restoring a severly faded and damaged image

[miss jane]

ok, after slaving over this image i've finally got something i'm happy with. now to see what everyone else thinks. i know it's not perfect, but i'd like some feed back as to whether there's any improvements i can make before i put this monster (the image not the person) to rest.

thanks to gary for sending me off in a better direction!! it really helped

ok, fire away!

You can see the original here

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Jane,

Nice try on what was a quite difficult image. IMHO the dress is a little dark and "solid" for such a soft image, but this is just a judgement call.

What I often do with an image like this, if I have the luxury of time, is to put it to one side and not look at it for a while, then come at it with fresh eyes.

It's often difficult to know when to stop. When you've been working on an image for a long time, you get a sort of tunnel vision, and keep looking to make improvement, when you've probably already got all that can be got out of the picture.

Glad I could help a little, good luck with your future restorations.

[miss jane]

i agree with you on the dress gary, it's one of those things i ummed and ahhed at the time. i guess i was trying to bring some depth to the image.... if that makes any sense.

there's a few things that bugg me about the image but i'm out of ideas on how to make it better. i just hope i haven't taken away her true features by pulling them out by hand.

if no one else has any suggestions, i'll show her the image and ask if she's happy with it (the lady in the image). after all it is her, so i'm sure she'll tell me if she doesn't like something about it.... well, i hope she does.

thanks for your input gary

[chanchalbd]

Hi Jain!
I'm Chanchal from Bangladesh,junior member of RP.
I'm very much interested to view your finished picture if possible?
Is restoration is your hobby or your job? i've lots of question to asked if you
permite me to do so. I'm a new commer in restoration arena.
Will you please help me?
I'm waiting for your replay. No more today
Thanks
chanchal
chanchalbd@bdonline.com

[Kraellin]

umm, i cant see the original. i click on it and it takes me to another page on retouchpro but then i'm not logged in and cant view it.

??

Craig