Any way to correct for white saturation in a digital photo?

[v8440]

I have a picture that has a great deal of white over saturation. My image editor is Irfanview. Is there any reasonable way to work a small miracle with it and cut way down on the saturation? I've already messed with contrast, brightness, and gamma correction. They help to a very limited extent.

 

[Dr.Jass]

I might be able to fix it in PhotoShop if you e-mail it to me...

 

[v8440]

That would be great. It's on the way. (And no, it's nothing dirty or shocking.)

 

[Dr.Jass]

That's not going to be easy... lots of lost detail there.

 

[v8440]

It may not even be possible to get decent quality out of it. If it's possible but will take 40,000 years then don't worry about it. I'm not so worried about the picture that anyone needs to spend a ton of effort on it.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Where it's washed out, there's literally no detail to grab and enhance.

 

[v8440]

I kinda figured that. Oh well, don't worry about it. Thanks anyway for trying.

 

[Dr.Jass]

While I'm not a pro, I consider myself pretty proficient in PhotoShop. I messed with every possible filter, selection, etc. It would take a pro to find any detail there, and even then I'd wonder.

If it's a scanned photo, you might want to try re-scanning with with much-higher resolution since most scanners can be adjusted for that as well as contrast, balance, etc. If it's digital, well, chances are you're not going to take it again anytime soon. Sorry, man--I just couldn't find anything to enchance.

 

[v8440]

I think it's digital. I didn't take it, and you're right, I won't be taking any more.