Sunlight on part of a face

[Carey78]

Hi I am very new to Paint.net (I used to work for a company that had some one who could fix photos) I have an image with sunlight on part of a face. I have tried with the clone tool but am not getting the results I want.  Can you guide me as to the best way to fix the photo please?

[Lemonade]

Hello Carey78,

unfortunately there is no best or easy way to do this.
Please check Paint.net Help, especially these tools:
https://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/CloneStamp.html
https://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/ColorPicker.html
https://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/EraserTool.html
https://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/Paintbrush.html
 

I'd start working on new layer and not the picture directly. Because white area doesn't contain any skin texture, I'd copy using selection tool parts of the normal skin and overlay-cover (on a new layer) white area. Then with the brush, eraser and layer opacity work on blending edges of the copied skin area.

Edited December 23, 2023 by Lemonade

[Tactilis]

Also, @Carey78, the image you have posted is quite blocky (zoom in to see). It looks as though it has been resized larger from a smaller/low resolution image.

Do you have the original image from before it was framed in the oval, or if this is from scan of a printed photo, are you able to rescan it at higher resolution?

You'll get better results if you are able to start with a better image.

[Carey78]

Thank you to Lemonade and Tactilis. I will try all those options and I will see if there is another original before resizing image. I appreciate both of your help. Merry Christmas!

Edited December 23, 2023 by Carey78
spelling

[Ego Eram Reputo]

1. Start with a copy of the original image (never edit the original - always work on a copy )
2. Activate the color picker and sample the image near the overexposed area.
3. Lower the opacity of this color to less than 60.
4. Add a new layer.
5. With a largish (lower the hardness) brush paint over the overexposed area.
6. Darken the shade you're using (colors window increase the V slider 20%)
7. Increase the opacity of the color to around 50%
8. Make the brush tip 50% smaller
9. Overpaint the area you just covered using two or three three almost vertical stokes with spacing in between strokes.
10. Blur the layer with Effects > Blur > Bokeh (I used radius 19 the others at defaults).

 

I stopped at this stage, but you could add more texture with smaller darker shades (repeating steps 6-9) and a few freckles.