Can I fix the hand?

I took this the other day at the Audubon Zoo. I really like the facial expression of the baby orangutan and I'd like to put it on my wall. Before I get it printed, is there anything I can do to fix the blown out hand? Lightroom tells me that the red, green and blue channels are all at 99.9%. What I have posted below is with the recovery slider at 100. Is there anything else I can do in Lightroom? If not, is there anything I can do in Elements 9? If someone says "try this" I'm usually pretty good at figuring out how to do it. The original file is a raw, in case that info is relevant.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/61875474@N06/6​076491367/

In Lightroom, If you hold down the Alt/Opt key while moving the Exposure or Brightness sliders, it will show areas of clipping. If you can make that clipping go away by, say, pulling the Exposure slider all the way back to -4 Ev, then that's a good sign that you can salvage the highlights with a balanced approach.

So, what happens if you hold the Alt/Opt key down and pull the Exposure slider all the way to the left? If the clipping is still there, then you may be best to explore an alternate solution. If the clipping goes away, then that means you have hope with "massaging" the Raw file. One thing you can explore in Lightroom after trying a balanced approach to the Global adjustments is to go for a local adjustment brush and just apply either Burning or pulling back the Exposure with the brush and see what it gets you.

tonylong wrote in post #12995398
In Lightroom, If you hold down the Alt/Opt key while moving the Exposure or Brightness sliders, it will show areas of clipping. If you can make that clipping go away by, say, pulling the Exposure slider all the way back to -4 Ev, then that's a good sign that you can salvage the highlights with a balanced approach.

So, what happens if you hold the Alt/Opt key down and pull the Exposure slider all the way to the left? If the clipping is still there, then you may be best to explore an alternate solution. If the clipping goes away, then that means you have hope with "massaging" the Raw file. One thing you can explore in Lightroom after trying a balanced approach to the Global adjustments is to go for a local adjustment brush and just apply either Burning or pulling back the Exposure with the brush and see what it gets you.

I did try moving the exposure slider to -4 (or whatever the min was) and that area was still white. I guess I will have to try playing with the adjustment brush some more to try burning it. I did a hasty job of that earlier and wasn't happy with the result. Thank you for the excellent, informative explanation.

If you still had clipping at the lowest setting then I'm afraid that surgery is probably in store, as in some graphic magic in Elements. Get what you can out of Lightroom, but, well, it sounds like you will need to be prepared.

It's been a long time since I've done any "serious" photoshopping but there are some real experts here who can give you good direction once you move into Elements.

I hate to say it, but if you've put recovery to 100 and exposure to -4, then that area is gone. The best you might hope would be some sort of grey. I just don't think there is any info there.

Do you have any other shots that shows the palm of his hand? If so, you might be able to copy it over in PSE. Even that may take quite a bit of work to transform the hand position and blending it in.

Wish I could help more as it is a pretty cool expression. May just have to print as is.

D Thompson wrote in post #12995501
Do you have any other shots that shows the palm of his hand? If so, you might be able to copy it over in PSE. Even that may take quite a bit of work to transform the hand position and blending it in.

Wish I could help more as it is a pretty cool expression. May just have to print as is.

I don't have any of the palm that are properly exposed. If I had something there to work with I'm fairly competent at cloning things over. I did a lion headshot earlier this summer where I basically recreated the right side of his face. I probably will just print as-is. I don't think the hand completely ruins it, and its good enough for my wall.

imsellingmyfoot wrote in post #12995526
I don't have any of the palm that are properly exposed. If I had something there to work with I'm fairly competent at cloning things over. I did a lion headshot earlier this summer where I basically recreated the right side of his face. I probably will just print as-is. I don't think the hand completely ruins it, and its good enough for my wall.

If the other shots with the hand are that toasted you're probably out of luck. Another thought, if one of the other shots is better except the expression would be to use the other shot for the body and just use the face on this shot. Print as is and enjoy a nice shot is certainly a thought as well!