How can I edit and fix this picture from raw canon t3?

[Arhymer]

[ebiggs1]

Extreme over exposures can be difficult to impossible to recover.  That is because there isn't any photo information left.  Nothing to recover.  I would try ACR from Adobe.  The Raw converter included with PS and/or LR.

[jrhoffman75]

Since you have a T3 you can use the free Canon DPP. Iconverted your .png file to .jpg and took a look at it in DPP.

The brightest parts of the image are not totally blown out, so you may be able to salvage something. 

[Arhymer]

Which settings would I change? I don't usually edit my photos.

[Johnw1]

This is due to an overexposeure. Either the aperture is too wide open or the shutter is too long or both. You could have set the ISO too high as well. What has happened is you have blown out all detail. There is not much you can do to fix this. Next time before you call it a day take a look at what photos you have just taken to be sure they are usable. 

[jrhoffman75]

Use the latest version of DPP and select Auto at Gamma Adjustment. 

When you said “raw canon t3” did you mean you shoot RAW ( not JPEG). If so what software do you normally use?

[Arhymer]

I usually shoot and select the L+raw setting in my camera. I've never actually edited any pictures in raw though. Last night I downloaded the canon editing software but couldn't figure out what to change to maybe fix the issue,

[jrhoffman75]

Download the PDF manual for DPP. It explains the various tools. 

[BurnUnit]

You might be suprised by how much of this image you might salvage, but only from working with the RAW file. Canon's DPP software will probably get you as good a result as any other RAW editing software. The results likely won't be perfect but you might still end up with a usable image.

But it will take some time and patience to make the most of it, especially if you're not used to doing RAW editing. There is a definite learning curve involved. But there a lot of helpful Youtube tutorials available as well as solid information on the Canon Digital Learning Center.

http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/dlc/search/search.spr?keyword=dpp

This is not going be to something you fix with one click or one slider adjustment. Experiment with the various tools like the gamma adjustment or the overall exposure and get a feel for how they work, or don't work as the case may be. Then try the individual highlight, midtone and shadow adjustments. And if the results aren't what you'd hoped for, don't worry. One of the main advantages of RAW editing is that you're not making any permanent changes to the RAW file. You can start over from "square one" as many times as you wish.

[ebiggs1]

"Fix" is a relative term.  Depending on what your definition of fix is, is how well the results might be.  That extreme overexposure can not be 'fixed' but it might be able to be made better.

"I usually shoot and select the L+raw setting in my camera."

What does this mean?  Are you shooting and saving two files?  A Large jpg and a Raw?  If you don't post edit the Raw is doing you no good.  It is just taking up space on your SD card.

If you do have the Raw file, DPP is a good place to start but DPP is not the best nor the most user friendly software.  Go on Youtube and look at some tutorials.