help with blown out fur

[praline3001]

Howdy!

Yesterday I took this shot of my dog for his Christmas photo. I totally blew out his fur as its so light in places. I tried everything I could in PP and I just make a mess of it. I know the easiest solution might seem to be retake the photo except it took me at least 30 shots to get this one as he kept moving

I tried putting a cool filter on it/warm filter and even a unbloom. I tried using burn but I am really bad at using burn/dodge.

Anyway, tell me what you think

Merry Christmas! by praline3001, on Flickr

[Doug Sundseth]

The highlights are blown out because they're pure specular (front surface reflector) highlights. This is normal with very shiny surfaces and bright lights.

First, I don't know that you really need to do anything. The result you got looks quite good to me. Don't fear the #FFFFFF.

Second, once you've lost the highlights completely, there's not much you can do with that photo to get them back. If there's no detail, there's no detail to pull back in post.

Third, if you find yourself in this situation in the future, using a very large light source will reduce the problem. The easiest way to do this is by bouncing the flash off of a wall or ceiling, but a softbox on an off-camera flash can also work quite well, as can a diffuser if you're in direct sunlight.

[praline3001]

Thanks Doug. I will try that next time. I was trying to go for that night time Christmas eve kind of look. It was my first attempt at off camera flash. i do have a diffuser but didn't put it on the flash. I think next time I am going to wait until he is asleep and shove him next to the tree

[Tiberius]

That is a very good shot!

You could always try a bit of creative cloning to put in the fur texture, taking it from other parts of the image.

But honestly, I don't think you have much to worry about there.

[mosgood]

I think the portrait is beautiful just as it is. I've had a lot of problems with blown out fur (my dog is mostly white), & is super easy to over expose. Other than trying to clone in fur, I'd just let it be.