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DPChallenge Forums >> Individual Photograph Discussion >> Blown Sky and Over-exposed Skin
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 06/30/2005 09:32:01 AM · #1


I was at the Billy Graham event here in NYC over the weekend, and the sun was BLAZING hot, so I ended up with lots of white skies and skin. What Post process techniques can be used to correct the over-exposure? If any?
sample pics:

//peterish.smugmug.com/photos/26609369-O.jpg
//peterish.smugmug.com/photos/26609285-O.jpg


06/30/2005 09:38:06 AM · #2
Do you mind if I take a shot at one of them?

06/30/2005 09:38:55 AM · #3

Originally posted by saracat:
Do you mind if I take a shot at one of them?


Oh sure, por favor, go crazy!


06/30/2005 09:49:45 AM · #4
All I can say is ARRGGH!
I thought I remembered how to adjust the white point, but it turns out my brain is made of swiss cheese.
I did manage to give the pic a little more 'depth' by adjusting the gamma and lowering the brightness, but my brain went on strike & I couldn't recall the steps for comensation for overexposure.
Here's what I got:


Maybe bear_music or BradP will see this thread & be able to help...
Sara
 06/30/2005 09:51:16 AM · #5
My understanding is that if something is blown, it's unrecoverable. I avoid this by setting my camera to underexpose by one stop or so, depending on light, when I'm taking pics.
06/30/2005 10:04:06 AM · #6

Hmm sara you did add some nice depth. Keep thinking hard, I know it's in your brain somewhere!
06/30/2005 10:04:41 AM · #7
Does this help a little?



I didn't do anything to specific areas, but you could go in & work on the face & arm that are still very overexposed.

(looking at it now on the site I think I may have overdone it)

Message edited by author 2005-06-30 10:09:25.
 06/30/2005 10:15:46 AM · #8

lol bebe its got a artsy look to it now, but yeah, a bit oversaturated?
Anyone wanna take a stab at the 2nd pic? (guy with sunglasses)
 06/30/2005 10:18:52 AM · #9
You're right peterish. I did go overboard. Here's a slightly less sat'd try:

06/30/2005 10:19:15 AM · #10
Originally posted by peterish:
lol bebe its got a artsy look to it now, but yeah, a bit oversaturated?
Anyone wanna take a stab at the 2nd pic? (guy with sunglasses)


I find it hard, cz the skin is kinda merging with the blown sky. The detail was arealdy lost on the original, so I find it hard to come up with something! It's like recreating skin there
 06/30/2005 10:20:56 AM · #11
Not a photshop wizard, but maybe if you desaturate to de-emphasize the blown out areas it wouldn't be so stark. or maybe convert to b/w alltogether. nice capture i kinda like the overexposure in the head shot
I'll be interested to see what the experts can do
 06/30/2005 10:31:37 AM · #12
Well, I wanted to at least try.... results arn't that pleasing... tried selecting the blown areas and dropping in a new shade.. didn't work. Here's my shot.

06/30/2005 10:46:19 AM · #13

haha Roland, that pic's ok, just a little...roasted? It's kind of funny watching the progression of different people's rendentions; first they look red, then brown...what's next lol?
The desaturated pic is a pretty creative take on it. It's different but it sort of solves the problem.
Is there no other way? Calling all photoshop-ers; it's a great opportunity to practice your skills :)


06/30/2005 10:53:13 AM · #14
Originally posted by peterish:

The desaturated pic is a pretty creative take on it. It's different but it sort of solves the problem.


Personally, I really like what CeeDeez did. I think it's your best bet (at least in my limited range of knowledge!). I might even try a duotone or just B&W.

06/30/2005 11:57:39 AM · #15
maybe you should see if BG will come back so you can reshoot the event ;-)
 06/30/2005 11:59:39 AM · #16
Originally posted by saracat:
All I can say is ARRGGH!
I thought I remembered how to adjust the white point, but it turns out my brain is made of swiss cheese.


The tutorial on removing a colour cast has a good way of finding the white point using the Threshold adjustment layer.
 06/30/2005 12:38:29 PM · #17
Here are my attempts. Not happy with the color one. The other one I think is okay, not great.

06/30/2005 01:00:29 PM · #18
This is extremely frustrating to work with. One look at the histogram tells the story: a HUGE spike stacked up on the right edge = ovberexposed image. So much so that I suspect you had exposure compensation inadvertently dialed in on the plus side. There's so much brightness in there I can't believe a neutrally-set camera would have exposed it this high.

I eventually ended up with a trange amalgam of faded gaussian glow here, but the key thing is making a cntrl-j selection of the bright areas and then adding some texturizer to them and fading that, so they have a sense of texture. For some reason I'm unable to entirely neutralize the color cast as well, and I stopped fussing with it eventually.



Robt.
 06/30/2005 03:08:07 PM · #19

Originally posted by bear_music:
This is extremely frustrating to work with. One look at the histogram tells the story: a HUGE spike stacked up on the right edge = ovberexposed image. So much so that I suspect you had exposure compensation inadvertently dialed in on the plus side. There's so much brightness in there I can't believe a neutrally-set camera would have exposed it this high.

I eventually ended up with a trange amalgam of faded gaussian glow here, but the key thing is making a cntrl-j selection of the bright areas and then adding some texturizer to them and fading that, so they have a sense of texture. For some reason I'm unable to entirely neutralize the color cast as well, and I stopped fussing with it eventually.



Robt.


The exposure compensation was not messed with; infact I was shooting in Full Manual, which doesn't even let me change the exposure compensation in either direction. The settings I used for most of the day was F2.8, ~1/350, ISO 80, white balance=Sun. I think those settings are pretty well balanced. That day was extremely hazy and cloudless, so I'm thinking it's simply the intensity of the sun...


06/30/2005 03:23:33 PM · #20
Originally posted by peterish:
The exposure compensation was not messed with; infact I was shooting in Full Manual, which doesn't even let me change the exposure compensation in either direction. The settings I used for most of the day was F2.8, ~1/350, ISO 80, white balance=Sun. I think those settings are pretty well balanced. That day was extremely hazy and cloudless, so I'm thinking it's simply the intensity of the sun...

while i appreciate every one's rescue efforts here (because there is a TON of ps i still don't know how to use), this is a great example of the need to duck away into the shade and preview what you've shot before an event is over. even better, while things are getting warmed up, make and check out some test shots. at least you got some shots of this once in a lifetime event.

good luck!
 06/30/2005 03:39:37 PM · #21
Here is my attempt.... thx for the challenge! LOL


06/30/2005 03:43:26 PM · #22
I tried. Not even sure how I got there.
(was more than my 200 history states, single layer)



The whites are gone.

Tackled second one:
Tried to use the high-contrast to advantage in B&W:


and a completely different take:


Message edited by author 2005-06-30 16:01:16.
 06/30/2005 03:50:34 PM · #23

06/30/2005 04:07:56 PM · #24
Originally posted by peterish:
The exposure compensation was not messed with; infact I was shooting in Full Manual, which doesn't even let me change the exposure compensation in either direction. The settings I used for most of the day was F2.8, ~1/350, ISO 80, white balance=Sun. I think those settings are pretty well balanced. That day was extremely hazy and cloudless, so I'm thinking it's simply the intensity of the sun...


Another good thing is to use the "blinkies", which your camera may or may not have, although I think most non-supercompact cameras should have the ability. On my rebel and G5, when you look at the detailed info (on mine it has the levels-chart and all that) in the blown highlights will flash to let you know if you have too many blown highlights. This is a quick way to test out if too much of the image is over-exposed and you can usually see this even in the sunlight on your LCD.

Here's my try, although its probably not what you're looking for, I really liked the reflection in that guys sunglasses so I tried to bring the focus into that rather than on the rest of the picture and the super-whiteness.


06/30/2005 05:15:47 PM · #25
Keeping your camera on Highlight mode would help you in the future. All overblown area are highlighted in black and you know it's time to snap another one. It's one of my favorite features when I upgraded from Sony to Panasonic.
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