highlight recovery

[dhphy]

I'm sure I've seen here a post regarding sofware of some sort that is useful for recovering blown highlights. I have searched here but can't find anything. Anyone know of anything like this or was I imaging it!

Dave

[Gareth Lock]

I think you were imagining it. If the file is RAW you might get something back by reducing the exposure/brightness but if it is a jpeg you've lost it, sorry. You can combine 2 images from the RAW output in PS, the first with the highlights recovered and the second layer a normal exposure.

HTH

Gareth

[VA_Shooter]

Dave,

Sorry...blown highlights are blown. Once you have lost the data in a digital image (blown highlights=no data), you've lost the data. You cannot recover something that is not there to recover. What you see in the printed image is bare white paper; on a monitor you see the absence of color--white space.

[AzRich]

I think It was Thom Hogan's book that recommended that you err on the side of under exposing because it's easier to get detail out of shadows. Or something like that.

Before you give up, try converting the RAW image again with EX and adjust the exposure there (as previously mentioned). Maybe it isn't all gone.

[robinp]

I'm sure I've seen here a post regarding sofware of some sort that is useful for recovering blown highlights. I have searched here but can't find anything. Anyone know of anything like this or was I imaging it!

Dave

Maybe you mean this thread?
http://theswampbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4989

Cheers, Robin

[dhphy]

Thanks for your replies.
Yes I do appreciate that blown is blown and there is no data there to work with.
But it could only have been here or dpreview that I saw a picture of a person with highlights that were burnt out and were bought back with some detail using something other than photoshop to do it. Obviously it has to add the data but it seemed a much better job than burning in with photoshop.
I didn't take much notice at the time, but a friend who shoots weddings on digital has a critical photo with burnt out highlights.
The photo is on jpeg and we have tried burning in but not too successful in that the white areas just go grey.
I don't think I was imagining it but of course I didn't take much notice at the time, a good few months ago, and if it was on dpreview it might have been a joke anyway.
Dave

[Linda G]

Dave,

I work in a pro lab and one of my many jobs is to bring back blown out areas with photoshop.

You're not going to recover details but you can replace the blown areas with color information by doing the following.

Use your magic wand with maybe a selection of 5 to only select the blown areas. Play with that until you get it right, selecting similar if the areas are not contiguous. If that gives you areas You're not interested in saving, use the lasso tool, hold alt and circle them to deselect them. Go to select/feather and feather the area two or three pixels.

now bring up levels and with the bar on the bottom, bring the triangle on the right SLIGHTLY to the left until you start to see a gray tone but not darker than the surrounding area. If you want to, hit control/H to hide the marching ants so you can see the changes easier.

Now select the paint brush, put it on color mode to maybe 20% opacity, you'll just have to play with this to see what works best, it's different on each image. While you have the brush tool selected, hold the alt key and see that it turns into the eye dropper tool, use that on the surrounding area to choose a color, then go over the selected area and see if that brings back the color you like, instead of gray. Before deselecting, you may want to use levels to adjust the light/dark of the area and possibly add a little noise (filters/noise/add noise) to help it blend. After you deselect, if the area surrounding this looks too abrupt, you can use your bandaid tool to blend.

It will NOT make the image as good as it would have been if it had not been over exposed, but it's the best way I've found of putting information back into the lost areas.

There are other methods, I've tried adding a new layer and painting on this but have not had as good luck although, others find it the best and their results shows it IS the best for them.

Good luck!

[jknights]

Dave,

I think that the item you saw may have been the one where somebody had shot a wedding and the resulting image in JPG had blown highlights and a severe colour cast due to use of wrong white balance.

Somebody used some software I cant remember its name that seemed to work quite well.

I cant find the thread at present but I am sure somebody else will.

LindaG I think that you provided a cleaned up version of the original bride/groom picture.

[Linda G]

JK, I remember that, it was a long time ago and I can't find the thread--all I can remember is we all tried, it was a wedding in Ireland and the guy never responded again!

[dhphy]

Linda and Jonathon
Thanks for looking.
Linda, I've pointed the person to this thread so they can have a look at your technique.
I'm pleased to hear that I was not imagining it, but I can't find the thread iether.
Jonathon I am making progress with the S2 thanks to your help.
However I've invested in a D70 with SB800. Fantastic results.
Use the S2 for portraits but still haven't got to grips with a raw work flow yet.
Dave

[jknights]

Dave,
The D70 is a truly great little camera I would be interested to touch base with you to see how you are getting on with it. Maybe in a month or so.

The SB800 is absolutely wonderful as Nikon really seem to have got this working well. These advances are only really exploited by the Nikon D2H and D70 not the S2.