Add your comments, questions or discussion about the March Contest entries as well as the contest itself here...

If you're having trouble downloading the image, try rightclicking (or Cmd/Ctrl clicking) on the link and using "Save Target As".

Thanks, downloaded successfully, sorry about posting in the contest submissions, did'nt notice this thread.

Are we supposed to vote here?

What I thought to be the 'vote' thread seems to be closed....

The vote thread is currently closed and will open once the actual voting begins. Voting will run from 24 March to 31 March. Remember only those that enter the contest can vote for the winning image.

Is this strictly restoration and colorizing? OR are we allowed to 'artify' it? Add strokes, filters. My understanding is 'straight' rest. and color.
thanks
kiska

Thanks T Paul!

Is this strictly restoration and colorizing? OR are we allowed to 'artify' it? Add strokes, filters. My understanding is 'straight' rest. and color.
thanks
kiska

Still working out a few kinks as this is our first contest…

Just for clarification this particular contest is a Colorization contest and not a Photo Art contest. Your challenge is to clean up the photo and colorize it. If you feel your entry does not meet these guidelines please delete your entry and resubmit a new one.

Remember that the contest participants are the ones who will be voting on the best image.

T Paul

My understanding was that we had to restore and colorize. I added layer upon layer for 5 hours to get my picture, its not perfect but i am new to this colorizing.

For further clarification by "cleaning up" the image, I mean restoring the image. Note, I am not trying to discourage people from entering...just trying to keep the entries within the same guidelines (hard to compare apples and oranges). Please bare with me as I work out the kinks.

I know there are some fabulous PhotoArt gurus on this site. I am sure in future contests you will get your chance to change an image into digital art!

Also don’t feel pressured to rush as you have until 5pm EST 23 March 2005 to submit your entry!

Sorry for any confusion I may have caused.

~T

By "up to you" I really meant how detailed a retouching you planned to do. However, with all the emails I've been getting, I see that I may have caused some confusion and opened the door for too wide a variety of entries. But, hey it's only day 2 of the contest, plenty of time to resubmit.

Hopefully all is clear now... Restore and Colorize

Just remember that we plan to have all kinds of contests and all won't be colorizations.

In a thread Danny posted i added that new members could email me, please check your emails.

I do believe that the rules and guidelines should have been clearer.

Please be more patient, it's not like we have a lot of experience with running contests. T has volunteered her time, and this contest will require quite a bit of that. Do what you can to make things easier for her, not harder. She's doing a remarkable job considering the sloppy and vague guidelines I gave her.

What a great idea...and T...restore and colorize means restore and colorize :)...I'm glad i got this email and hope I'll have time to compete. Hope you are all well..I've missed being more active here.

Here's to a great contest and more to come.

I think the contest is a fun idea. Hopefully, I'll have time to submit.
Also wanted to comment on the rules issue....I for one, am glad there's a little controversy, and the rules are being upheld. I have always felt that "artistic" interpretations had no place in this line of work. For personal use and fun, it's fine, but not if one ever plans to get serious work/jobs. There are quite a few members new to all this, and part of learning the techniqes is also learning what's expected and accepted. This contest could be the perfect vehicle for that.

Ditto,Vikki.

Vikki, you say hopefully you'll have time to submit. For the sake of the rest of us having a chance, I wish otherwise. Seriously though, I look forward to seeing what you can do with this, having been an admirer of your work for some time.

Ditto Gary !

Ditto Vikki and Gary!!

16 entries in this month’s RetouchPro contest so far!

I'm thrilled with all the interest, and the best thing is I’m seeing a lot of new names!

So keep them coming and don’t forget to tell others about the contest!! And if you have never done a colorization before, don’t let that stop you as many entries were just trying their hand at it for the first time. It’s a great way to learn!!


~T

I don't know if anyone has had the inclination or not, but it's ok to discuss the various entries in this thread. Perhaps you have questions about someone's technique or would simply like to share your own?

And don't forget to invite people from other sites you might visit to join in. The more entries we get, the better the chances for offering a prize again next time.

an idea...

At the time of writing this, there are some 20 entries. Until the end there should be quite a few more (mine included!).
Voting for the five best, and in order, is not going to be easy.

I'd suggest inventing some categories and giving points in each, something like:
Clean-up:
- Noise reduction (cleaning);
- Sharpness;
- Preserved details;
- Overall lighting.
Colourizing:
- Skin tones;
- Other objects;
- General Choice of colours.

Give each one a score (1 to 5) and add them up - if you want it more complicated, give a weight to each.

Rô

Excellent suggestions Ro. And although it is too late for this contest, I'd like to suggest that for further contests that the entries be submitted to a moderator and assigned a number so that voting would not have the potential for skewing toward a name rather than accomplishment.

I haven't submitted yet, but intend to. Working in chunks of 5-10 minutes at a shot is taking a lot longer than I anticipated. :)

Janet

Just wanted to say that I'm glad to have found this site... I haven't spent much time yet perusing it, but from what I've seen so far, it looks to be excellent! It's a great resource...

Hi Janet,

Ken Fournelle contacted me with exactly the scheme you're proposing, we both thought it a good way of increasing equality in judging. I believe Ken has contacted Doug directly about this.

Mofriday, welcome to RetouchPRO, look forward to seeing contributions from you. You'll find everybody here helpful and informative.

Rô

As I look through the entries items in your list is what I am using to help me judge. With so many wonderful entries I could not do it any other way.

I bring up each image and write down my numbers (my scale is 1-10) and add up the total.
I have a few other categories in my list - but it covers the same theme as yours.

Just a thought.....

It may make it interesting for the voting to make the entries anonymous. May decrease bias if we didn't know whose name is attached to which picture.

T

byRo, I like your idea too. It's good that the judging is limited to what was originally required.

TylerRB, good suggestion re:to make the entries anonymous.

Doug, I was wondering why you didn't start a category in the Galleries for "Contests". It's so convenient for viewing (and possibly voting).

I agree with Vikki i think it should have been a contest where people sent the pictures to TPaul and that person given a number, then the pictures added to a gallery and the entrancees goto the gallery and choose a 1st 2nd 3rd maybe, and that would have been better. JMHO

...
Doug, I was wondering why you didn't start a category in the Galleries for "Contests". It's so convenient for viewing (and possibly voting).

Doug,

You haven't stated yet whether the Gallery could be used for the Contests, so I'm seconding Vikki's request --

Can the entries for this first contest be moved into a section of the Gallery?
(either by a moderator, or by each entrant doing their own -- possibly having to rename the entry so that the software would allow them to upload a file that already exists)

Viewing in the Gallery allows us to see many of them side by side which can be very helpful when choosing between similar entries. Using byRo's rating strategy is certainly very useful, but when there are 2 or more that are very close in quality in a category -- viewing them side by side would help determine any differences. (It can be done in the threads, but not as easily.)

Janet/Ken F./Gary et.al idea of anonymity is another EXCELLENT idea -- there are many friendly folks here in the forums, and it's hard not to think about that when you're trying to vote objectively on a somewhat subjective quality -- lighting, skin tones, etc. No one here wants to "slight a friend", even in a friendly competition -- not knowing whose entry you're rating makes it easier if you find out later that you rated a buddy lower than the newbie you haven't met yet.

The gallery doesn't have the software controls necessary. And an anonymous contest would put an undue burden on the moderator. We have to design this so it can handle potentially hundreds of entries. Plus it's contrary to discussing the entries with the authors (which hasn't started yet, but I'm hopeful).

Thanks for the official answer, Doug. (I don't know what those "software controls" would be or why they're necessary, but guess we have to figure out how to use the forum instead.) :depressed

As far as discussion regarding the entries, that could easily start AFTER the judging is done -- if there's any "competitive" folks entering, they might not want to give any "trade secrets" away until after their entry has been judged. Of course, since we're mostly into COOPERATION on these forums, there may be a lot of sharing of those trade secrets with people trying to get their entry ready for judging.

Doug, your saying the current Gallery software doesn't have the software controls necessary for hundreds of entries (as opposed to a small number of entries as with the regular Challenges)? That's too bad.
I have to tell you, in all honesty, I can't see myself clicking through hundreds of thumbnails. Do you think others will feel the same way, and not view all the entries? Particularly, the earlier entries, far down the page? Just brainstorming here....would it be possible to have larger thumbnails, so one could just scroll through the entries?

Vikki, I don't think it would be "fair" just looking at thumbnails (even bigger thumbnails), especially in a clean-up photo. Many times I've clicked on thumbnails and the big image seems very different from the preview.

Seems that we have some conflicting interests....
- We want a lot of entries, but that means we'll have to examine and classify each one (well, at least five of them);
- We want a competition, but Doug would like us to exchange experiences before the voting is over. Guess I'm one of them "competetive folks".

Ideas?

Rô

I'm hoping that Vikki does get time for an entry even though she'll probably blow everyone out of the water. How 'bout you require the winner to provide an instructional step-by-step of how they did that? Looking forward to them all!

Fazo

1. sad that the controls don't exist for anonymous .

2. larger thumbnails get my vote.

More folks might submit if they didn't have to stick their (virtual)necks out.

I agree much is missed in a smaller version but as Vicky said not many folks will take time to look at all entrys and the larger thumbs would expedite view selections.

what might be unique is rollovers that expand the thumbs in place ... making for a smaller grouping.. ok... maybe a little too far out there :(

Methods from the top contenders would be well read for sure.

if a boomerang doesn't come back it's a stick

Wow! Flora, you sure it isn't your thing :) BEAUTIFUL WORK!

Just another thought in the wind....

If all pictures was added by one person say the moderator with a number to a thread that is manned only by that moderator it would not need to have a "special gallery" the reasons are starring in peoples faces.

I got a email from a member that seems to have dropped out of the contest and i have not been able to contact that person since so i assume has left the forum.

Reasons for the Anom contest is this...

People on the forum some are famous for their work and will obviously provide a better picture than a newbie at the retouching, so in frank words that person is more likely to win a competition than a new person which is why i think and i am sure many others do that if it was a Number only entrance it would not be chosen from name only.

The contest is not over yet, but a manned thread (locked thread) could be done quite easily, with just the moderator adding the pictures and the thread would not need thumbsizes, just a number which anyone could do with ease.

I know this is the first contest you have done and it probably feels like a pain in the * but some ground rules do need to be set, for instance you could have a contest for people who have never attempted this before and the ones that are known that can do this are not included, do you see my point?

Doug you have an excellent forum this is just opinions which i think this thread was wanting people to address.

I cannot imagine dropping out of a contest because I see someone else's work or if I know who is entering. You don't get anywhere in life with that kind of attitude. You do your best and you enter. I am sure we all know where we are in the pecking order of retouching abilities. One person might have a strength in one area, but be weak in another. Some people are just phenominally talented. It is seeing other's work that lets us know where we must improve. I personally like to see what I'm up against.

Thats just my 2 cents :)

Ditto, grafx.

Greetings all.

Anonymous entries would be nice, but since we are voting for top three, it seems we have some interesting options when it comes to counting votes: Total number of votes versus totals for position one, position two, or position three, and then some highly complex scheme for boiling all those numbers and determinig a "winner".

I don't care -- it's all just a game to me. :-)

Now a question: is our entry final when it's uploaded, or can we revisit it and upload another version before the deadline? Some of us are a wee bit obsessive-compulsive and can't seem to stop tweaking it. Sorry if that was addressed elsewhere and I missed it.

Just asking.

Thanks all.

Mark

My point i see some have got the wrong end of it, i guess that is cos we all have different cultures.

Ok take a ponder on this...

I see a few very good restorers like Flora, Vikki, Gary, why not ask these good people to judge the contest.

And the rest who are not in the catergory of trained or very good at this kind of work be the ones that enter your contest; that to me sounds fair.

Because right now if you ask us to pick our winners more than likely its going to be ones we know are good at this type of challenge.

Goodnight all

I think we have to develop a 'Contest Section' in order to get this organized and more participation, since the contests are good for everybody...
Just my humble opinion :heul:

I don't buy into this "the mayor's wife always wins the strawberry preserves contest at the county fair" thought process. Saying that knowing who made an entry will affect voting is insulting to everyone, including those that haven't even joined yet.

Look at all the most popular contests on the net, none of them are anonymous.

And I don't make the software. I'd like Photoshop to play MP3 files and have a popup calculator, and it's probably possible with enough knowledge and resources, but I don't have the knowledge and resources to do all that's being asked here. We work with what we got. I can change some colors and customize some settings, even skin some very different programs so they resemble each other, but beyond that I'm at the mercy of the programmers.

As for the other suggestions, we can change this from month-to-month, so keep them coming.

I'm sure most of us will vote for the pics we like best and chances are the winner will be a known and respected restorer (makes sense to me), but like any 'open' contest, you never know until the votes are in. Maybe some won't have time to look at all the entries, and different people will use different criteria for judging, but seems to me the contest procedures are simple and fair. I predict that the winning restoration will be very nice - and the runner-ups too.

I was very surprised when I found this link and what I've seen there.

Progressive colorization (http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~yweiss/Colorization/)

Just my 5 pennies worth.

Regarding viewing the images. As each comes in I save it to a folder on my hard drive using a number and author as file name. Then I add a number in the top left corner of each image.

I then view them as a slideshow, allotting points on various categories. All I can see when I view them is a number, that way they stay anonymous to me.

Each image is only 100K in size, so it takes up little disk space. OK if there were thousands this might use up a lot of disc space, but for the limited numbers we're likely to have, I don't find it a problem, and I've got a relatively small hard drive compared to some.

After the contest I just wipe those I don't want to keep and study.

Gary I do the same thing.
I am learning so much about Photo restoration.
Thanks to some of you for taking the time to answer my E-Mails.
I know that we all are busy in or own way but, to take the time to
Talk to me is great and apprecated.
Wayne :dizzy:

Gary - that is a great idea!

Wow, I leave town for a week and look at all the discussion! Looks like there are a lot of good suggestions and that this contest thing will be a learning experience for everyone.



Now a question: is our entry final when it's uploaded, or can we revisit it and upload another version before the deadline? Some of us are a wee bit obsessive-compulsive and can't seem to stop tweaking it. Sorry if that was addressed elsewhere and I missed it.

Just asking.

Thanks all.

Mark
Mark,
You can delete and upload a new entry until the deadline. Just remember that you are only allowed one entry. Also make note once the deadline arrives, that the entry thread will be locked and the participants will start voting on their favorite entries. And Mark, I'm a bit of a perfectionist too, so I fully understand the tweaking! ;)

...
Regarding viewing the images. As each comes in I save it to a folder on my hard drive using a number and author as file name. Then I add a number in the top left corner of each image.

I then view them as a slideshow, allotting points on various categories. All I can see when I view them is a number, that way they stay anonymous to me.


Gary, I hadn't thought of doing that, but it's a Brilliant Solution! Thanks for solving two of the "big problems" in one swoop!! :pleased:

Maybe next contest we can institute some file naming conventions. It was kind of silly for me not to do that this round, since I have seen that done elsewhere. Live/learn/etc.

Gary, I like your idea and will do the same. Thanks for the idea.

Cathy

Glad I could help a few people. As long as you keep an eye on the entrants as they come in, the amount of work involved in downloading, re-naming and adding a number, is minimal.

Gary,

great idea!!!! Thanks!

Such beautiful work eveyone, lovely renditions, you have all done marvelously!!!!!

Keep them coming...

If your lurking, save the picture and have a go, and de-lurk we really would love to see your work!!!

Have a great day everyone

Elle

Great suggestion Gary. That's what I did as I like to view photos as a slideshow.

Some lovely entries so far. I have enjoyed viewing the different interpretations…eye color, dress color, rose color and so on. I hope to see a lot more!

And again, don’t be shy! :o: Many people who have never tried a colorization have given it a go and posted their entries. It’s a great way to learn. Also if you have questions about the technique or just need some general guidance don’t hesitate to post your question in this thread. :confused: I’m sure the members and/or contest participants would be happy to share their techniques.

So as Legacy~Art said, "If your lurking, save the picture and have a go, and de-lurk we really would love to see your work!!!"

:wavey:

For those of you downloading the images, you may want to wait until after the deadline to ensure you have the most current entry, or at least go through the thread and see if any entries have a “last edited” comment at the end of their post. This may mean that they have updated their entry since you downloaded it. I just want to make sure that everyone is voting on the same image! :)

Thanks T, had'nt thought of that, I'll just have to keep looking for edits.

Well I submitted my entry, my first try at a colorization.

I didn’t realize how difficult and time consuming this would be, and addictive! I started with the Worth 1000 colorization tutorial using primary color layers. This wasn’t the best tutorial for a beginner, but I got good results. Now the tutorial walks you through creating the skin tone and the reds, but doesn’t get into the other colors, so you have to think back to that color wheel from art class…yellow and blue make green, or the zip lock bags’ commercial. Anyway, I tweaked for a while and got decent results, especially the skin tone; but I really wanted to improve the other colors without spending all day tweaking the layer mixtures. So I add a few more layers and started painting in color mode. This helped me get the colors that I really wanted and after many layers, I finally had an image I was happy with.

I have enjoyed viewing the entries and seeing the subtle choices people have made. What color dress, rose, eyes, is it a leaf or a petal and so on. Some people added the bottom half of the body, some as a dress and one as a nude. Some added eye shadow, and there was one that the rose’s tips were a different color…very nice. Others added more roses, fingernail polish, eyelashes and so on. It’s been fun and I hope the entries keep on coming!

One reminder, make sure after you click on a thumbnail to view an image, that you click on the image again, as many browser resize the image and shrink it for easier viewing. Usually all you have to do is place your mouse in the lower right-hand corner of the image and the shrink/enlarge box will pop up. Just click on the box and the image will change to its full size.

T Paul - did you use the CMYK curves adjustment layers Tut on Worth 1000?

That is the one I used and do agree it gets you the base for your colors.
I do not think there is getting around adding painted layers in normal, color, soft light modes or using solft light layers with white and black. This helps add the subtle skin tone changes, depth, and lighting. I also used Neat Image to clean up some of the noise in the original.

Hello,

I leaned heavily on the color replacement tool and brush fading, as well as lots of lady luck :-)

I edited the first post under Sean2, as it seemed to be outside the "expected" or professional restoring expectations. Hopefully the second one will be a little better. The collection is simply amazing and I look forward to reading how everybody accomplished what they did. lots of first time efforts that are excellent, and the senior member stuff surely provides us something to shoot for.

I enjoy being part of this group and the tremendous tutorials.

Thank you

Sean

T Paul - did you use the CMYK curves adjustment layers Tut on Worth 1000?

That is the one I used and do agree it gets you the base for your colors.



I didn’t used the CMYK tutorial, instead I followed the Worth 1000 Primary Color Tutorial (http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161015). Basically you create a blue layer, a red layer and a gold layer applying a mask to each and adjusting the amount each layer lets through.

My basic approach to this contest:

Restore:
1. First I needed to clean up the image, before I even thought about applying color.
2. Ran the image through Neat Image to quickly reduce the spotty texture
3. There were still some spotty areas so I used the blur tool, healing brush, clone tool etc to clean these areas up.
4. Ran the highlight/shadow filter in Photoshop CS to brighten up the shadows and bring out some lost detail
5. Then I did a Levels Adjustment to even out the tone

Colorize:
1. Now it was time to add some color
2. First I flattened my work from cleaning the image and made a copy of the image and opened it up as a new file to work on (saving all my restoration layers as a separate file...always like to have something to go back to just in case).
3. I followed the Worth 1000 Primary Color tutorial…made three new layers (red, blue and gold), added layer masks, and started adjusting according to the tutorial. This produced good results, but I still wanted to fine tune the colors so I switched to a brush.
4. I created new layers for the various elements…leaves, rose, hair, eyes and so on and used a brush to add more precise color. These layers were set to color or soft light and the opacities were adjusted as necessary.
5. Applied a Selective Color adjustment layer to fine tune some colors
6. Added a hue/sat adjustment layer to boost the colors just a tad.

I leaned heavily on the color replacement tool and brush fading, as well as lots of lady luck :-)

I have never - at least to my knowledge-- used these tools - where are they and how do you use it? -- always interested in new styles.

T Paul - I saw the tut you used and got confused - LOL
The one I used Color Tut with mask and curves (http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161018) finally gave me insight to layer masks and how easy they are to use. Now the curvse side was a bit challenging to say the least - but I just "played" till I got the base result - as both methods will give you. To get more depth you need to work the blend modes and colors in layers. It kinda gives you the artist side of the colorization. That is what makes each submission different. Neat image, or like programs, was needed to start with on the image in my opinion.

Hello,
I edited the first post under Sean2, as it seemed to be outside the "expected" or professional restoring expectations. Hopefully the second one will be a little better.
I ask "outside expected" expectations. I do not know about others but I am including "this is my first color" and "have never tried this" in judging. Those of us who are considered "older" members are going to be judged in a harsher light ---- <g> I am old !
This should not stop anyone who feels they are up against "old timers" - jump in and give this a shot. It's not an easy challenge --- this is one that you will learn from, and that is what this is all about!
When I down load the images for the final numbers to judge I am naming with extentions novice, medium, expert to the image (not the artist name) to help me judge.

Hope to see more entries and styles used to colorize.

Hello Jill,

I am probably calling them by the incorrect name, as I was only introduced to painting and Photoshop in December of 2005, if you haven't used them before.

The color replacement tool is located immediately above the cloning tool box. It has the single brush and the eye as its icon. You select your color with option click and replace the existing color - grey /black / white etc... and set the "brush" size as usual.

The brush fade - paint the area in location and keep tyhe mouse depressed until finished or alternate strokes and fade differently, depending on intent. The fade is located under the edit column, 4th from the top. It provides lots of headaches and flexibility - and not just with paint.

Hope that explains it.

Sean

Great - off to Photoshop to see this and play with it!
Thanks

As I have said before -- you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Here is a screen capture of my image and the red, blue and gold layers. This was my initial work, using the Worth 1000 primary color tutorial.

Here are a few more tutorials:
Color Replacement Tool (http://www.heathrowe.com/tuts/colorreplace.asp)

Color Replacement in Photoshop CS (http://www.digitalmediadesigner.com/2004/01_jan/tutorials/pscs-cr040129.htm)

Another way to use Replace Color:

Image>Adjustments>Replace Color

From the pop up window use the eye dropper to select the color you want to replace. Use the fuzziness slider to adjust the color sensitivity. Use the +eye dropper to add colors and the –eye dropper to remove colors. Once you are happy with your selection, change the color in the transform section by adjusting the hue, saturation, and lightness sliders until you have the color you want.

Check out this tutorial:
Using Replace Color (http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=56)

As for "fade", you have the general fade command that is located in the Edit column. This is a great way to reduce any command that you have just run and feel that you have over done it. There is also fade in reference to brush settings (I believe Photoshop 7 and up).

Fade is available as a brush option and you can use it with or without a pressure-sensitive tablet. When Fade is selected, you specify a value between 1 and 9999. The Fade command specifies either the value to which the stroke fades or when the specific jitter ends along the stroke. Click on the brushes pallet, then click on the area next to brushes to expand the options. The fade option in one of the control option under the shape dynamics, color dynamics and other dynamics selections.

Brushes in 7 (http://www.arraich.com/ps6_tips_7brushes2.htm)

Photoshop Shape Dynamics (http://www.planetphotoshop.com/tutorials/PeteBauer75.html)

Photoshop 7: Using Brush Shapes and Textures (http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/16943.html?origin=story)

Hi Sean,

I don't think you mean December 2005, unless you have a time machine, in which case pop into the future again and tell us all who won the contest.

On a more serious note, as others have already said, I would like to judge posted images with a note to the experience of the member. (Although this could pose difficulties. A "new" member may not be inexperienced, and a "senior" member may not be experienced, as "seniority" is based soloely on number of posts to this site.)

Hi Gary,

LOL.....Blush !

Yes, too much SF: please do replace the 5 with a 4 :-)

Sean

It’s great to see discussion going on about techniques people used in creating their images. :)

The goal of this experience is to learn and share from it. Doug was hoping the contest would bring in more members and more discussion. He really wants this to be a place where people share their techniques and learn from each other. So don't hesitate to ask questions in the Contest Discussion Thread. This is the perfect opportunity to pick some brains and learn some new tricks! :bigthmb:

Having said that….

I found recreating the delicate nature and transparency of the wrap a challenge. What approach did everyone take to tackle this?

Another difficult area was getting the eyes to stand out and not look solid black or dull. What was your approach?

And finally, skin tones are always a challenge. It’s very easy to make the skin too yellow or too pink or just too heavy and not delicate. How did you go about recreating yours?

P.S.

You can add your thoughts and discussion here after the contest as well!

OK T, I'll bite.

In terms of skin, I first take a colour from a skin swatch, and paint onto a new colour layer, when finished I apply a gaussian blur to soften edges.

Next I make another colour layer, from colour wheel I sample a colour usually (but not always) up and right of the base colour, to use as highlight. I paint this into highlit areas and blur for effect.

Another layer set to colour, this time sample low and left for shadow colour. Again paint into shadow areas and blur.

Now I adjust opacity on each layer for best effect.

Link layers, and above apply hue/sat adj layer, pull overall skin tone as req'd.

Lastly make all layers into a set to reduce no. of layers in my stack.

I'm a newby to colourising, so my method is probably a little involved, will be happy to try recommendations from others.

Eyes- I used the dodge tool in a half-moon shape opposite the catch light. It creates a little roundness to the eye. Below is an exaggerated version so you can see it.

Eyes- I used the dodge tool in a half-moon shape

Half-moon shape -- how do you get that --- WOW that would be very handy. Is it a brush? - I like to use soft light blend mode layers to do the same as dodge an burn using black and white. This way I can work the opacity and fill, do some earasing and stuff without "hitting" the actual image.

I made a brush.

Could someone please explain why the contest picture has a very dark shadow under the model's right eye. Her right side appears to be towards the light and consequently a little blown out. Is it artifacts or something else?

Is it normal to leave dark shadows in when conducting a restoration or is it a matter of taste? How much flexibility does one really have when colorizing or restoring for payment?

Sean

I presume the black eye is a shiner that the photographer gave her for not sitting still while he was trying to take her photo. Those were hard times. :happy:

Too funny Gary...remind me not to have my photo taken by you. ;)

Very good questions Sean.

Could someone please explain why the contest picture has a very dark shadow under the model's right eye. Her right side appears to be towards the light and consequently a little blown out. Is it artifacts or something else?

As for the answer, I don’t know, but here is my guess. The image was a copy of a photomechanical halftone print.

Photomechanical Methods
A photomechanical or process print is created from a matrix upon which the image has been photographically transferred from an original source. Photomechanical methods were developed in the late nineteenth century. A common characteristic of many photomechanical prints is their use of half tone screens which produce an image through the use of small dots.

The Half-Tone Process: Dots not Dashes
The invention of the half-tone process replaced lines with dots. Using a special screen that resembles a screen door, a photographic image is projected through it onto a sensitized printing plate. The screen transforms the image into a series of tiny dots onto the plate. These tiny dots allow for a much finer detail that before the half-tone process. While the half-tone didn't always produce the quality and detail of a real photograph, it can make a good representation. If you look closely at a picture in today's newspaper or a magazine lying around you will see that it is made up of tiny dots. The smaller and closer together the dots, the more detailed the image.

Under magnification, a halftone looks like a series of dots which are larger and more dense in dark areas and smaller or non-existent in light areas. So for the contest image since the dark areas have more dense dots, this resulted in a very dark shadow under her eye. Furthermore, since the right side is very white due to the light source, this area would hardly have any dots, except for the darker sections…making the darker sections really stand out. It also might just be a result of the printing process. Well, that’s my guess. ;)

Is it normal to leave dark shadows in when conducting a restoration or is it a matter of taste? How much flexibility does one really have when colorizing or restoring for payment?

I’d say a lot is up to personal taste and what the client wants, but as a general rule, areas that look unnatural are most likely retouched to create more natural looking results. For example, I looked at the chin area for some time trying to figure out if the chin really had such a sharp dimple or was it perhaps the shadow from the flower. I finally decided the chin looked more natural without the hard shadow and cloned it out.

Thank you Gary and T.,

I have to admit I did not catch the chin dimple. Fascinating explanation and one that makes a lot of sense.

On another note, there seems to be excellent collections of skin tones available here. Has anyone collected similar swatches or patches of colour for various eras or photographic forms, or do restorers and retouchers go on feel or acquire a photo of similar era and color match or select based on a template picture.

I wonder because there is a tremendous array of color and "feels", even among these contest efforts: too the point of oil-based, ethereal and most assuredly accurate for the time. I do know that the skin tones have been very helpful for me, and similar items for colorizing or restoring would be immensely beneficial (or at least for me - currently i have just been trying to clone available colors (faded or not), and when it came to this contest it was reliance on "what seemed to look okay" )

Sean

I believe many people use Bruce Beard's Hair and Skin Color Charts as a good sampling source.

You can download them from the RetouchPro Resource Section:

Bruce Beard's Hair and Skin Color Charts (http://www.retouchpro.com/resources/index.php?cid=5)

Well the contest deadline is fast approaching…23 March.

For those of you working on images or thinking about entering you only have a few days left!

And for those of you that like to wait until the very last moment, remember that the deadline for entries is 5pm EST 23 March 2005.

=T PaulBruce Beard's Hair and Skin Color Charts

That is my skin and hair bible -- have it printed out and on hand when ever I do color.

I am finding all of the different approaches and methods that you all use fascinating, and I enjoy seeing the different results as well. I had never heard of Worth 1000, but I am fascinated by the method. I am learning so much reading all of your comments and seeing your work. I am so glad that I found this site, but I confess, I am a forum “dummy” and I am a little overwhelmed by the maze of information that is here. Thanks for all of the info and input.

Cathy
:happy:

Question on colorization:

I am wondering how people dealt with feathering (how many pixels) around items such as the eyes, mouth and rose. Do you blur the edges to make them fit in, or is it simply a question of blending the colors with opacity?

Another question I had was with regard to the sharpness or "soft" look in the pictures. How did you derive a dark, sharp and defined picture or conversely your soft look?

For myself,

I ran the original through a channel check and then used Levels to reduce some of the shadow, while highlighting what I perceived as the lighted side of her face. I then applied the brush tool to sample color on the face and paint over the "bruising" under the eyes - followed by varying fades.

I used the color replacement tool as mentioned earlier, and faded out the added colors through various strokes to enable the darker patterning / shadow to show through from the original below. The edges were taken care of by optimizing to 1600 and carefully maneuvering the cross to prevent significant or noticeable overlap - though not sure if that was accomplished.

Tried to ignore the odd shadowing around the arm through the application of a soft mask, but that really didn't achieve the task. Mask was set at 30 pixels to soften picture overall. Only blurred it. Then changed picture, sharpened the outline; ran a vertical gradient through the elbow, altered the rose and selected a different color variant for the background - more in line ( hopefully) with the era of the picture.

Colors were eyeballed rather than sampled from a picture of the same time frame.

DO "you" prefer the darker color tones or the softer ones and is the softening mask or glow often overdone ?

Does a guideline exist for for when sharp or soft restoration might be preferable?

Sean

I stumbled upon this website around 2 months ago and have learned so much from the tutorials and messing around on my own with the challenges. After seeing this contest I figured I'd quit being a "lurker", as someone stated earlier, and finally post something. I'm amazed by the work that's done here.

After seeing this contest I figured I'd quit being a "lurker", as someone stated earlier, and finally post something. I'm amazed by the work that's done here.

Congrats for becoming a poster and "lurking" no more!

Well it is almost time to vote. If you haven’t turned in your entry, you better hurry up! ;)

When you do vote, it might be helpful to include some things you especially liked about your choices…what made them stand out, what impressed you, etc. This is a learning experience!

THANKS!!

This was such a fun contest. Thanks to those of you who are responsible for its being! THis place is so awesome.

One thing that was not specified for this contest was the final image size to be posted - there were entries all the way from 470 pixels (short side) to 1400 pixels.
Maybe, next time, it would be a good idea to include the image size as one of the rules / guidelines.
Comments?

Rô

A good idea and one that will be added to the April contest rules.

~T

Now that the contest is over I’d love to know how some people accomplished certain things…

Flora – the skin tone in your entry was so real. How do you create your skin tone and achieve the lovely softness to your image?

Vikki – your image just beamed with light. What steps did you take to create such a radiating glow to your image?

Righthanddesign – What was your technique for creating such a realistic rose?

Hey everyone I loved the contest and it was a great first one. I think Vikki was the rightful winner of this contest but there were great entires all around. Here are few suggestions I have for the next contest. Maybe they will work maybe not. I hope they help.

1. Love the idea of the entries being hidden from who did them. Vikkis idea of numbers was a great way to view them. I saw some people voting for some pictures that I had to really question there sanity or eye sight (no offense please) This lead me to believe they were voting for the person and not the picture.

2. Dont display all the entires until the end then display them all at one time. This is just an idea but I would like it. If it stays the way it is now I will wait until the last minute next time to submit so I can see how high the bar is set.

3. Let other people vote besides just the people who submitted. Some other members just couldnt get the time to submit but have great eyes and opinions. I just feel limiting the voting to people who are so close to the subject matter may hinder their subjectivity. I would like to have as many people voting as possible.

That is just my little ideas. Can't wait till the next one.

4. Be clearer for the rules as to what exactly we will be voting on. I noticed some people voting on technique some people voting on color some voting on how it made them feel when they saw it. And some I dont know what they were voting on.

I must say, with so many excellent entries, I was surprised I won. Who knew there were so many talented colorist amongst us!!
What I found most interesting about this contest, was the range of people's taste and perception. It's good to see how individual styles are embraced.
This was a good opportunity to have one's work critiqued by such a fine group of artists. Thanks to all who voted for mine.

p.s. I think righthanddesign has some excellent suggestions.

I personally think that the people entering the contest should not get to vote and that there should be a voting panel that chooses the winner.

Gary everyone has an opinion and if someone sees a quality in a picture does not mean they are voting for the artist but what they see, as in the saying "beauty in the eye of the beholder" would you not agree?

Congratulations Vikki! You did an outstanding job on your photo. I feel priviledged to be able to compete in a contest with so many great photo retouchers. Good luck in April!

Cedwar

I am so pleased with how things went I can't adequately express myself. Everyone did a great job, and special congratulations to Vikki!

Keep the suggestions coming, we are listening (as we proved early in this round). Don't be impatient or hurt if we don't immediately act on your advice. As in any experiment you can't change lots of things every cycle (and we'll have lots of cycles).

First of all, congratulations to Vicky on winning the contest.

Secondly Legacy, I haven't expressed any opinions yet, and I would never criticise another persons taste for being different to my own. The post to which you took exception was by Righthanddesign, who also happens to use Gargamel as his avatar. I've changed mine a little to avoid future confusions.

I'm currently downloading Aprils images, (which are going to take a long time on dial up). Looking forward to the contest, hope its as well subscribed to as March's, and wish everyone good luck with their attempts.

Vikki - Congratulations! You ought to write a book about restoration with emphasis on colorization. I'll be the first one to buy it!

righthanddesign - I hope you didn't question my sanity. I voted for you.

I must say, this contest turned out well. Despite differences in opinion, the best work still stood out. A lot of great suggestions here for future contests. But please, let's not forget the very purpose of this forum: sharing of techniques and ideas. It need not be a cutthroat competition.

The current rules are simple and fair enough. Just my opinion.

Congrats. to everyone who participated and who made the contest so interesting and diverse and fun, and especially to Vikki.
I agree the contest should be as simple as possible and like the suggestion that no names, just numbers should show on entries. Like the idea that only entrants can vote - this is definitely an incentive to enter.
Also more guidance on size would be nice.
Maybe part of the winner's prize should be to write a tutorial on their approach, or in this case on skin tones??

MargaretM

I agree with everyone and did not mean to offend anyone. I was just saying that the voting should be on the rules set forth by the moderator, just not on certain things you like. The rules for April seem great and much clearer, good job. It was just weird how the voting was following a certain pattern and then some people were voting for people way out in left field. I have a bluntness with words and I didn't mean I was really questioning peoples sanity just merely if they were looking the same pictures I was looking at. I am excited at this months contest and look forward to entering. Good luck to all..

Gary i am sorry i got you mixed up, as i associate that little man as you, not a new member.

No problem, I realised when I saw the other Gargamel, what had happened.

My Gargamel's now green, it matches my complexion after a good night on the Guiness.

...My Gargamel's now green, it matches my complexion after a good night on the Guiness.

I didn't know the name of your avatar until now, and after looking it up, I understand that you could paint it any color except "Smurf blue" without doing it any disservice. :cat:

Hi everybody!!

Sorry for not reacting earlier .... been busy with the flu....

First of all, congratulations to Vikki for her first place!!!! Like always, when I saw her entry I just went "WOW" ....

Congratulations to all 'competitors' for their excellent entries ... The high quality of the results made voting a very hard task ....

Great contest!!!


Flora – the skin tone in your entry was so real. How do you create your skin tone and achieve the lovely softness to your image?
Thanks T Paul! ....
Mostly, I used the method described in the 'worth1000' tutorial for colorizing this picture ... for the restoration I just went through my usual routine ....

Colorizing is a procedure I've seldom done and while I feel very comfortable with plain 'restorations', I never feel really satisfied with my colouring .... that's why I feel and always say that "it's not my thing" and I take as a great compliment wooden_bender's comment:i think she's fibbing about coloring not being her thing
Using now a different and differently calibrated monitor (gosh I hate this 'calibration' thing!! :o: ) I can see and agree with all the critics about my 'vignette' .... too light and distracting .... Before submitting, I was undecided on the 3 different versions of my final result .... no vignette, dark vignette, light vignette .... my husband liked the light one ......

Thanks again to everyone for a great Contest and for the votes!!!

P.S. Gary, the new colour of your 'Gargamel' (like CJ, I never knew the name of your avatar before...) is very similar to my colour after the flu!!!

Glad you're over your flu. Don't think looking like Gargamel would suit you, and a green Gargamel even less.

As for your March contest entry, I'm like your husband, I liked the pale vignette.

So, now you're feeling better, I look forward to seeing what you can do with April's contest.

:lol: :lol:

Thanks Gary!!
So, now you're feeling better, I look forward to seeing what you can do with April's contest.
Downloaded the pictures .....