kaerophil Loc: Oxford, CT

This is a photo of my grandson taken at the Grand Canyon with his iPhone.

I tried to darken the blownout area at the top with Photoshop Elements and Paintshop Pro, but could not figure out how to do it. I would also like to lighten the area where he is, especially his face.

Can anyone help?

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

Nothing yet.

kaerophil Loc: Oxford, CT

Look at my revised item. The photo didn't upload on the 1st attempt.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

You may want to consider uploading this at the Post Processing Digital Items section and ask them for help. I'm pretty sure their editors will make it right for you. If you do, check the (store original) box so they have a full sized image to work with. And yes, to answer your question, they will make it look wonderful.

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

load it again put a tic in store original so we can a large version.

kaerophil Loc: Oxford, CT

Here is the original. I don't know how to move it to the Post Processing Digital Items section. Or should I post it as a new item there?

(Download)

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

This could be an interesting one to play with. Or perhaps just limited....

PaulR01 Loc: West Texas

This is my first attempt.

(Download)

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Good work PaulR01.

PaulR01 Loc: West Texas

Made a mistake check it again I reloaded it.

mallen1330 Loc: Chicago western suburbs

Here's my try -- a little subtler.. I believe that when the highlights are blown, they stay blown no matter what you try.

(Download)

dandi Loc: near Seattle, WA

I played with your photo a little.

jcboy3

You can lighten the darker areas with an adjustment brush. I would then add some additional lighting to the boy. Feather the brush, and when lightening the boy keep away from the edges. I would do 0.5 to 0.75 overall and then 0.25-0.35 for the boy. You will want to do some noise reduction and sharpening to compensate, as sell as some minor adjustment to white balance.

The blown areas cannot be fixed by darkening. I would use the rubber stamp tool to fill in the blown out areas from neighboring areas of the image. The rock parts can be done mostly using a darken mask, and then touch up with a clone. The lower portion of the blown rock doesn't have much to work with, but it will look okay if you clone from higher up; just match up the slope/cliff areas.

The sky is trickier because it is a smooth transition; select the sky area and use a gradient fill, then erase the area of the mask covering the clouds.

I did a quick and dirty process, took about 15 minutes. With care, should be doable in less than 30. Be sure to use adjustment layers so you can recover from mistakes.

Stash Loc: South Central Massachusetts

Here is my attempt.

soldermonkey Loc: South of Ding Dong Texas

Very nicely done Stash.