Need help editing this photo

[kbmum]

During my trip in July, I took photos of the new baby gorilla at Animal Kingdom. Unfortunately, someone else was taking pictures while using a flash and many of my photos were ruined by the reflection of her flash on the observation window. I managed to get one close-up of the baby when the mom came right up to the window (she's clinging to the mom's forearm). The flash illuminated all of the scratches and smudges on the window.

Using GIMP 2.6, I tried to remove those scratches and smudges. The picture is far from perfect, but a lot better than the original.

What else can I do to make this look better? I'm interested in adjusting the baby's leg that's washed out and doing something to bring out the features on the baby's face. No matter what I've tried, with the face and hair the same color, the image looks very muddy when printed.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

First question is whether you have a RAW image or just a jpeg... if there is a RAW then you might be able to improve it some... if its only a jpeg then there is some you could do to fix the scratches but nothing is going to help the fact that the gorilla is under exposed. Being that he was black that was a very great possibility... you would have been best served if you had been using a spot meter on the gorilla. I'm guessing your camera just metered the whole scene and that's why he is so under exposed.

 

[E P C O T]

Void.

 

[kbmum]

Thank you! If I can make the photo look better, I'll post it here.

 

[E P C O T]

Void.