Newbie looking for some crit!

[tony79]

Hi there! Just found the site yesterday and must say mightly impressed with the things ive seen. Just wondered if anyone would like to crit some work i did for my photography course. It's a photo restoration piece that required b/w image to be restored and coloured.

Cheers

[ashphotoart]

Nice Job,

only need to concentrate on polishing so it looks more fine.

Ash

[JD Spears]

Yes, Very nice job. And as Ash said "only need to concentrate on polishing". More specifically, I would add a little more red or magenta to the skin tones. Not sure which. I would lighten up the eyes and the catch lights in the eyes. Might try some other colors for them besides brown. I would lighten up the Mother's teeth and dodge between her teeth to lower the contrast. The hair could be lighten up both highlights and shadows. Hard to tell at this size but look like there might be a little hiccup above the daughters eye. Also might want to go in liqify and open that eye just a VERY slight bit. Also, would tone the gray background to warm it up a bit. All just little nitpick stuff to polish it up.

[LonK]

I think you'll find your result will be more natural if you apply a slight sepia tone to the entire image before coloring. Doing so gets you half way to more realistic skin tones right out of the gate. You might also want to peek at the entries and discussion in this month's contest.

[tony79]

thanks for the comments so far. Lots of very useful suggestions. It was my first attempt at adding colour to a b/w image and I can see how all the suggestions made would not only improve the output image but also speed up my workflow. Will have a crack at a few of those suggestions over the next couple of days. If anyone else has anything further to add please say so.

On a side note, I had a look at the June contest, some fantastic outcomes there! Could I ask how long it took you Lonk to produce your entry?

[LonK]

Originally Posted by tony79

Could I ask how long it took you Lonk to produce your entry?

Yes, you can ask!

I don't really know, tony79. I'm really slow. I have more time on my hands than the need for speed. I worked on it, off and on, for several days. I tend to be a perfectionist and can't help but continually tweak the details.

[TommyO]

Tony,
Very nice work on the restoration phase.
The image seems to have lost some detail during the coloring phase, notably in the hair, eyebrows and eyes. Unfortunately, these are the most important areas for us human viewers, as we judge reality from those elements.
As JD said, maybe some lighter tones in those areas would be better. Hopefully, all those parts are on separate layers so you can tweak each ! (If not, you get a C - just kidding.)
Good work and keep posting !

[tony79]

Hi Tommy, Yes they are all on separate layers and I agree that some of the detail has been lost during the colouring phase. I should have mentioned that we were given 4 hours (4x1hr sessions) to do restore and colour and I think I underestimated the amount of work involved (especially for someone at my level) in the colouring by allocating 1hr 15min to that phase.

How do you guys who do both restore and colour allocate your time to a project?

[tony79]

Originally Posted by LonK

Yes, you can ask!

I don't really know, tony79. I'm really slow. I have more time on my hands than the need for speed. I worked on it, off and on, for several days. I tend to be a perfectionist and can't help but continually tweak the details.

Well it really shows and has given me something to aspire to so thank you!

[TommyO]

My experience...
- if it's being paid for, it must be discussed up front;
- if it's not, it's up to me. I always tend to spend 4/5's of my time of the restore, as getting that part right depends more on the problems at hand. Colouring is done only after all restoration is complete.

I, like Lon, have more time on my hands and am not usually pressed to squeeze something in. Lucky us !