For some reason I've reached a dead - end with this restoration. I can't seem to smooth the skin sufficiently while maintaining sharpness.
Also, I burned the hat a little , and when printed, I get this really ugly blue tone only in the burned area.
I would love to be able to list the steps I've taken to get this far, but I've worked on it off and on for several days and haven't kept up with it.
Any help appreciated!

Here is the image before restoration

This was done in Photoshop 7
with the healing brush
and some noise added

Same Image run through Neat Image

Thanks -
I don't have Neat Image, but it looks like a good starting point.

Have you tried using a layer mask?
If you put the soft version (with a mask) over the original. you can selectively "paint" needed areas, so that you're just applying the smoothing were need.

Download Demo version of Neat Image here. http://www.neatimage.com/download.html

It is free and probably all you will ever need.


Catia

WoW - Neat Image.
Now I have something else to distract me for the weekend!
Here is the result I got on the first try before reading the instructions. (I tend to be impatient and just jump right in, playing with the sliders).
I know it's exaggerated, I plan to learn to use it correctly in the next few days.
As someone who can remember not so long ago doing all of my restorations the traditional way, this filter is very impressive.

I plan on trying the layer mask also, as suggested.
Thanks for all of your help!

Looks like you are off to a good start. :)

Catia

Anyone know how Neat Image compares to Nik Multimedia's Dfine or have experience with Dfine?

They also offer free demos at www. nikmultimedia.com/focus

They also have a filter just for sharpening, but it is expensive..

Diane

I went to try out Neat Image but there is not yet a version for Mac users:bawling:
But it is in development.

Dfine has versions for both PC and Mac users

Diane

I have both Neatimage and Dfine - I tend to use Dfine more as it works within PS - if Neatimage were a plugin.....

Neatimage works on the whole image so not so easy to control unless you save a copy of your image - run Neatimage and paste the new version back over your original and use a layer mask to mask out any areas you dont like.

Dfine does have a lot more options and I think tends to be a bit more subtle in what it does.

Christine

Hi Christine,

Thanks for writing. I've been trying out the Dfine demo a bit lately and I like it. What is very good is that you can adjust the opacity of the filter which often makes a very big difference. The downside for me is that it often takes a rather long time for the filters to load and sometimes I don't have the patience. But maybe this is just something with my own computer. Do others have this experience?

Overall though Dfine sounds better than Neat Image....

Diane

Hi Diane,

Dfine takes about 30 seconds to load on my PC, would be nice if it was quicker.

Thats on a 1800mhz P4 with 1Gb Ram.

Christine

Hi Christine,

Oh my, did you say 1800 mhz with 1 gb of Ram??

I'm at 700 mhz with about 628 of Ram and I did buy my ibook just a little over 1 year ago!

Just to make sure we're on the same page: let's say you wanted to use the dfine filter for the worst noise on a very large image at a resolution of let's say 400dpi; about how long would it take to load that filter?

I hadn't even heard that we're up to 1800 mhz these days!

Thanks for the info,
Diane:surprise:

On an image that is 13 x 17 @ 400dpi the dfine skin filter took just over 2 minutes to load. Time enough to put the kettle on.

When dfine loads a filter it actually creates a new layer and processes the whole image which is masked out with a layer mask. The brush strokes just erase the mask. If you have the layers pallet open you can see the layer and mask. Also if you step backward after accepting the process (which merges the layer down) you can restore the layer and mask.

Christine

Diane, there are 3Ghz systems out there :) I've had 1.5GB of RAM in this system for 3 years now.... hmm time for me to upgrade