Orange Distortion [light flare] in Photo

[basitj39324471]

Hi,

I am unable to remove orange distortion in attached photo. Help needed, thanks in advance.

[Peter Villevoye]

This distortion is too irregularly shaped to use any kind of automated correction. So I'm afraid you'll need a keen eye and some manual brushing (plus time and precision) to make it appear okay again. It might even require two or three separate color corrections. I'd give Color Balance adjustment layers a try, and use masks for each of the layers, to easily edit them without destroying any original imagery.

Note: some parts in the lower left corner of the image are too heavily affected. There's almost no nuance left in these areas, so you won't be able to restore any original details.

[Norman Sanders]

Lab Color, Gradation Mask and the Curves shown above. Dodge and Burb right and left side. Unsharp Mask. Re turn to RGB

At this point additional color adjustment and local dodge and burn are needed but I hope this gets you started.

[Peter Villevoye]

Hahahaa, you were challenged, just admit it

Good job, and now those two remaining ghosts...

[Norman Sanders · Accepted solution]

Oops! Posted the wrong one.

And Peter, at my age even tying my shoelaces is a challenge.

[KShinabery212]

I know my idea is going to sound crazy to some.

But I would first turn the image to black and white / greyscale, and then clean up the ligher areas. if you can see them.

Then I would paint everything with in an overlay area with a brush.  I used to do this back in the day.  But you can create some really cool photo effects by doing this.  And today with coloriazation tutorials online.... you can really make this look like a modern photo.