Finished or Not??

[Peter S]

First post in this forum. Just an amatuer Photoshop user.
This is a relative on my wife's side of the family, taken approx 1917.

I've been working on this one for a little while.
Have I done enough or should I do more?
Tried to sharpen a little more but I think the original focus was too soft (especially the shoes).

Peter........

[twinkissed]

I think it looks terrific! I only noticed a small white spot on the subject's right cheek and I too noticed the shoes. I think they look that way from fading. You may want to "try" a program like Neat and use a filter with sharpen. The reason I say try is because sometimes certain photos just don't take the filter well in my opinion. Most do, but I've had a couple of stinkers

[Duv]

Finished or not? That's always a tough question. Quite often the mantra is "do what you do until you think you're happy, then back off a bit". In your case, you've taken a minimalist approach which I personally like. There may be other suggestions but always think in terms of the integrity of the original.
BTW, you say first post in this forum. Have you been on sabbatical as it shows you have posted here before? Great to have you posting again!

Cheers

Dave

[Kraellin]

i'm with duv on this one. it can be a bit of a trick deciding how much is enough; when is done, done. i could go into nit-picky mode on any picture and find something wrong with it,...somewhere.

so, how do you decide enough is enough? there are some tricks to this. one is like duv says; put it down for a while. walk away from it for a day or so. then look at it again with fresh eyes. does it still look done now? another is to develop a sense of looking at things newly each time you look at it after a brush stroke. and if you've just applied 500 clone strokes to an image and can look at it newly as if you'd never seen it before, you'll probably be able to answer the 'when is enough, enough' question. another is to take your current image and flip it or mirror it. turn it upside down and look at it for a while. dont do anything but look at it. and, if you feel you're really close to a done, do a test print. this one usually works for me. seeing it on a monitor and then seeing it in print seems to just change everything for me.

but, all those things listed above, arent completely what you're asking. so, the question to you is, do you think it will achieve the end result you're looking for? will it create the effect you're looking for when you show it to others? or, will they look at it and be distracted by things 'not quite right' with the image?

hehe, fun, isnt it

ok, now, if you want a critique i'd say it's a bit grainy yet. you've done the major work and did it well, but it's got a fair amount of noise yet. the good news on that is that that may not show up in print. still, i'd tend to run it through neat image or any other noise reducer you might have. it doesnt need much and even if you dont like the end result of that, then at least you've got something to compare it to and know. i also tend to purposely overrun things at times just to verify that things are done.

i also tend to agree that a bit more sharpening might help, particularly lower in the image, from about the waist down.

and one last note on this. who is your target audience/recipient here? if i restore a pic for my mom, maybe an old family photo, she's much more interested in recognition of the people than in a full 'very clean restoration'. as long as she can make out who it is then that's good enough for her in her mind. i still tend to do them as well as possible, but she's more interested in 'preserving the family history and photos' than in the full detailed work. i probably shldnt even post that. you shld really just have one standard you work to. otherwise you tend to get sloppy.

i like what you've done. i also think you could do just a little bit more on the noise and sharpness.

now, why do i remind myself of all of the teachers i ever had in school?

Craig

[Peter S]

Lots to think about here.

I have tried Neat image but end up with images looking like plastic. (overdoing it probably).

Take a rest, very good, I tell people this at work when trying to fault find, "go away have a coffee and think of something else, the answer comes easier when you come back to it."

This is was my first post in this particular forum. Though I wish I had been on sabbatical it would be more fun than work.

The target audience is me really though I would like to give a framed copy to my Father in law who let me use the picture.

Thanks again for the advice etc..

BTW please feel free to play with the pics I meant to say that in the first Post

Peter

[Kraellin]

well, if the target audience is yourself and you're pleased with it, then it's done

as for neat image, you can overdo it and that's that pasty sort of monotone look. the nice thing is, you dont have to do it that far. it's adjustable.

you might also be able to reduce the noise with less blurring by using something like a median noise reduction or the salt and pepper filter. in fact, i'd be very tempted to try that last one first. even a despeckle might work, though i find it pretty limited. try and salt and pepper.

and, here's another trick you might try. make a duplicate layer and slightly gausian blur it. then, using a blend mode of overlay, or screen, or luminance maybe, try blending the top dupe into the lower one. you can also adjust the opacity of the top layer down a bit. this has a tendency to smooth the overall noise without making it blurred smooth.

Craig

[Peter S]

Craig
I like the sound of the last tip i'll certainly try that.
But what is the Salt and Pepper filter, i hav'nt seen that one.

Thanks again

Peter

[Kraellin]

it may be specific to psp and not ps, but the salt and pepper is like despeckle only with more control and more range and power. it can remove all the little specs of varying sizes and smooth things out a bit.

Craig

[Peter S]

Worked a little more on this removed some more noise, plus tried to sharpen up the legs.
I think I may be getting there thanks for the advice.

P

[Kraellin]

you're welcome.

well, that certainly removed a lot of the noise. not sure i like the shoes, though. it made them shiny but not really more clear. might not be much one can do for them, though.

i tried your original fixed image myself. turns out this was a bit trickier than i would have thought. so, i congratulate you! i tried a number of my own suggestions, salt and pepper and blended layers and psp's 'digital camera noise remover'. i had fair results. didnt try to fix the shoes. for those you might try a usm filter on just the shoes. mask them and run the filter on that. might work.

Craig

[Peter S]

Well I think I have gone as far as I can go on this.
The shoes were difficult, I ended up making a selection around what looked like the edges and cloning in some of the surrounding detail, then inversing the selection and carefully doing the same for the shoes themselves.(not perfect but seems sharp enough for printing out at normal size)
Also did something similar for the kilt edges.

All the tips posted - very useful and thanks again everybody.

Peter