Retouching a 70's 110 printout

[Caitlin]

I'm looking for group shots at the moment to add to a set of framed photos I'm putting together for my sister, and picked this as a possibilty, but as you can see it's soft focus (as I think all 110 prints are), and it needs some other spot retouching.

This one also gave me the opportunity to utilise my newly learned smile and eye substitution skills! (courtesy of the April contest) Though I think I need to do a bit more work on the eyes in this case.

Image 1 & 2 are the originals, and 3 my retouch so far. I've nabbed a smile and eyes from image two. Any comments; and thoughts, suggestions on how to improve the clarity of the image most appreciated!!

After the fact I did toy with the idea of just completely substitute the girl on the far right, and using pic.2. That may be the better option.

Bet you can't guess which one's me

[Kraellin]

very nice

if you want it sharper, use the 'sharpen' or 'sharpen more' (in paint shop pro, psp). not sure what the equivalent is in photoshop. this tends to add grain to the image, so i then added some contrast and automatic contrast, a very slight amount of 'clarify' and then a bit of 'texture preserving smooth' from the 'noise' menu to get rid of the extra grain.

bear in mind that i had to cut this file size down a bit to upload it, so it's lost a bit of resolution here. after i re-did your original, it was 410k.

K.

[Kraellin]

oh, and i'm guessing you're the one at the bottom, middle, with the dark hair

K.

[soleah]

Seamless retouch. Very well done.
Since you already replaced the girl on the far right, why not replace the girl on the far left, too. She's the only one not facing the camera.
This could do with a little sharpening, too. Like what Kraellin said.

[Caitlin]

Originally Posted by soleah

Seamless retouch. Very well done.
Since you already replaced the girl on the far right, why not replace the girl on the far left, too. She's the only one not facing the camera.

Actually I haven't replaced anyone - all I've done is add eyes and smile to the girl in the centre. I was just pondering the fact that I could alternately use image 2 as my main picture - and just paste in the girl on the left (Thereby also getting the other girl facing forward). Only that would make girl on the left (oh - hang it all - lets just say 'my sister' shall we!) looking over at nothing - rather than at me making a silly face...)

Re. Sharpening - I felt like I had alreadly sharpened rather a lot (USM) - but I'll have another play with it.

[soleah]

Sorry about that Caitlin. I guess I shouldn't do a critique on an empty stomach.
Still, I find the retouch on the eyes and the smile, seamless.

[venivedi]

Lovely picture. Great job, Caitlin.
About sharpening, I think overall sharpening is enough. By the way you can enhance outline of people with dodge and burn tool.