Blown highlights - quick fix

Sometimes after taking a photo you find that the highlights are blown. Here is a quick method to fix blown highlights in Photoshop. You can do it in Photoshop 7 also.

Step 1 : I have opened this free stock image. I don't remember where I got it from. But look in http://www.deviantart.com/ 

This is the source of most of the free stock images that I use in my tutorials. You can also look up

http://sxc.hu/

Anyway, you should get the general idea from this image.

Step 2 : Press CTRL+J to duplicate the background Layer. Press CTRL+SHIFT+N to open a new Layer 2 above Layer 1.

Step 3 : Click the Brush Tool.

Step 4 : Set the Hardness of the Brush to 0. Set Size to something moderate or use the [ (left bracket key) to make the brush small) or ] (right bracket key) to make it large.

Step 5 : Lower the Opacity of the Brush to 20% in the top panel.

Step 6 : ALT+CLICK with the Brush on a slightly deeper shade than the blown highlights.

Step 7 : The Foreground Color changes to the color picked by the Brush.

Step 8 : Gently paint over the highlights to conceal them.

Step 9 : Paint over the highlights.

Step 10 : Click the Add Layer Mask Icon. A Layer mask forms on Layer 1.

Step 11 : Ensure that the Foreground Color is set to Black.

Step 12 : With the Brush still set at 20% opacity paint away brush marks or portions where the paint has spilled over. That is all.
Other Photoshop tutorials are here