Need Help! Editing Image with Overblown Highlights

[snapperz]

Seeking help to all experienced photoshop users.

Can anyone share or give the tips as to how to edit an image with overblown highlights, is there anyway to salvage the image? i'm still new to this PP, so would like to learn a tip or two from the experienced and regular users of Photoshop CS2... pls dun tell me to discard the image, as tht is my last last last resort...i'll do all it takes to salvage them...

I have attached a good example of an image with overblown highlights... Pls help so i can save the image even with excessive PP?

Thanks all... all replies and help are greatly appreciated! Thanks again.

 

[Rashkae]

This will be almost impossible to rescue. Did you shoot in RAW? Why didn't you use exposure bracketing? Learn how to use your exposure compensation before you even engage in paid shoots... The "all white clothes/all black clothes" issue is the #1 repeated example for the need to know how to adjust your exposure.

You have a digital cam... What good is it if you don't immediately check on the spot that you have the right shot?

 

[phed223]

My tries:

Adjusted curves. Details on the dress still can't really be seen though.

After equalize the details can be seen but it's gonna be really hard to salvage it unless you have a similar image of the dress and merge it into the pic.

 

[Rashkae]

This is the most i could quickly whip together in a quick PS job:

 

[jdredd]

this is really quite blown..

if you shot raw.. maybe you can make it available for the PS gurus here to do something about it.

but fixing jpeg.. wont get very far at all.

 

[hongsien]

This is what I could make of it, hope it is usable? Some of the highlights started to become solarized though.....(see column at the back)

Hong Sien

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b374/hongsien3/dsc2258il6aa.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

 

[hongsien]

Sorry, wrong link:

HS

 

[Yatlapball]

you never heard of the saying once highlights are blown, they are impossible to recover?

 

[ortega]

not much data left

 

[night86mare]

here's a suggestion, since the general consensus is that the image is unrescueable, why not just work with it as it is instead of discarding it?

certainly details are lost, and there are masses of grouped-together highlights here and there, but i'm sure you can produce something that looks fine out of it with the right type of pp

 

[jopel]

 

[snapperz]

woah!!! this is the closest so far!!! i'm impressed!!! how did you do it? care to share or give some pointers and tips?

and to all... i'm very thankful the handful who contributed... i'm still very much stuck in salvaging the image..

 

[jdredd]

the other thing you could do, is just do a tight crop around the head...

 

[night86mare]

woah!!! this is the closest so far!!! i'm impressed!!! how did you do it? care to share or give some pointers and tips?

and to all... i'm very thankful the handful who contributed... i'm still very much stuck in salvaging the image..

looks like multiply, vignetting

the details in the headgear of the lady is irrecoverable without extreme degradation though