Very new to photoshop and still don't understand all the program features. I am very interested in learning and hope to become as professional as you all.
Please tell me what you think, what I did wrong and how to improve my work.
Try to be as thorough as you can since sometimes It is hard for me to understand all the instructions. (Hope I uploaded everything right)
Thanks for all.....
By the way I must let you know the original was about 1 in. high and 3/4 of an inch wide

Is this image important to you for any reason, or is this a commission on someone else's behalf.
If not, then working from an original that is 1" x 3/4" is never going to give you great results. Always try to work from the best original that you can.

Good morning Gary!

What I miss about your retouched image is the detail. Maybe you can adjust contrast etc. to bring them back in a bit?

In case you can't do anything to fix it, try the following: Make a new layer mode normal, paint in some details with a tiny brush. When done look at it and adjust the reworked parts with an eraser set to max. 3% opacity. That always helps me making my painted parts become less artificial.

Patrick

Thanks Gary, Thanks Patrick:

This is a picture of a great grand aunt of mine who was born around 1892. The picture was taken when she was about 10 years old for her school report (that is why the original is so tiny). I did it on her daughter's request, a very dear second aunt of mine, because it is the only picture she has of her mother as a child...and if it is important to her, it is important to me. Also I took it as a challenge. It is the second restoration I've done. I scanned it to a size of 8x5 with a 150 resolution, used a b&w filter, sharpened the eyes, nose and mouth, used the clone and heal tools, and then fooled around with the backround and the frame mat. Used the variations tool for the sepia tone. But couldn't figure out how to bring out the detail more or make it a litlle less blurry. And the thing is that I have a lot of old family pictures and negatives waiting. I am doing this just for the love of family, heirlooms and tradition, for now. I still wouldn't dare to go commercial or for someone who is not family. Thanks for all the feedback you can give me.

Mosha

Hi guys, It´s me again:

I'm sorry I haven't worked in this for a while...but I am back...PLEASE I need some feedback... you ask where is the detail...the original had none, Please be more specific as to what do you mean by detail...Is it detail on the dress, on the face, on the hair or overall. I don't know how to apply detail. I've tried overlaping parts of a dress from another picture, but It looks weird. Please help me and teach me.

:heul: :( :question:
Mosha

mmmm I just checked and my last post didn't show like a new post....what am I doing wrong....Pease take a look at my last 2 comments in this thread.
Bye Bye

Hi Mosha,

I'm sorry this picture is important to you, because there really is'nt too much you can do to really improve it. Because the original is so small, there is no real image detail there. Even if you were to scan at a higher setting it would not improve things greatly. I am presuming of course that the original is a photo, if the original is a slide or negative, then try scanning it at a much higher setting, there may be detail there not visible at the scan rate you used.

By detail I mean texture in the skin and clothing, fine facial details, in short all the visual clues that make a photo look natural.

Hi again :)

You might also try the following:

When I do an old and worn image I do not just adjust the image and go from there but keep the original layer and make several copies with varios brightness and contrast settings. A picture might look weird and underexposed if you turn the brightness down too much, but could bring in some detail you lose when setting it up "correctly". So having a seperate layer with the detail and then just using the detail to paint over the underlying layer could be an attempt. Man is that hard to explain :)

Patrick

Any photo really needs to be scanned at a minimum of 300dpi. If you can scan again at this resolution and post the image we would be able to offer a lot more help.

Christine

Hi everybody,

...not really sure if I can post images here ... :o: ....

I just wanted to help Mosha with her doubts about details in a picture...

This particular picture, for all the reasons already explained, has painfully very few .... You could try to enhance the very little there by having a look at this tutorial (http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=65)... and, even though it's not satisfactory at all, here is what I came up with trying to improve your picture....

:wavey:

Hi Flora, just being nosey again. Why are you unsure if you can post images here ?

:rainbow: Sweet Mother of God..! If anyone in this world who asked for help received this kind of response, this would be a much better place to live in. :rainbow:

Thanks you all

Gary : Please, It should be me apologizing for taking so much of your time… :wavey:

Patrick: Try explaining it in other than your native language. :chinese: I understood you completely, just one question, you mean after all the settings adjustments, just try to “clone” the details from the one that brought up the most…am I correct…?

Christine and Gary: You are so right, :nod: I usually scan all of my pictures to a 300 and sometimes with really blurred pictures even up to 600 resolution. I don’t know why I scanned this one at 150, maybe I did but didn’t see much difference and was a concerned about the pictures weight (which I shouldn’t have). I´ll do that. By the way, I have an HP scanjet 4670 scanner, the vertical one so you can scan on almost any surface. Don’t know how good it is but it works.

Flora (Angel): I’ve tried your wonderful tutorial….when I am experimenting, but never really applied it….thousand apologies (I should know better). :blush:

Back to the drawing board, and see you in a while….my dear Masters. :bow: :pleased:

Mosha

Flora, just another question...did you only used your tutorial steps in the picture (whith a little bit of cloning and healing I asume) or something else...

Mosha

Hi everybody,

Gary

...If I remember well, somewhere, buried in the 'Guidelines' threads for the Critiques Forum, there was something about not posting restorations (there are the appropriate Forums for that...) but plain, honest words of critique .... :o:

Mosha

...Thanks! .... Always glad if I can be of help .... :pleased:

I used Method 1 (Curves) on the darker parts of the image and Method 2 (Luminosity Mask) on the rest (light and semi-dark parts) ....I duplicated some of the Layers created and played with their blending (Multiply, Soft Light, Overlay), until I was satisfied with 'consitency' and contrast.

I created new empty Layers (blending lighten and darken) and with a soft white or black brush (Opacity 10-30%) I lightened or darkened parts of the picture (face particularly) to even out spots and shadows or to emphasize faded areas.

Didn't do any cloning, just some blurring and smudging around face and on hair.

P.S. I'm off to Germany tomorrow morning and from there I won't be able to log on ... but I'll be back (Gosh I sound like The Terminator!!!! :grin: ) in Italy on the 20th .... should you have more questions ....

:wavey:

Thanks for the information Flora, I did'nt know that at all. (Shows how much I read the guidelines I suppose). I'll bear it in mind for the future.

Hi dear Obi Ones :wavey: (am I writting this the right way?):

As the song says, “Here I go again”.
After all your wise advice and suggestions, this is what I came up with. Don’t ask me what I did or how, can’t remember but did everything in the way I understood it and experimented up to the point I felt like Dr. Frankenstein :devious: ….and like him, had some pieces left out of my creation that couldn’t remember where I took them from in the firs place :dizzy: .
The only advise I didn’t follow was to re-scan the original at 300. I don’t have it any more.

I must confess that I got burned out about this picture, I worked in it an overall of 3 weeks :tired: (which maybe you’ll agree is too much time to spend in a picture) and learned tons which is my intention. So for a while, I am not going to work in it though I am sure I will pick it up later. My aunt already has the first attempt of restoration, and sweet as she is, was very pleased and thankful. (and I thank you on her name).

Nevertheless I would really like your new comments and critiques to the new restoration.
Your opinion is very important and valuable feedback for me. Also tell me if I should have the new one printed for my Aunt or if it looks too fake. Tell me if you like it or hate it….tell me EVERYTHING.

I think that when you are working with old family pictures (which I consider heirlooms and antiques) restoration should respect the original as much as you can, the same you would do with an antique chair or dresser or jewelry or fine china. So I try to respect the face features as much as I can and try not to retouch so much. But then again this is my inexperience speaking.

So…..shoot….but please be kind, I am not blind folded…. :heul: :dead:

Hi Mosha, I think you've done as good a job as is possible with the limited amount of picture data that is available. Congratulations for sticking to it.

Hi Mosha,
Like Gary said, "with the amount of data you had to work with", i think you did a great job. I like your dogmatic attitude about sticking with the photo. Keep up the good work.
Wayne

:blush: My most humble THANKS, to all of my Mentors... :D