This is an image of a pair of Red-browed Firetails, with the male displaying to the female. It all happened so quickly that I barely had time to get the camera firing before it was over, let alone move to a better lighting position. Problem is (as you can see) I've overexposed several areas - males breast, grass stem, etc - as a result of not adjusting the exp compensation from another image just prior to this. I'm after advice on the best ways to 'save' the image as I reckon it's worth the effort. I've tried dodge and burn on different areas, and some Quick Masks (but am a novice with these). Nothing has quite worked for me. Any advice greatly appreciated...can it be saved?
Thanks for looking.
Last edited by Dean Ingwersen; 04-21-2008 at 11:15 PM.
Hi Dean I see why you want to save this one It is a cool behavior !!! The main advice for making the image is sun angle I understand this just happened and was out of your control
No real mystery to improving Need to tame the highlights and lighten the dark areas Masking is about the only way
For the highlights you can select the area and multiply then reduce opacity Should get you close The shadows is more difficult Doing the masking and making it look natural is no easy task The only suggestion I can give you is getting Robert O'toole's advance CD Outlines the steps needed for masking etc Easy to fallow and to the point
... and to answer you question Can it be saved? I think the answer is yes !!!!!!
If the original image was a raw file, did you try playing with the exposure settings, especially the "recover" slider? I've had pretty good results in some situations like this.
If the original is a jpeg and you don't like working with masks, you may want to try cloning for these small highlight areas-- set the cloning mode to "darken" and select a source area as close as possible to the final coloration and shading that you'd like to have in the target area, using a soft brush. If you make a duplicate layer first and make all your adjustments on that layer, afterwards you can play with reducing that layer's Opacity to see if the result looks a little more natural.
Dean, I have had the same "burn out" in patches that you have experienced here. I bought a PS Action called "Paint with Light" ($6 I think?) that let's me go into those patches and tone them up or down depending on whether I over- or under-exposed my image. I used that action on your photo and then cloned a few of the really stubborn hot patches from the ones I used the action on. I think it's a decent result.
I really love this action (put out by Photoblast.com) and have used it quite a bit where I want to add or subtract light in very specific places. I also bumped down the brightness just a tad after I ran the action. (Keep in mind I'm not on my home computer so not sure how this image looks on an uncalibrated monitor.)
Displaying Firetails
