Fixing blown out highlights

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djkoz

Well-known member
I recently shot an interview in which I was careless with the lighting. Part of the forehead of the subject is totally blown out. I'm pretty sure I can't recover the lost detail but I would like to do something to make it less obvious so that it doesn't look quite so bad.

I tried brightness and contrast but that did not seem to do any good, and besides, it affects the entire image.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Dan
 
Thank you. I will give this a try.

Is thee a way to apply these adjustments to just a certain area of the frames?

Dan
 
djkoz said:
Is thee a way to apply these adjustments to just a certain area of the frames?
Click to expand...

One way would be using masks

You can look in the manual and there are many tutorials online

But it may be difficult to correct and make it look "natural", depending on how "bad" your footage is
 
I had just discovered masks and it looks a bit complicated, especially since the subject is moving a bit. I guess next time I will just have to do it right in the first place.

Thanks,
Dan
 
Is there anything else blown-out in the frame? If not then you can use the Secondary-CC plugin to automatically mask only the blown regions, and then recolour just the blown areas to match the skin.
 
I would bring it into After Effects.
Track the movement on the talent,
add a layer,
apply a mask to the layer,
feather the mask,
drop the opacity,
and done! (well kinda!)

I had to do this last year for a bright window corner that was in the corner of my scene in an interview as well.

If it's really, really, crucial that you get this done and don't have After Effects, or don't know how to do this, you can post it up on the cow and someone will grab it real quick and do it for you. (it wouldn't be free)


You can get an idea of what I mean by watching this video. Check out the area of the video from 14:40 to about 15:05 and you'll know what I mean:

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/demon_face_warp/

good luck!
 
Thanks, but I do not own After Effects. And I am volunteering my time for a charity that has absolutely no budget for the film. We may just have to use the audio under some stills or live with the blown out viceo, I guess.

At least I've learned to be more attentive to lighting, I hope.

Dan
 
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