Getting rid of flash halo

[Mike Murphy]

Richard

Here is a problem to which I haven't been able to find an answer in the forums. I have a photo of a picture that was under glass. The photo was taken using a flash, and without a polarising lens. So there is quite a lot of burnedout white where the flash reflected on the protective glass. The paper seems to have been reddish brown, and the artist used orange and grey pastels, as well as charcoal. When I scanned the photo, I originally thought it was a duotone, but now I have corrected the tonal range, I see it must have been in colour.

I tried selecting by threshold, expanding the selection, feathering it, and then various combinations (on a fresh layer, natch!) of multiply, colour dodge, hue/saturation adjustments. They all stick out like a sore thumb. Up until now, all the adjustments I have had to make for over/under exposure had reasonably distinct edges to the pieces I have to darken or lighten. This is driving me crazy.

Perhaps you have a suggestion as to what I can do to get a graduated correction that will merge into the rest of the photo?

Kind regards

Mike

[Flora]

Hi Mike,

sorry to 'barge in' ... If you posted here, it means you are using PSE which I don't have and don't know ... I work with PS CS, but I tried your picture anyway and decided to post it because I didn't use any of the PS very specific Tools ...

My restoration was done with Stamp/Clone Tool, and with blank Layers set to Darken and Lighten ...

[Mike Murphy]

One of the problems I was having was identifying the subject ... my mother's handwritten identification on the reverse being 70 years too recent. But the chin you have reconstructed is definitely the same as my Grannie's. I think this must be her Grannie, based on the date in the bottom right hand corner (1845).

My next question would be how you got the clone to blend so delicately? If you identify the PS CS techniques you used, I can see whether Richard has given us a lookalike in his power tool set. Otherwise I might have a reason to take up Adobe's upgrade offer - when CS2 came out, they offered PSE owners (at least PSE 3 owners) an upgrade to PS CS2 for €200 - about USD250. But I am determined to learn all the things I can do with PSE before I buy anymore tools I do not understand.

[Flora]

Hi Mike,

so glad you liked the restoration!

It's very late over here .. and tomorrow morning early I'm off until Sunday ...
Could you, please, wait until I'm back for a detailed description?

So sorry about that ...

[Mike Murphy]

I am off on a tour round my clients, then a week's holiday in Firenze, so no hurry at all!

[Mike Murphy]

Flora

Could you now enlarge a little on the use of blank layers?

Thanks

Mike

[Flora]

Hi Mike,

glad to see you back!

How was Firenze? .... (let's not talk about the terrible weather we are having here in Italy ..... )

For my restoration ....

using blank Layers is one of my working routines ... It allows me to gradually apply corrections to the whole image or to parts of it ... I can duplicate, change Blending and Opacity of each blank/correction Layer until I am satisfied with the result and it helps me limiting the final file size ....

What I do is:

If I wish to add/darken, I create a new blank layer on top, set its Blending to Soft Light, Overlay, Darken, Multiply and, with a soft/fuzzy brush either black or sampling colour from an area close to the damage, starting with a 10% Opacity, I carefully paint over the area I whish to 'build' .... This method, allows me also to enhance faded existing details like contours etc. ... particularly useful when trying to 'reconstruct' facial features (chin, nose, mouth, eyes ...).

If I wish to lighten, remove shadows etc., I use exactly the same procedure setting the Blending to Soft Light, Overlay, Lighten and use either a white brush or a colour one, again sampling colour from an area close to the damage.

If PSE allows you to work with layers and Layer Blending ...that's all there is to it actually ....

Hope this helps ... and don't hesitate to contact me should you have questions ....

[Mike Murphy]

Firenze was .. wonderful as always. I am quite pleased with my photo of the nave in S Miniato al Monte, a jewel of a church, like the Miracoli in Venice.

And thanks for the explanation. I had not really got on board that blending changes were cumulative. Now all I have to do is learn to paint with PSE ....