Washed out wedding cake

[Aurora Graphix]

I have come a long ways I think in this photo from where it started. But I still think the wedding cake in the forground is just too washed out and over powering.

Any suggestions on how to fix the cake?

Thanks,
Brad

[Der_W]

You could try to use the Shadows/Highlights command on huge settings, but that won't recover every least bit of the cake as it is to blown out.
Anyhow, after that your chances are better that you can find parts to clone from or if that doesn't work, try to find another similar cake and compose it into the image.

[seattle-light]

It's very hard to fix what you cannot see.

[Mike]

But one can see the pole coming out of the brides head.

I hope that the photographer did shoot a photo of the cake alone, maybe you can work that in. I used to do that when I did weddings.

[rsvrdogg86]

Originally Posted by seattle-light

It's very hard to fix what you cannot see.

Pretty much sums it up. Look at the individual channels and see if there is any info at all...probably not. Other than the suggestion of overpowering shadow/highlight settings, its a frivolous venture to try and fix that specific cake.

[Nu2retouch]

I opened the photo in ACR, and it looks like it's totally blown out. I pulled the exposure down to -4.0 and pulled up recovery to 100%, and still detail was missing.

[lynn55]

Hello

I fixed photo and add new wedding cake.

[Aurora Graphix]

Okay here is what I came out with. How can it be improved?

The customer request was to simply remove the creases.

Thanks,
Brad

[rsvrdogg86]

Wow. Considering the starting the point I think you did a pretty good job pulling what you could out of there. I think it will be pretty simple to explain that other than replacing the cake entirely, this is the best that can be done.
Overall not bad I would just work on getting the tones a little better, mostly in the skin and hair. Its a little on the yellow side.

[mistermonday]

Brad, if you are trying to restore it, I think your first After image is more in the right direction than this last one you posted. The original image is in pretty good shape in the areas that matter - the bride and groom's faces / hair. Forgeting about the fold marks, damaged tux, and a few other flaws, I would first make an overall color correction to remove the blue cast caused by the lighting. Next I would run a noise filter to remove the color noise and some of the luminosity noise. Increase the contrast particularly darke=ening the suit and removing the green cast. Then repair the damage. The cake replacement is optional. If you don't replace it I would apply a curve to pull the level down a bit to darken it.
I think in you last image the the bride & groom are too pink including the bride's dress, there is a ton of weird colors going on in the groom's jacket, and you have accentuated all of the background to where it is distracting the view away from the main subject. I do however like what you have done with the cake. Finally, there is a distracting fiber or hair on the bride's dress at the viewers lower left. I did a quick pass over the image to show you the direction I would take it in.
Regards, Murray

[Aurora Graphix]

I like your version way better, Murray!

What did you do to it?

Brad

[marggg]

I like what Murray had to say as well. If it were up to me, I'd get rid of that pole and probably all of the other background distractions. I realize your customer might want to keep it for some reason.

[mistermonday]

Brad, thanks. The flow was quick and simple.
- Opened the image with Adobe Camera RAW where I applied the Recovery slider to pull down the blown highlights. Moved the top temperature slider a little toward yellow and the lower one a couple of points toward magenta. (Place reference eye dropper targets on the dress and shirt collar to achieve optimum balance for white. You don't need Camera RAW for this adj, there are 10 other ways to do this in PS.
- Now opened in PS, the first thing I did was apply Noiseware to filter some of the color and luminance noise.
- Added a selective color adj layer selecting the Blacks and dialing down the yellow a few points while raising magenta a bit.
- A Curve adj layer add to boost the contrast by mostly darkening the jacket.
- Finally a cloning layer address the cracks and misc blemishes.
No special magic used on this image.
Good luck with your restoration.
Regards, Murray

[chillin]

You could try to do adjustments selectively.

[unimatrix001]

used camera raw to darken the image to bring out the detail in the cake. Opened in photoshop copied the original photo to a new layer masked out the cake. new layer for scratch repairs, removed the pole. used selective curves layers on the skin. removed the noise with noiseware and then added back just a little grain to the image.

[Cupcake]

My try on the wedding picture.

[jesterjeni]

I took a shot at it