[Flora]

Add your comments, questions or general discussion about the September Contest entries here. This is also a great place to share your techniques or ask others about theirs.

Most members are eager to hear comments/suggestions about their entries, so please take the time to help each other out.

[Flora]

Contest FAQs

Contest Entries

Contest Votes

[Flora]

All entries will be put up in this Gallery for easier viewing ...

Edit: 8 Oct. 2006

Removed link

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Flora, welcome to the firing line.

Thanks for taking on the contest this month, we'll try not to be too rowdy.

[Flora]

Originally Posted by Gary Richardson

Hi Flora, welcome to the firing line.

... like in 'execution' ?... ... Gosh ... I'm dead!!!!

Thanks for the welcome, Gary!!!

[chrishoggy]

I have a question about the rules..............................















Can we brake them ??????????????

Only kiding


Nice image to work on. It's a shame I don't have more time to work with it. I wanted to vote, so did a quick clean up.

[Flora]

Hi Chris!

.... the first entry to this month's contest ... and the first couple of seconds of panic ...

Originally Posted by chrishoggy

I have a question about the rules..............................

.... Anyway ... a great start! .... (not a very easy picture to work on!!! ) ....

[chrishoggy]

At first glance it looks quite easy. But there is quite a lot of missing/hard to find details. Should keep people working for some time
Good luck everybody

Might need some caffeine pills to keep people working on it round the clock

[soleah]

I agree. This is one of those photos when you thought you can do it in 5 minutes and then realize you need 5 days instead. The hardest part of this challenge is bringing back the details on their faces.

I'm not sure if I can jump in this month, but I love restoring vintage photos so maybe I'll find time before the due date.

Good luck with all the entries.

[Kraellin]

yup, this is classic restore/reconstruction and a toughy at that. i'll give anyone that wants it a heads-up here. some areas are completely missing in all that dark. try what you want but you're not going to find all the detail you want. it's just plain not there. add in over-exposure and under-exposure and a liberal sprinkling of spots, 'fog' and other unwanteds and you're in for a time.

i'd highly recommend spending a fair amount of time on light balancing before almost anything else. get all the detail you can to show up and balance things out before the other cleanups.

and the other big issue is going to be reconstruction. bringing back detail that no longer is there takes some good detective work and a good hand and a good technique. careful with the clone and smudge, especially on the faces. that's a critical area and one where judging is probably going to be mostly centered. dress/clothing will probably be the next most important followed by the background.

with all the damage in other areas, it's surprising at how much detail does exist in some of the clothing. so, careful with the cloning/repair here too. lose the detail, lose points.

if you feel compelled to use filters, especially ones like neat image, polaroid dust and scratch and similar 'cleanup' filters, dont overdo it. these have a tendency to blur areas and it shows.

and bear in mind the rules state this is restore, not a painting. the idea isnt to 'make it pretty' or to make it art; the idea is to bring it back to its original state or to photo quality.

there's also been a minor debate in the past about sepia tone as opposed to true black and white. to me, this is a very minor issue and more a matter of preference. if you can restore the quality then any toning is more something one discusses with a client. however, i'm sure there are those that think it shld be one or the other, especially if the image depicts that this is the way the original would have been or 'what would have existed at the time it was taken'. so, use your own judgement on that one.

and as always, do not have any fun. work, work, work! and frown often

craig

[Flora]

Hi....

still talking to me??

Originally Posted by Kraellin

yup, this is classic restore/reconstruction and a toughy at that.

... a perfect 'diagnosis' .... and a great help for the 'cure' .... thanks Craig!!!

Good luck to everybody!!!

[Flora]

3. Tasks:
* Final image must be exactly 800 px wide and 583 px high

Doug,

your restoration appears to have the 'wrong' proportions ... (800 x 600 px) ... Please, check and correct your entry to avoid being disqualified.

Thanks.....

Update: This entry has been corrected.

[Kraellin]

thanks flora

but i'm beginning to think all moderators are sadists. first T, then Ro and now you! this is one devilish image! (i love it). it's almost as bad as 'tub girls' now, where's Deadants when you need him

craig

[Doug Colwell]

Thanks Flora, I fixed the size. Starting to wonder where everybody went. The original looks pretty awful, but there's plenty of recoverable detail in the under-exposed parts - it's just not the greatest quality in spots. I think the darkest areas are legitimate shadow that the camera and film couldn't resolve very well. The biggest problem I found is there's not the same tonal range in the shadow people (compared to the girl on right) to work with once the levels are balanced out.

[leanan`si]

a question for you please?

Do you have, or have you seen the original photograph not in digital format?

leanan
Who flunked Biology, Anatomy, and Art Class .. and it's gonna show ..