I've played around a bit but can't seem to get this just right. Any help will be appraciated.


Thanx
Steve

Hi Steve, had a very quick go with your picture as follows.

Duplicated Image. Applied levels adjustment to darken contrast then applied graduation layer mask to even out tone across picture.

Did rough selection round family group and copied to new layer. Applied levels to improve contrast.

Created new soft light layer filled with 50% grey, then painted in light and dark as necessary using soft white or black brushes set to 5%.

Image still needs work, but gives you a direction to go.

Well Gary you never stop amazing me, your picture is very well done!

I've played around a bit but can't seem to get this just right. Any help will be appraciated.


Thanx
Steve


Hi Steve heres a quick go, I duplicated the layer, then set the blend mode to linear burn, then selected the low contrast area and tweeked the contrast a bit.
It still needs work but it's a starting point. Wayne

Hmmm.. strange it's posted darker on the forum. Wayne

Thanks Legacy, your comments humbly accepted and appreciated. Wayne, try checking your Gamma point is'nt out of adjustment.

Thanx all
Gary lets assume for a moment I'm an idiot and I need detailed explainations.

Thanx

Hi Steve, OK, first I copied the background layer and pasted it to a new layer.

Working on the copied layer I did a levels adjustment until the contrast and tone at the bottom of the image was close to that at the top of the background layer.
Of course on the copied layer this meant the top was very dark. So I applied a layer mask by clicking on layers, then clicking on the dotted circle at the bottom of the pallette. On the layer mask, I applied a linear gradient going from black at the top, to white at the bottom. (Experiment with the start/stop points of the gradient until you get the best results). Now adjust layer opacity to fine tune the darkening effect.

The family group was still not quite right, so I did a rough selection round them using Quick Mask and a soft brush. I copied the selection to a new layer and adjusted the levels on this layer. Basically adjust the 3 lower arrows for best result.

There were still a few inconsistencies, so I created a new layer by clicking on the layer pallette, clicking on the arrow, then New Layer. Set blend mode to Soft Light, and click on fill with 50% grey. Now select Brush Tool and set Opacity of brush to 5%. Set Foreground/Background to default, then by painting black on areas you need to darken, or white on any areas you wish to lighten, you can even out the tone of your picture as required.

I only did a quick job, so there's parts that still need a little work, but I'm sure you will spend more time on it than I did.

Hope this makes things clear. Good luck with your restore.

Good work Gary! I did this by using the Shadow/Highlights feature and selectively working on the background and facial features. Also did a bit of dodging and burning.

Cheers
Dave

Looks really good to me Dave. Only have PS7 myself, so no access to Shadows/Highlights. Looks like a really useful tool, must take back my empties and save up.

I didn't do much here in the way of retouching, but did establish a starting point for further work by dealing with some of the blown out areas in two steps.
Copy the original and set the blending mode to multiply. Duplicate that layer and then merge copies 1 and 2 (preserving the original Background)

Great job everybody!!

Steve,

I had a go at your picture as well:

Cropped the image.
Duplicated the background.
Run the Curves on the duplicate and set the Blending to Soft Light (Opacity 100%) (values and result in Attachment 2).
Created a Layer mask for the Curves Layer and filled it with dark grey:
R = 100
G = 100
B = 100
With a soft white brush (Opacity 30-60%), I painted over the family to gradually enhance the details.
I duplicated the Curves Layer + Mask three times (Total of 4) (see Attachment 3).
At this point I had enough details to work on.
Merged visible (the action for merging 'visible' without losing the underlying 'steps' can be downloaded here (http://www.retouchpro.com/resources/fileinfo.php?id=11).)
Duplicated the merged Layer and lightly blurred it (radius=0.5-0.7), created a 'black = hide all' Layer mask and with a soft white brush, I carefully painted over the worst artifacts to smoothen them out.
Created a new blank Layer (Blending = Overlay) and with a soft white/black brush (opacity 10%) I enhanced details and faded shadows.
Merged visible.
Loosely selected the family, strongly feathered the selection (10 pixels) and used USM to lightly sharpen my selection.
Merged visible.
Duplicated the Merged Layer, inverted it (Ctrl+I), strongly blurred it (radius = 25.5) and set the blending to Soft light.
Created a Level adjustment Layer (Input Levels : 0; 1.00; 243) to correct the contrast.
Colorized the image very lightly.