Editing question

[shutterbugmomma]

I've searched but didn't find the answer here....so please forgive me if I missed it somewhere.

Is there a way to recover blown out images post process, or are they just automatically garbage?

 

[MTVision]

I've searched but didn't find the answer here....so please forgive me if I missed it somewhere.

Is there a way to recover blown out images post process, or are they just automatically garbage?

You might be able to recover some detail in a raw file.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Depends on how blown out it is. Typically you cannot because toning down the exposure will create horrible hot spots. You should post the picture so we can see what you are working with here.

 

[Big Mike]

Digital imaging is largely a linear process (parts of it anyway). So as the tonal values approach 255 (pure white) then can still have detail...but once they reach pure white, they just stack up and you get more and more pixels that are white (no detail).
This is represented in an image's histogram. if you have pixels that are 255 (as bright as they can get), the histogram stacks up and we say that you've 'clipped the highlights'.

So if you try to recover those highlights...there is nothing to recover (no detail). You can make the highlight darker, which would be taking all those pixels at 255 and making them darker. But you wouldn't be able to separate then into the detail (different tones) from the actual subject.

Now, when it comes to looking at the image and the histogram on the camera's LCD, you are not actually looking at the full potential of the image (if you are shooting RAW). The image and thus the histogram are a JPEG preview that is generated from the RAW. So if you take that Raw file into a Raw editing program (Adobe Camera Raw / Lightroom), you may find that you can recover some of the highlights that you thought were blown out.

So if they really are truly blown out...then no, you can't recover them. But if they only look blown out, you may be able to get something...but it depends. Does that make sense?

 

[shutterbugmomma]

Thank you! That makes perfect sense. I do shoot RAW, but in all honesty, I don't a lot about editing outside of the basics. I use PE and have used CS5 until I upgraded laptops and I just haven't purchased it for the mac yet.

 

[480sparky]

Blown-out highlights will still be blown out in raw. Digital white (255:255:255) is unrecoverable.

However, you have a better change of dealing with details in raw that you do in jpeg if the highlights aren't completely blown out (i.e., 250:250:250 or less).

 

[MLeeK]

Many time blown is only ONE color channel blown and you can recover from that a bit. The highlight warnings on your camera warn when at least one color channel is gone.

 

[KmH]

ACR is the best at rcovering blown highlights, but it can only recover blown highlights if at least one color channel is not blown. Only having one good channel does however limit how much can be recovered.
It is much better if 2 of the 3 color channels are not blown.

If all 3 color channels are blown, no detail at all can be recovered.

Which is why with digital images you have to expose for the highlights (ETTR).

What image editing training resources do you use?