How do I fix this

[KartGirlsMom]

I just got my 10D and this was my first trip to the track. I will be doing a lot of shots like this and being new to digital I don't know how to fix the white in this photo.

http://www.hogdalturf.com/SKCphotos/IMG_0118.jpg

There are many more here, if you want to help me by being critical. Just remember I'm new at this and be gentle. http://www.stockholmkartingcenter.com/photo.htm

[boomer1959]

Hi
I'm no expert but I have tried the burning tool in PS with some success. Or try under exposing a stop or two next time you shoot. experiment a little.

[4walls]

Turn on the histogram on the camera's display. When you see the flashing areas, then you have blown out the highlights. Turn the exposure down a bit and shoot it again.

There is little or no detail left in the white areas when they are blown out like that.

[Aylwin]

You could try blending as described here:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtml

It works better if you're converting from RAW but I've had some success with only JPEG. I simply open a copy of the same JPEG and use levels to create the under-exposed image.

Of course, there might be a much better way but I'm not exactly a PS expert and just learned this technique very recently myself. :oops:

[Sailor Don]

KartGirlsMom,

I think it would take more that "a pound" of digital photo editing to restore the detail in the overexposed white.

My suggestion is to "test" photograph the carts (in the same light) before they get out on the race course. If your 10D has an exposure bracketeing option like my Canon Pro 1, that will help you select the best exposure setting. Of course exposure bracketing will not work on action shots, but you can view the static test results on your digital image screen before the race starts and determine the best exposure setting. Then go to "manual" mode using the Tv and Ap settings that gave the best static image and shoot your action shots.

If it is a "low light" overcast day, make sure you don't set the shutter speed too long, or you will get blurring. You might have to up the ISO setting.

Looks like a good start to great action photos. :)

[Calis]

This is the best I could do:

http://www.pbase.com/image/31876210.jpg

These highlights are too far gone to rescue. So for next time:

1) Shoot RAW - this will allow you to effectivley bracket as you can set an exposure adjustment of +/- 2 stops in the jpg conversion.

2) Turn your exposure compensation down a stop.

3) Check the histogram!!! That's what it's there for! as others have said any blinking bits are blown and even though you may be able to rescue them in post processing you can save yourself a lot of effort later by exposing right in the first place. If ou are getting blown highlights adjust you exposure compensation down another 1/3 - 1/2 a stop.

A couple of other general comments: You need to use a faster shutter speed or need to learn to pan quickly - the karts should be pin sharp (the softness might be down to the resizing you did to post here) The easy way is to go to Tv mode and set a speed of around 1/500th to 1/1000th. This will completley freeze any motion. The hard way is to use a longer exposure, but to pan with the action. This keeps the kart sharp but blurs the background giving a sense of speed. Expect to get about 1 keeper out of 20 shots whlie learning this.

You also need to get much closer, or to use a longer lens.

[KartGirlsMom]

Thanks all. I guess I should have asked "how do I avoid this?" I know that the picture is not fixable. I thought this digital stuff would be easier than film :shock: I'm kind of shocked at how underexposed most of my pictures are. I should have (the newby in me) thought to look at the histogram. I just looked at the LCD review and they looked ok there, so when I downloaded, I was really disappointed.

Calis--Thanks for the shutter speed hint. I thought I was shooting fast enough, but they sure are soft. (Again, looking at the LCD they looked sharp) Sigh--oh well, they race again in two weeks. I'll try again. BTW--that picture is for our club's website. http://www.stockholmkartingcenter.com/photo.htm I like to get as many karts as possible in the picture so I think I am close enough/big enough lens--see the pictures below. Is this cute or what?

http://www.hogdalturf.com/SKCphotos/IMG_0112.JPG

I thought this was kinda cool. You can see the curbing in his visor.

http://www.hogdalturf.com/SKCphotos/IMG_0116.JPG

So much to learn!!!

[whowie]

Calis has probably recovered all the highlight detail there is in this image but I'd like to lend the following three methods for future reference.

A Quick Fix

In PS, pressing Cntrl-Alt-"~" selects the highlights in the image (You should see the marching ants over a fair portion of your image). Press Cntrl-J to copy the highlights to their own layer. Change the blend mode of the new layer to multiply and use the opacity slider to control the detail in the highlights (if any). A note: pressing Cntrl-Alt-"~" (Highlights) then Cntrl-Shift-I (Inverse) then Cntrl-J will give you a layer containing your shadows. Change the blend on the shadow layer to Screen and use the opacity slider to control the detail in your shadow areas (if any). There is a more elaborate process using Curves Layers that will allow you to more accurately define what a highlight, midtone, and/or shadow is but I'll leave that for a later time.

Canned fix.

Fred Miranda has an action ( http://www.fredmiranda.com/shopping/HR ), designed specifically for Canon cameras, that recovers highlight detail from hot highlight areas. I've used it a couple of times on RAW files from my G3 and it works rather well. He charges $8.50 for the download and I think it's worth it.

BreezeBrowser

BreezeBrowser has a RAW conversion mode called "Combined" that combines (of course) a normal reading and a linear reading of a RAW file. This particular type of conversion favours detail in highlight areas.

There are other products that might do the job as well, albeit if you just need to recover some highlights they might be a big tool for a little job. Picture Windows Pro is definitely worth a look, for example. Some lurkers may suggest some others.

Good luck.

[4walls]

A Quick Fix

In PS, pressing Cntrl-Alt-"~" selects the highlights in the image (You should see the marching ants over a fair portion of your image). Press Cntrl-J to copy the highlights to their own layer. Change the blend mode of the new layer to multiply and use the opacity slider to control the detail in the highlights (if any). A note: pressing Cntrl-Alt-"~" (Highlights) then Cntrl-Shift-I (Inverse) then Cntrl-J will give you a layer containing your shadows. Change the blend on the shadow layer to Screen and use the opacity slider to control the detail in your shadow areas (if any). There is a more elaborate process using Curves Layers that will allow you to more accurately define what a highlight, midtone, and/or shadow is but I'll leave that for a later time.


I think that one is called luminosity mask - a very cool trick indeed. I
have used it in the past, and it has done wonders to some of the images
before the day of the shadow/highlight tool found in Photoshop CS.

[whowie]

Thanks, 4Walls. I was unaware that this was in CS. I guess I should install it and start using it someday soon! :D

[karusel]

I simply open a copy of the same JPEG and use levels to create the under-exposed image.

Blown highlights mean that the RGB values are 255 255 255 which means white, in this case the cart and helmet have blown highlights, which means all those pixels are identical in other words; those areas are completely blank. Whatever you do with curves those areas (blown hights.) will still have the same hue/brightness. From this point of view it is far better to underexpose than overexpose. Then you can actually apply this technique.

[arumdevil]

I simply open a copy of the same JPEG and use levels to create the under-exposed image.

Blown highlights mean that the RGB values are 255 255 255 which means white, in this case the cart and helmet have blown highlights, which means all those pixels are identical in other words; those areas are completely blank. Whatever you do with curves those areas (blown hights.) will still have the same hue/brightness. From this point of view it is far better to underexpose than overexpose. Then you can actually apply this technique.

Just to add to that, blown highlights are blown highlights whether they are JPG or RAW blown highlights. I don't think shooting RAW is the solution in this case and will only mean you have less space for shots of the action.

just my 2 c

[4walls]

...well I disagree. The common concensus here seems to be to underexpose a little. RAW files will always give you more flexibility in correcting exposures and fixing other lighting difficulties than will JPG.

[karusel]

Sure, but that was not Arumdevil's point.

[DocFrankenstein]

I find this stuff impossible to deal with. I've been to some film sets and the actors NEVER wear black or white or anything that will be luminescent. (except for SFX of course)

And she's shooting in the bright sun. And the guys wear mirror like helmets. If you don't want to overexpose the helmet, you'll have to:

1) Increase the shutter speed to 1/4000
2) Stop down the lens to f/8
3) Shoot raw

With the helmet's brightness, this may be just enough not to overexpose it. :lol: The rest of the pic will be real dark.

Then you go to the photoshop and play with what you got. You may actually get a good looking pic without blown highlights.

(the other solution would be to sneak in and re-paint white parts of the cart with beige or grey)

I can't shoot in conditions like that also.