Imagine your light-accepting surface
as a thin, tile-shaped slab of soft clay.
If you put your hand on it lightly, it
leaves an imprint of the lines on your
palm.
Push down firmly and you get the
dimensionality of the fingers and side
of the hand.
Push too hard and you get to the flat
surface under the clay.
That is what has happened on the two faces:
too much 'photon pressure.' Where the pressure
is too strong, the white formica worktop is all
you can see.
You have let the photons generate too strong a signal
at photosites in some parts of the sensor.
The thickness of the slab of of clay is dynamic range.
The sensors in compact cameras do not have a very
wide dynamic range.
When highlights are clipped (whited out) or colors
are oversaturated, you can not boost or reduce
the values for those pixels, they are an irreducible
100%. For naturalistic repair, the only thing you
can do is overlay data where those patches of 100%
pixels appear. In other words, the solution is deft
retouching using a photo editor or paint program.
Pixel values below 100% can be manipulated. That is why
you can bring out detail from shadows.
Using a different camera, my son once brought home
some almost black shots. I wondered what they were
and played with the brightness and contrast controls
in Paintshop Pro. I was surprised to find quite clear shots
of Buddhist images.
But as values approach zero, stray signals generated by
the circuitry comprise a proportionally greater part of
the recorded photosite data. When you boost the signals
(increase the ISO) this noise also gets amplified. The
smaller the photosite, the greater effect of this noise
has on the signals generated.
After you have used a camera for a while,
you get a feeling for good shooting conditions.
Contrasty light is tough. Overcast days are easier.
People here have given you good advice.
Use spot metering.
Put the spot on bright part of the face,
half press the shutter button, then compose
the shot, and shoot.
You could also try full-stop bracketing.
Press (twice) the top button on the navigation pad.
^ [+ -]
press > to adjust
press the center button (set)
You have to hold the camera steady while it takes
three shots.
These three shots let different amounts of light reach
the sensor -- using the clay slab analogy:
light pressure, calculated ideal pressure, and heavy pressure.
If you can dial down the exposure and auto bracket you may
get a couple of workable shots.
The manual has a section called Compensating the Exposure.
It's page 55/152 of the pdf downloaded from the UK site.
It's worth a look.
--
No rocks impede thy dimpling course.
