Looking for Ways to Fix This Photo: I am interested in ways to alter the right side of this man’s face to make it look it more natural. Any helpful suggestions? Note that I do not have...

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I am interested in ways to alter the right side of this man’s face to make it look it more natural. Any helpful suggestions?

Note that I do not have Photoshop; I do have ON1, Lightroom, and Luminar.

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photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

jaymatt wrote:

I am interested in ways to alter the right side of this man’s face to make it look it more natural. Any helpful suggestions?

Note that I do not have Photoshop; I do have ON1, Lightroom, and Luminar.

Good portrait, don't see anything unnatural in the face.

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

Portraits are definitely not my area. With that being said, in LR I would use the brush tool to knock down the hotspot on his cheek. I would say the same about taming the light on his nose. But overall I think you did a good job on this one. Just be careful not to soften those wrinkles. This man has some character.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

I think in LR I would take the highlights down - maybe a lot. That will take the hot spots down off his face.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

NJFrank wrote:

Portraits are definitely not my area. With that being said, in LR I would use the brush tool to knock down the hotspot on his cheek. I would say the same about taming the light on his nose. But overall I think you did a good job on this one. Just be careful not to soften those wrinkles. This man has some character.

That’s what I’m worried about--losing the wrinkles. Thanks.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

AzPicLady wrote:

I think in LR I would take the highlights down - maybe a lot. That will take the hot spots down off his face.

Thanks for the suggestion, but they are already pulled as far as they will go. This was shot in bright sunlight.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Lightroom is primarily a global editor. Spend some time on utube / the internet for "lightroom portraits" and "lightroom adjustment brush". The adjustment brush lets you 'paint' edits onto specific portions of the image where you can access nearly all of the basic controls (exposure, highlights, sharpening, clarity, etc) just where the brush paints to make local rather than global adjustments. It takes practice and good mouse skills and a powerful computer. You still have to have a good original and not blown highlights (complete white) which can't be recovered whether working with global or local adjustments to the highlights.

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

A good technique is to zoom in on the hotspot, sample the nearest tone to the blown out area, and then brush that tone into the blown out area. Experimentation with variations should solve your problem with this fine shot.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

jaymatt wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion, but they are already pulled as far as they will go. This was shot in bright sunlight.

I don't know if this will work, but I've done it a few times. I pull the brights down as far as I can and export the image. Then I reimport it and do it again. If there's detail there (and I think there is in your image), you might get what you want.

You might also try taking the contrast down some. I like contrast, so I rarely do that. But it's worth a try.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Extreme situations require extreme measures. Try putting the Shadows to the extreme right and then darkening using the Brightness slider until the shadows are back to where they were. You can use Blacks and contrast to re-introduce any drama (i.e. contrast) that got lost in the process. In addition to that you can select the whole image using the Adjustments brush (no masking or feathering) and use that selection to lower the Highlights further. You can duplicate the selection several times to get the most out of the selection's adjustments (any more than three or so duplications and they stop doing anything).

(EDIT) - I've just noticed the pasty grey area on his left cheek. That will probably get worse if you darken as I described above. That area may have to be selected and adjusted separately.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

jaymatt wrote:

I am interested in ways to alter the right side of this man’s face to make it look it more natural. Any helpful suggestions?

Note that I do not have Photoshop; I do have ON1, Lightroom, and Luminar.

I suggest darkening the highlights “to taste”, and lifting the shadows just a bit.

Dave

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Uuglypher wrote:

I suggest darkening the highlights “to taste”, and lifting the shadows just a bit.

Dave

I think the problem is he's already dropped the highlights to a significant degree, and that's why the subject's left cheek has gone a pasty grey colour. I downloaded the posted image for a quick look and the only way I could get the cheek to look more normal was to lift the highlights. I suspect that the original is more extreme than the posted image and jaymatt has found that the cheek is not responding well to his treatments. I think the extreme lighting is something he'll have to go with rather than fight against.

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

The problem can be solved in Photoshop thusly, I do not know what the equivalent tools in your programs might be:
Zoom in to the cheek highlight.
Pick the lightest tone next to the blowout. Brush "Darker Color" (will brush only where the color you have on your brush is darker than the area) into the blowout, with Noise and Preserve Transparency selected, with a soft brush.
Do the same with the nose.
Select those two areas, and add noise to taste.