I have several photos to restore and they all have flashes of light on them. I'm not sure if it's light leaks in the camera when they were taken or how they got there but I can't for the life of me figure out how to get rid of them. I've been doing restorations for a few years using Paint Shop Pro and can't find a fix in there, I'm just a very new beginner in Photoshop CS2 so if there is a fix for it in there I will need someone to walk me through the instructions. I'm going to try and post one of the photos so you can see what I'm talking about.

(Sorry that this post is not so helpful)

By using the Info tab, the leaks show as around 250, which basically means all the information is lost: it is just white. So no easy tricks here.

You can "minimize" the damage with using Shadow/Highlight filter and get some original details back, but for me this looks mostly like a handwork - though I am newbie, so I am interested for replies, what the experts can do :)

One way would be, if you have pictures taken in different angle, you could patch areas by using other pictures. Like your example, if you have clearer shot of the ground in some other picture.

I found that the Healing brush set to replace instead of normal will do a pretty good job on the floor. Work on a new layer and I think you have to set it to sample all layers.

I use CS3 and on the Clone Tool you can change the angle of the tool which is helpful if your source area does not match the angle of the part you are fixing.

dc

I have several photos to restore and they all have flashes of light on them. I'm not sure if it's light leaks in the camera when they were taken or how they got there but I can't for the life of me figure out how to get rid of them. I've been doing restorations for a few years using Paint Shop Pro and can't find a fix in there, I'm just a very new beginner in Photoshop CS2 so if there is a fix for it in there I will need someone to walk me through the instructions. I'm going to try and post one of the photos so you can see what I'm talking about.

This isn't a solution they have already been presented, but the source of the light is from the reflection of light from the cymbal at the back of the boys.

I want to thank all of you who have given me some suggestions on how to do this fix.

Ted D. I see now that you have brought it to my attention that you are very right, the flash reflected off the cymbal and caused the problems. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

DCobb, I will use your suggestion when I repair the floor. Thank you.

jstar, thank you for your ideas also. Unfortunately all the photos are in the same condition so there isn't much help there, but I do appreciate your help.

Here is what I have done so far. I suddenly had a brainstorm to try the lighten/darken tool on those washed out areas and it's coming along. It's going to be a very long job but at least I do see some improvement. Here is how it looks so far:

light and dark tool can work and i see you've gone quite a ways to that end.

you might also try a dodge and burn or a dodge and burn on a medium gray layer over your other layers.

and for the floor, i'd just clone out all that white with the good parts of the floor. much easier than the other methods.