tone down bright spots on sunny day recordings

[greymalkin]

I am doing a vhs transfer and the video was taken on a suny day so there are several "hot spots" or really bright places where the sun is reflecting off surfactes/faces...etc. Is there a particular filter in virtualdub or premiere to tone down just the really bright spots?

thanks

[redwudz]

There's this one for VD, but it's really for stationary hotspots such as uneven projector lighting when transferring from 8MM to video:http://neuron2.net/hotspot/hotspot.html

The problem I've seen with hotspots are, if you darken them, you end up with a darker smudge. It's apparently so bright that the detail is missing. But, can't hurt to give it a try. I think there's another VD filter that would work too, but I can't remember the name.

[edDV]

This is where a waveform monitor helps to see if the whites are clipping (i.e. pushed hard to peak white). If there is no grayscale left, you have nothing to filter.

If the captured file shows more clipping than the original tape, try to recapture with lower gain (contrast).