background – this is OK.

Instead, shooting a sunset is tricky because it causes highlight clippings.

What Causes Photo Clipping?

Clipping occurs when a part of the image is overexposed or underexposed. This may be because you used the wrong exposure.

However, clipping also happens when there’s too much contrast in a photograph. So, one part of the image is well exposed while parts of it are not.

Lastly, photo clipping can happen during the edits. If you brighten the highlights too much or extremely darken the shadows, you’ll lose detail and cause clipping.

Clipping Your Exposure When Taking a Photo

Image clipping can happen when you use the wrong exposure.

In many cases, this can be because your camera has the wrong exposure mode. To get a more accurate exposure, many photographers use a grey card or an external light meter.

Another issue that causes clipping is when there’s too much contrast – for example, shooting a portrait with a bright sky as background. To correctly expose the subject, you’ll probably have to blow out the highlight; otherwise, your subject will be in the shadows.

Clipping Your Image While Photo Editing

Different tools can create clipping in your image while editing.

The first one is the Exposure slider. Moving this slider is like changing the exposure in your camera – it affects the overall image.

Another edit that can create clipping is moving the highlights and shadows sliders. If you brighten your image too much using the Highlights slider or darken the shadows until the image reaches total black – then you create clipping.

In the same way, the Whites and Blacks sliders can brighten or darken areas until the image exceeds the limit where there’s digital information.

How to Detect Image Clipping?

There are ways to detect clipping while you’re shooting and while you’re editing. Let’s see them in detail.

Before You Take a Photo

 

Some cameras have a highlights alert feature that warns you when you have clippings while reviewing the photos on the LCD screen.

If your camera doesn’t have this feature, you can use the histogram to check for any clippings.

While Image Editing

While editing your photos, you may perform extreme retouches that create clipping. To prevent this, some programs have a clipping ‘alert’ you can enable.

I use Lightroom Classic. Here, I can enable the clipping indicators on the Histogram panel. There’s a shadow clipping indicator on the top left and a highlight clipping indicator on the top right.

Once they’re enabled, any areas that become pure black or pure white will have a colored overlay so that I can notice them.

See also: How to fix overexposed photos

How to Avoid Clipping in Photography

If you want to avoid clipping both in the camera and when you edit – here are a few tips.

Shoot in raw

The image format plays an important role in clipping in photography.

As I’ve mentioned, clipping means that areas of your image lack detail. Shooting in a raw file format gives you a better chance of recovering those details in post-production.

Instead, when you shoot a JPEG image, certain information is discarded when processing and saving the file.

Do exposure bracketing

 

Exposure bracketing is when you shoot multiple images with different exposures. This method ensures that you get all the information you need.

Many cameras have automatic bracketing. This way, you only have to set it up, and it will take 3, 5, 7, or 9 pictures when you press the shutter.

Alternatively, you can do it manually. As for the exposure increment, I recommend one stop – but feel free to experiment with smaller or bigger increments.

Then, you can merge the shots in Photoshop, achieving one perfectly exposed photo.

Use the histogram

To avoid clipping, it’s best not to eyeball things. The foolproof way is to check your histogram when you shoot. Make sure the histogram does not touch the edges—if it does, then you have some clipping.

How to Fix Image Clipping in Lightroom

If you couldn’t prevent clipping while taking your pictures, it’s not necessarily a big deal.

If there is enough information, you can always fix clipping during post-processing. Most photo editing programs are suitable for it – I’ll show you how to do it in Lightroom.

If there isn’t enough data in the image clipping, you’ll have to use other programs like Photoshop to replace backgrounds or add details using AI tools.

Lightroom clipping indicators

If you want to remove clipping from a photo, the first thing you need to do is identify where it is. In Lightroom, you can turn on the clipping indicators—one for the highlights and one for the shadows.

You can find them on the upper corners of the histogram. Once you enable them, you’ll get colored overlays showing you where there’s clipping.

Use the Basic panel

The sliders in the basic panel will help you fix clipping in your photos. The Whites and Blacks sliders adjust the brightest and darkest points in the picture.

The Highlights and Shadows sliders are for adjusting the bright and dark tones.

The Exposure slider brightens or darkens the entire picture.

Be careful not to create new clippings while fixing the original ones. To avoid it, keeping the image clipping indicators on while you edit is useful.

Use the Masking tool

In complex images, you might want to fix clipping in one part of the image but keep it in another. This is a common issue when editing landscapes or product photos.

In product images, clippings in the background are OK because they’re supposed to be pure white.

However, you’ll want all the details possible in the product. To fix this problem, you need to do selective editing.

Using the Masking tool, you can select the foreground and use the Basic panel to adjust the tones in the product only.

You can also use the Brush and other masking tools to fix complex images.

Is Photography Clipping Always Bad?

Clipping in photography is usually bad. However, it may be useful in some cases, such as when you need background removal.

Selecting and removing backgrounds is much easier when they are pure white. In fact, many programs and apps can automatically remove the background, and they do a much better job if it’s clipped. This is commonly used in product images.

You may also use clipped areas creatively – but you need to be careful so it doesn’t look like a mistake. High-key and low-key photography often involve image clipping.

FAQs About Photography Clipping

What does clipping mean in editing?

Clipping in editing means you’ve pushed the highlights or the shadow areas so far that you’ve lost all detail.

What is the Lightroom highlight clipping shortcut?

Press the letter J on your keyboard to enable the highlight and shadow clipping indicators.

Where are the clipping warnings in Lightroom?

You can find the clipping warnings on the top corners of the histogram.

Where are the clipping warnings in Luminar?

In Luminar, you’ll find the clipping warnings on the upper corners of the histogram.

How do I turn off the clipping warnings in Lightroom?

You can use the keyboard shortcut ‘J’ to toggle the clipping warnings on and off. You can also click on them to enable and disable them.