After checking with the moderator I am submitting this image which has given me unimaginable problems, particularly in remaining true to the face. The other parts of the image were manageable but the face is the problem. I use P-Shop 5.5 and can't use the "decrack" action in that version and I don't know if decracking would work here either. I am open to any and all suggestions and seek a learning experience here. Thank you very much for any assistance you can give me. :)

PS. My artistic inclination is to remain true to the original if that helps in any way. Thank you.

Pierre, you don't mention which techniques you have already attempted, other than not being able to run the decrack action, so I'll suggest a simple but effective technique using the Dust and Scratches filter and the History brush to replace the cracks with smoothed pixels taken from a snapshot.
See the tutorial below for details --->

Spotting tutorial (how to use D&S plus the History brush to smooth areas (http://www.retouchpro.com/tutorials/historyspotting/index.html)

Welcome aboard. I just wanted to let you know that you should be able to use the decrack action with 5.5. I used it on 5.0. If I'm not mistaken, there are two versions of the decrack action available, one for 5.x, and another for 6.0.

Ed

I tried one from here and my P-Shop said it wasn't compatible with my version. What is your recommendation and/or link? Thanks.

OK, I'll try that this evening if I can. I've used the following: clone, brush, airbrush, smudge, blur, burn & dodge, and the many color correcting tools, balance, replace, curves, histogram, channel mixing, channel masking and others I can't think of right now. I also took a book out from the library on makeup art to learn more about the shadow and highlight maps of the human face. A friend of mine is also a portrait artist of some prestiege and told me that portraits have to be one of the most difficult tasks to accomplish, as I am learning. I'm simply confounded by the fact that my results are completely flat and without the dimension that the original has. I'll get back to you after looking that tutorial over and thanks again, but still can't understand why I haven't had this much trouble in the past.

A search didn't find it, but it came from this site. I'll keep looking, and if I find it, I'll let you know.

Ed

That figures! Right after I said I couldn't find it, I did! It's the second post on this (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2767&highlight=Decrack) page.

Ed

Well I tried both the GB & the D&S filters and I don't get anything at all useable with "any" of the settings mentioned in the tutorial. However, it did seem to be in the right direction. I hope I'm not being a problem. Also, thanks Ed, i think that is the one I downloaded that last time but I'll go and give it a try right now, thanks again. :)

I used the action, this one did install thanks, and I also passed it an additional time at the 1.5 level. I do see differences now but this version shows most of the cracked areas remaining. The procedures seemed easy to follow and they're great tutorials and formats, but these cracks are incredibly overwhelming. In the text for the action it mentioned that hopefully the clone tool would not be necessary anymore at this point? Can you detect my current state of "flabbergastedness?" :)

Previewing doesn't hold the attachment?

Here's a tip that was posted by DJ Dubovsky:

Here's a little tip you might need when using that De-crack action.
The default action is set to clear up light cracks on a dark background, I believe. If you have the oposite case (dark cracks on a light back ground) You will need to open up your action so all the steps are showing in the actions pallete. Look at the last four or five steps to where you see minimum and maximum listed. You will see a check mark in the box on the left of the listed items. The first step (minimum) will be checked but not the other (maximum). To switch setting all you do is uncheck one box and check the other.

OR you could load a second De-crack action and have the opposite box checked and call it De-crack dark scratches.

Ed

Pierre,

It seems to me that the dust/scratches plus History brush does work to eliminate the cracks.

I do hope that the image that you're working on is much bigger than the copy you showed us, but here's what a few minutes of the history brush technique can do to smooth out the skin, clothing, background, etc. I added some texture to the background after smoothing, and did a bit of hue/saturation adjusting for color just to show how she can be brought back.

I have to go back and try that some more, thank you!

I tried CJ and did not get the same results in Photo 7, so I tried a system I found by chance.

Sometime the smart blur works to remove small crackes, but yours are large, so I tried the blur tool to smooth out the skin and then followed up with the healing tool and the clone did the rest.
Another alyternative. REmember I did not spend the time you would so small and slow makes it better. I also did a select copy of the old and pasted it to the new face to get more texture to the cloths.

If you're still having trouble getting the results you see here, it may be because the version you are working on is larger than the one you posted here. I had a photo which has a million little cracks all over it and needed help. When I uploaded the photo here, I had to upload a much smaller version than I was working on. That made it easier to get rid of the cracks because they were smaller as a result.

If you're still needing advice, perhaps you could crop to just the face of the photo. Hopefully that would be under 600 pixels wide, but still large enough for us to see what you're really seeing and perhaps give some other suggestions.

Jeanie

P.S. Yes, lots of people have had difficulty losing their attachments when previewing. It's probably better to simply submit, then use the edit button on the post if you see something you want to change.

Yes, the file I sent up was limited to 100k I was told so yes it is smaller and that's a good point that the cracks are not as noticeable. I am going to crop out the face and re-upload that. I don't have that healing tool in 5.5 so I'm not really familiar with it yet, and I'll follow that suggestion about previewing too Jeanie. Thanks all! What a profitable evening! :)

Suggestion . . .a picture with the dimensions of 164 X 190 is really small. You might try sizing your image to a lower resolution in order for others to see the specifics you are mentioning (example, 480 X 600 with a screen resolution of 72 ppi).

I have a 22" monitor with a screen resolution of 1600 X 1200. Your picture looks like a postage stamp. :)

Just a thought

Ok they say I am crazy because I do not give up till I find a better way.

This one I used the healing tool very small brush and kind of painted the face in.

After I got all the cracks eliminated I smoothed the skin with the blur tool set at 20%.

Then I used Bruces colr set at 255 - 220 -177 reduced opacity to get color.

I colored the lips.

It needs adjustment around the face near the hairline but this will give you an idea.

JUst another way you can attcke it.

Thanks guys! The size it was at was based on the parameters I received from the moderator, that it be under 100k. At those pixel sizes the resulting "k" is almost a meg, sorry about that. On the retouch Phil, that's great looking and I understand the concept of the blurring etc. I mentioned in my earlier post that I did those things already. I do have one artistic compulsion though in that I remain true to the original image. In my other examples one can see that goal has been achieved. It's just that this one was a real problem. I'm going to re-try the decrack with the other changes. I just am reluctant to "re-color" the image.

PS. I have attached what I've accomplished, but my problem lies in the lighting of the face and getting the high-low lights correct.

Pierre -- take a look at Jeanie's explanation about using Save for web to resize your images to the 100k limit and still get them big enough for people to see the problem areas. I think it will help in the future. :)

BTW -- it's an indepth explanation, so get a cup of something before you start reading it... ;) I would also recommend reading her next post or two in the same thread -- she makes some added points.

Resizing/uploading to RPro (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4398)

Nice work Pierre. Ok now I know what your looking for.

To adjust lighting you need to make a select/all - edit copy paste.
Then use the lasso tool, and select the area you want to lighten or darken, use the curves tool to do that and on the opacity of the paste adjust it. Do it in small segments so you do not see the break. It will work

Cj I just figured out that you have to hit it with heavy dust & scratch for the history brush to work right.

This is the results using it and the clone tool. it keeps the look just right and keeps the color right on.

Use the lasso and curves and you can bring up the cheeks a little.

It really works great.

Pierre,

It looks like you've done a great job with the cracks!

It also looks like there is some uneven yellow staining on the photo. The first thing I would do is look at the individual channels to see if one has more (or less) staining than the others. Then, use the channel mixer to turn the image to grayscale, eliminating the channel(s) with the most staining, but still with the detail you want in the image. If you want the sepia tone back afterwards, you can simply add that back. But, I would try to get rid of the uneven staining first. Please let me know if you need more detail on what I just tried to explain.

Jeanie

Pierre,
When you say that you're concerned about the lighting in the face, is your concern that it looks "flat"? I.e., there isn't really any shadow areas? The original photo looks like the light source came from the front, so there isn't much shadow there to begin with. However, if you were to select just the face and do an S-curve curves adjustment, that may increase the contrast enough for you to be happier with it. That will have the effect of darkening what shadows there are and lightening the highlights. My attachment is just a quick stab at this picture and could use a bit more work/thought, but it should give you an idea for what I'm talking about.
Jeanie

I really appreciate all of this feedback. I don't want anyone to feel I didn't read their posts so I'll try to recap in this one reply. OK on the "save for web" format. I just wasn't familiar with your requirements and went with what I was told by the moderator. This version I uploaded last, "lady.jpg" was not "decracked" at all. This was my own work before I posted the challenge. I accomplished that result with the tools I mentioned in a very much earlier post in this thread. One thing I did notice when I uploaded that version was that by reducing the image size the appearance that I wasn't happy with seemed to lessen. What I mean is that when I retouch I have the images so "zoomed" to get all the problems eliminated that I guess I obsess a bit. As an aside, the original photo I was given measured about one inch square and was a passport photo taken in 1955. The cracks all became visible with the enlargement. What a learning experience this was. I suppose in summary, what I want is for the face to have the proper highlights but the original was stained. The stains were all around the lower half of the face and in the background around same. This created a look similar to "lighting" (or shadows) and the owner was more obsessive than I was. Perhaps the solution is in reducing the size to "wallet" size and just getting this over and done with. Would you folks believe it if I told you that I have tweaked this for about 20 hours so far? But, when I do get it to where I want it I'll have a centerpiece for my sample book. A comment I received in my gallery with the two "officers" was aren't I happy the cracks weren't on the face? YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

It is a tough one and you did a great job. As far as obsessive your taking to the right person. The one thing I have found with jobs such as these is that it is hard to keep the person looking like them. I keep trying to acheive that. When I used Decrack it changed the features but when I used CJ method it kept in the ball park.

Any way keep being that way your customers will love it.

PIeere I know this is your thread but as long as you got me started I am looking for comments. Your end results is different then what I am trying to develop.

So CJ & Jeaniesa I took my previous post CJ HIstory brush which worked great and did some air brushing trying to put some more life in to the face. I used the right side coloration and put it on the left side and forehead areas , useing airbrush oil heavy brush, darkened under the nose, chin and neck area. I tried to smooth it out so ther was no blotching. It looks good to me but my eyes are not what sells. What do you guys think.

Pierre,
You learned the same lesson I did - when an original print has micro cracks all over it, trying to enlarge it is nearly impossible! Just how big did your client want the restored image? I usually recommend that clients don't enlarge more than 2x the original, whether there are cracks or not. I have done more than that, but the results look really "soft" and I warn the customer about that beforehand.

I had a 3.5x3.5" color photo from the mid-70's that had cracks all over it. Not only where there cracks, but the picture itself was not particularly in focus. I tried to enlarge the image to 5x7, but was very unhappy with the results. So, I told the client I could either give them a much-improved print the same size as the original and that's it. This was after spending hours and hours on the photo. (Yes, I can easily believe that you've spent 20 hours on this photo!!) But, I wasn't willing to present them with a final product that I wasn't happy with - and that they (being quite picky themselves) would most likely not be happy with either. Luckily, the client agreed to a restored version of the original size.

One thing I've learned is to always look at an image through a loupe (if I don't have my scanner available) before giving an estimate. The loupe can pick up cracks, dust, mold, etc. that is not easily seen with the naked eye - and is even more useful if the client is requesting that the picture be enlarged. As you've learned, enlarging an picture also enlarges all of the defects!!

As far as sizing images to 100K for uploading here, I'm the moderator who gave you that info. I'm also the person who wrote the (long) tip that CJ pointed you to. I wrote it in an attempt to explain all of the factors that affect image size, because in reality, it's a bit confusing - especially when you want to upload the largest and best quality image you can that is under the 100K size limit. (From what I can tell, the images you uploaded were around 30K, so you still have plenty of leeway to experiment with uploading. If you'd like to experiment with uploading various file sizes, you can do so in the Testing forum.)

In any case, from what I can see, you've done a great job with this project. If it were me, I'd reduce the final output size to wallet though - if you have that option.

Jeanie

Phili,

I think your version looks pretty good. The thing that stands out for me is her eyebrows which seem almost "sparkly" compared the softeness of the rest of the image. Also, there is a faint, but visible to me, diagonal line going from upper right to lower left through her hair and forehead which is distracting to me. Overall though, I think you did a good job smoothing out the "blotchiness" of your previous version - and keeping the eyes, nose and mouth true to the original.

Jeanie

Just wanted to upload this real quick. See you later all! :)

Gosh, I think I confused matters with all of these versions and replies. The upload named "lady" was "before I came to this thread. It was done with almost every tool except the filters. What knocked me over a bit was that version was about double the size and showed the distressing portions to me but now that it was reduced in size it doesn't look half bad to me anymore. Now that isn't skill accomplishing that, it's more of an illusion I feel. That can be significant in the future with other samples. All in all I do remain appreciative and did learn from this. Thank you all! :)

Here's one more sample. I dodged and burned and cloned to get rid of the cracks.

Pieere you didn't confuse us, you just lit a match on a bunch of artist and wanna bees. We respect your efforts and acomplisments, you did a great job. Think of us like bees to honey, when we smell it we go after it with passion, at least for me. I am still in a learning curve, so I take any opertunity to polish my skills and your submission was a good one to develop it on. Thanks.

That's a really nice job Barbie! I hardly ever use D&B tho, can you share some of your settings with me?

Thanks Phil, I'm just going nuts this weekend.

PS. I made a marketing piece that I'm going to print out as a 4 x 6 photo. Will you folks please comment on it? It's at
http://www.geocities.com/photoredux/p5.html Thanks!

I set dodge to "shadows" and ranged between 6% to 22% exposure. Burn was set to "highlights" and had about the same exposure range. The dodged areas tends to have a bluish tint. To remove the tint, I mask a section, magic wand the blue, apply curves of more yellow and red, and reduce the saturation.

The marketing piece looks very impressive:>)

I'm going to try that too. Regards! :)

Thanks Jeanie. I cant see it on my screen but I am in the process of learning to make hair, that will help me touch up. I left the eyebrows alone but in my final version I made the bigger and colored her lips red and also recolored her skin. Thanks for the feed back.