Lens shadow removal!

[omfg_evie]

So, there I was, new semi fisheye in hand. I'd tested at home and everything seemed alright.
Got to the party, then switched on the flash and bam, I should have seen it coming really.

I was traveling light and didn't take my external flash, and just had the built in, pop up one. The fisheye was bigger than my normal lens and has made a nice, big shadow on the photo.

Any ideas on how to get rid of this? I've use dodge/burn, curves and masks and things like that, but I always get sort of a halo around it.

Anyone else had this problem and has made something to correct it?

The two tiff files can be downloaded here. They're called DSC_0688.tif and DSC_0696.tif - if anyone feels the need to help me out 8)

Any help would be greatly appreciated (:
Thank you!

[Juergen D]

Your originals are a bit large... anyhow, this was done with a combination of Levels and PWL. You will probably wind up with some color noise, which can be partially treated with some desaturation.

Juergen

PS: Since some folks may be disinclined to download a 57.4 MB file, I have also included a downsized version of your before.

[RokcetScientist]

Originally Posted by Juergen D

some folks may be disinclined to download a 57.4 MB file

It's not even so much the size of the files but it's the pitiful molasses performance of the server hosting them that makes downloading a long drawn out affair.
The practical result is the same of course...

[RokcetScientist]

While DSC_0688.tif is still downloading (est. 45 minutes!): DSC_0696.tif (which downloaded in 20 seconds...?) does show a weird shadow at 6 o'clock in the image. But it doesn't look remotely like the shadow of a lens front, evie... What is that?

[omfg_evie]

Juergen D - Thank you so much! I hadn't though about PWL, that's excellent!

Regarding that 6 o'clock shadow, that indeed is my problem. I'm not exactly sure what the correct name for this sort of thing, so "Lens shadow" probably refers to something else entirely!

It's where the pop up flash got blocked by the wide angle lens, and cast a shadow.

Sorry about the large file sizes, mine uploaded in about 45 seconds each, and considering the download times, that's really strange. I've attached some smaller ones.

Thanks

[RokcetScientist]

ok, evie, I played around with 1 of your tiffs, HDR and tonemapping over a 6EV range (CS3, Photomatix, GraphicConvertor) quick & dirty (10 minutes) and got this.
Still not perfect, it will never be, but a beginning. And this can still be improved upon if some time is spent on it, I'm sure.

If you're interested, you can download my work files from here (252MB).