The Sisters Restoration

[SteveB2005]

Folks. This photo which comes from family archive, probably 100 years old, was facinating to me and a real challenge to restore. It almost looks like someone smeared WiteOut and glue over the image. Fortunately, the sisters focus was not too bad. The most damage being the background. What really caught my eye was this man behind the image, possibly the photographer's assistant holding the background, which seems to be velvet. This may have been a test shot or a joke, who knows, but it is a bit weird and mysterious. Let me know what you think. Not sure on what more I can do to improve it, but give it a shot. Using Photoshop 7, I cleaned with the clone tool, dust and scratches and despeckle filters, blur, curves, layer modes, screen, dodge and burn and a little subtle airbrush tweaking. regards steveb

[Kraellin]

steveb,

you're right, that is an interesting shot. and i'd say your assessment is correct on the various elements. looks like the photographer was going to crop after the shoot.

as for your work, you're almost there. the dress on the left is still a bit smudgy. the girl's face on the right is a bit dark yet... maybe a mask on the face and some curves or brightness/contrast, or if you have a whitening brush as in psp 9 and 10, try that. it's not bad, but a bit shaded yet. there's also something a bit odd on the girl on the right's left arm, a whiteness there that doesnt seem to belong. mind you i'm only looking at this on the attachment and hard to tell. and even though you seem to have followed the restoration pretty closely, i think i'd highlight the guy in the background a bit with some lighter shades around his head. also, on whatever it is that he's holding up, i'd put a finer edge on it. it seems to be the victim of some smudge/clone tools. and finally, the overall look is fairly dark. i'd brighten up some areas even if this doesnt quite match up with the original. maybe the background or the thing he's holding or maybe just an adjustment layer of bright/contrast.

it's a good job. you've cleaned it up very nicely! just needs a bit more.

Craig

[SteveB2005]

Hi Craig. Thanks for the tips. It's encouraging to know that I'm getting there. I am having the same problem trying to figure out what's going on in certain parts of the image. The sleeves and clothing on the subjects have some distorations that I am still wondering how to fix. I was about to give up on going further, but the more I work, the more I want to finish it. On the bottom, it looks like a rug or table, not sure. I worked on this thing about 3 hours so far. I use the grid, puzzle method, meaning checking and working a problem area one sqaure at a time. Using the clone tool is the most tedious part of the restoration, but that comes with the job. I may change the color to duotone or sepia at the end. I'll keep workin' it. reagrds steveb

[byRo]

I've got a sneaky feeling that the kids were actually sitting on his lap, and the circular chair back was added on later.
This may also explain why some other things look a little out of place.

Rô

[SteveB2005]

Hi byRO. That is something I never thought of about the man in the back. He was there to support the panel thing. It does have an errieness to it. This image still has me baffled on what is happening on the girls' sleeves. Not sure where to take it, but I'll figure it out. regards steveb

[Kraellin]

ok, Ro got me curious so i thought i'd take a closer look at this one. first thing i did was to raise the brightness contrast way up. i wanted to see if i could make out any more detail. i ran it up to 70/50, bright/contrast in an adjustment layer.

that got me even more curious as i still wasnt quite sure what was going on. so, i went back to the original and split the channels rgb. i took just the red channel on this one and ran another bright/contrast adjustment layer on it, again, 70/50.

i now believe that panel or whatever we want to call it is actually the chair back. the gentleman is simply peeking over the top. if you look at the left arm of the chair it would seem to curve up and meet the back, which is what i'm mostly basing this on.

i'm attaching the image.

Craig