Without seeing the original it i s hard to know what might/should be possible.......................I am sure others with PS experience of layers will chime in but here is a quickish attempt to show what might be doable simply using the Highlights/Shadows tool in PSCS6
As it affects the whole image I did not adjust too far as the light on the face was losing the nice touch it has. NB I have hosted this so please tell when you want it removed.
Hope this go has helped?
I don't see anything wrong with the original image. Looks great as is. Don't fret about the minor details
However, using Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop you could just select an adjustment brush and drop the highlights down. If the highlights are at the point where the detail is lost, there won't be anything to recover unfortunately (unless you shot in RAW).
Thank you, will look it up and tryIf it was shot in raw you may have a chance of revealing the detail, but if the highlights realy have "Blown" then there will be no detail to reveal.
Maybe the content aware* tool in PS could help disguise it.
* Other "Cloning" tools are available.
aA few approaches..
- Just chill. It's fine.
- If shooting raw, drop the highlights in Lightroom with a brush or radial adjustment. If you can't recover the detail in the highlights 'cos it's totally gone then don't drop them anyway or you'll just end up with grey mush.
- Disguise it with some processing, e.g. contrasty b & w or a matte (faded) effect.
- If you really need to recreate that kind of detail it can be done but it's not easy.. a frequency separation-based approach in photoshop would allow you to copy the texture from elsewhere on the shirt and apply whatever colour you want.
Hmmm, not sure i understood the last sentence, highlight warnings in camera? And how to make sure its not clipping? Wont other parts be underexposed then? Or its envitable if i use natural light only?It works well in B&W.
In LR you can stack adjustments on top of global adjustments in order to apply it much more heavily... i.e. it's possible to reduce highlights well over 100%. But if the highlights are clipped then that will only turn them grey, and it doesn't matter if it's a raw file or not... it's just that raw files often have a little more DR/room for adjustment.
The best thing to do is expose the image so that the brightest part you want to retain is not clipping... checking the image review with highlight warnings enabled is a good way of doing that.
I can see why you love that photo, if it was one of mine I probably would too
I'm with Simon and Oliver, nothing wrong with the original imo. As for shooting in raw, it may have given you more latitude to recover the blown highlights in the shirt (it may not also ). As Steven says, enabling highlight warning - sometimes called blinkies - in the camera can help here.
Quick google search and i found video how to enable this option in my camera..but how i can use this knowledge now, what settings do i need to adjust to make sure the highlights wont be blow? Can you point me to the right direction?!So the camera will warn me if something is too bright?! Will check if mine has this option, thanks
When the highlight clipping warning shows (blinkies) it means you have or are about to clip the highlights, sometimes this is inevitable and you live with. A blown highlight is an area of overexposure, to deal with it you need to reduce the exposure. The risk here is that you end up under exposing and having to lift it in post, this often introduces noise. The warning should show you where the clipping will take place in the image, you then have to decide if that is acceptable or not.Quick google search and i found video how to enable this option in my camera..but how i can use this knowledge now, what settings do i need to adjust to make sure the highlights wont be blow? Can you point me to the right direction?!
It really depends on which camera more than brand... I think *most* cameras will show clipping warnings if any one of the three channels are in excess of ~ 95%. Which usually means there is a little room left in a raw file. And single channel clipping isn't as bad as having all channels clipping.I'm not familiar with Canon, but in the Nikons I've used there has often been recoverable data when the blinkies are showing, I generally use them as a warning that I am pushing the limits. Hopefully someone familiar with Canon will comment as to how close to true clipping the warning is.
Yep, I just think of them as a guide not a definite, but useful nonetheless.I know the 5D, 1D, and others behave similarly... I don't think any histogram/highlight warnings can be entirely trusted w/o testing for yourself. But IME they are generally on the conservative side so they're *generally* safe to use.
When the highlight clipping warning shows (blinkies) it means you have or are about to clip the highlights, sometimes this is inevitable and you live with. A blown highlight is an area of overexposure, to deal with it you need to reduce the exposure. The risk here is that you end up under exposing and having to lift it in post, this often introduces noise. The warning should show you where the clipping will take place in the image, you then have to decide if that is acceptable or not.
I'm not familiar with Canon, but in the Nikons I've used there has often been recoverable data when the blinkies are showing, I generally use them as a warning that I am pushing the limits. Hopefully someone familiar with Canon will comment as to how close to true clipping the warning is.
I have 6DI know the 5D, 1D, and others behave similarly... I don't think any histogram/highlight warnings can be entirely trusted w/o testing for yourself. But IME they are generally on the conservative side so they're *generally* safe to use.
Partial meteringJust to ask~
What metering setting are you using? Evaluative, Centre Weighted, Spot???
I don't have a Canon but I find the most useful modes either evaluative (matrix) metering where you let the camera do all the work or spot metering which gives you much more precision. The inbetween modes are more confusing than helpful.Partial metering
Partial seems to be similar to Spot metering from what I can see. It looks as though the 6D only meters in the centre of the scene and not where the focus point is with both Spot and Partial. Either way, I only use Matrix (Evaluative in Canon-speak) and Spot modes. With your camera, when spot metering (probably true of Partial as well) you may need to meter on the subject, set the exposure (aperture, shutter speed and if necessary ISO) then re-compose and shoot. This may mean shooting in manual, which isn't always doable, but you should be able to lock exposure - look for the AE Lock button. The other option is to get familiar with using exposure compensation and use evaluative metering and use one of the semi-automatic modes (e.g. Av ...).Partial metering
Partial seems to be similar to Spot metering from what I can see. It looks as though the 6D only meters in the centre of the scene and not where the focus point is with both Spot and Partial. Either way, I only use Matrix (Evaluative in Canon-speak) and Spot modes. With your camera, when spot metering (probably true of Partial as well) you may need to meter on the subject, set the exposure (aperture, shutter speed and if necessary ISO) then re-compose and shoot. This may mean shooting in manual, which isn't always doable, but you should be able to lock exposure - look for the AE Lock button. The other option is to get familiar with using exposure compensation and use evaluative metering and use one of the semi-automatic modes (e.g. Av ...).
If shooting in raw you will have a little more latitude to recover apparently blown highlights. It isn't a get out of jail free card, but it can help, and whilst we shouldn't have the "fix it in post" mentality, sometimes we have to.
Thank you for the detailed reply. I shoot in manual and alway adjust aperture, shutter speed and ISO, however I need to try different metering mode as well as AE lock button.
AE Lock won't do anything in manual.
Thanks
Hmm, i think its time for me to read the manual again
It locks the current exposure which the camera has calculated for you. If you're changing everything manually then it's already locked.
Apologies if this was inappropriate to comandeer it without permission, but it's a very simple thing to fix in photoshop for this particular image. I wasn't sure if you wanted it corrected, or were looking to avoid similar mishaps in future.
I've only got the small file you posted to work from, if you'd like the original fixed, or would like a live tutorial on the process used just get in touch. This is a very rough 2 minute edit, obviously you'd spend a bit more time on the final work!
Bung me a PM on here and we can arrange a time to go through it online!Oh wow! Thank you, i really like it. Would be great to know how to do it myself for the future and to correct this image (large file) as well.