AfterEffects: Reducing Highlights

[DanSHP]

I have some over bright areas in an animation we are working on. Usually, if this was a still, this could be easily corrected in CamRaw PS. I've tired running through some of the CC tools in AE, yet I can't seem to control the highlights and get a nice looking result. See attached images. Basically on the darkened room example I've reduced the exposure (32bit images) to bring the highlight down, I now would like to place this result into the main animation (the other attached image). I'm not that experienced in animation or comp, so any advice would great!

[leo.surrealismo]

have you tried "Lumetri Color" in after effects? it works very similar to camera raw

[DanSHP]

have you tried "Lumetri Color" in after effects? it works very similar to camera raw

I have. It doesn't seem to have the range in highlight reduction, as say camera raw does (even though it's pretty much the same thing). I've made sure the project is working in 32bit and that the HDR option is ticked in the Lumetri options box.

I tired out the demo for Arion FX AE and that seems to reduce the highlights a little better I suppose but still not as good as I'd like.

[rusteberg]

If it were me I would try rendering out a VrayLighting element and use it as a mask..... could look weird though...