Cleaning up an image.

[BriJitters94]

Hi there, looking for help.  I have attached an image that I would like to clean up a little bit with out losing the authenticity of it.  I would like to use photoshop, but would be willing to use Illustrator, I am just not as comfortable with that program. 

[J E L]

Hi @BriJitters94 It looks as though your background remover took away too much of the detail on the top and sides of the machine where the highlights were too bright. If you can go back to the original image, you might start over to extract the full espresso machine with better selection and masking by hand. Otherwise, you're going to have to use a combo of the clone and patch tools, along with other touch-up methods, to fill in these missing areas around the dials and so on. I think Photoshop would produce better results than Illustrator if you want to keep the photographic feel of the image. Hope that's helpful!

[BriJitters94]

This is great advise.  Thank you I will go back to the original image and see what I can do.

[Jumpenjax]

Is that how you receive the image? Otherwise I agree with Jain Lemos. If you received it already looking like it is, I would use the clone tool to to recreate a little of what is blown out and maybe play with the adjustments curves, brightness/ contrast, level and expousure. Which ever gives you the results you wish to achieve.

[BriJitters94]

I have the original photo, so I am going to start from scratch and see if I can recover more of the machine, otherwise, cloning is a great idea.  Thank you for your advise!