Help with blown highlights...

[Stacey]

Not a Texan, but you guys are so nice... and we don't have a single good photo forum for my area. iCe invited me to try my luck here.

I took this last night after hours at ZooBrews, (new Oregon Zoo event,) and didn't have a polarizer on me. Due to my general newbie-ness, I may not have thought to use one even if I'd had it with me.

I got some great shots of the hippos performing, but most of them are blown out like this with glare on the water. Is there anything at all to be done about it? I pulled the contrast down a little before converting from RAW, it was much worse.

Please feel free to edit or tell me what to do. I have Canon DPP and PSE 5.0, and very little working knowledge of PSE still.



Thanks,
Stacey

[Davidtxs]

dont know does this look any better ??

[DJ.]

Blown highlights are tough. Not sure if mine is any better either.

[Stacey]

seems like they both reduced the glare, both in the water and on the hippo's back. How did you do it? What's frustrating is that to take the glare out, the whole impact gets flat-lined.

[DJ.]

Sorry it does not look any better but it was a quick attempt.

Once the highlights are blown the only way is to fill in the missing detail. I created a couple of layers and used a combination of levels, cloning, shadow/highlight adjustment, and opacity.

[Daniel Bates]

I can't do much with the blown highlights without cloning in detail, but here's your un-flatlined impact version.

[Stacey]

I guess that'll teach me about not having a polarizer on me!

[Daniel Bates]

By the way - welcome to the forum!


I was actually born in Portland... that was a long time ago.

[BrianStewart]

Blown highlights aren't always a bad thing, it kinda adds a nice contrast to the image.

[Stacey]

:) Lemonade, huh? Okay, how about this, is there any way to lower the glare on his back, while leaving the more saturated colors? I guess I have to live with the water glare, and it's just going to display on the digital photo frame, not going to print.

[AndrewCCM]

Originally Posted by Daniel Bates

By the way - welcome to the forum!


I was actually born in Portland... that was a long time ago.

Not THAT long ago...

[rages4calm]

Originally Posted by AndrewCCM

Not THAT long ago...

LoL, sorry daniel i couldn't resist, but i was thinking the same thing.

[Daniel Bates]

Okay, that one was too easy... I can't help it that y'all are really old!

[engstrom]

Daniel, I prefer the term "ancient" - it makes me sound more mysterious.

[BrianStewart]

Here ya go, can't do too much with the water without alot of work but the highlight on his back is no problem to fix.