Feedback on Recent Restoration

[lhowell]

I have somewhat limited experience doing photo restorations, but I know my way around Photoshop pretty well. Could someone take a look at what I've done and give me some honest feedback on what I could have done better? I'm not sure what "the norm" is in terms of whether or not to leave the border or whether or not you should attempt to recreate the aged toning of the original image....

Also, I may need to ask this in another forum, but what would someone typically charge for this kind of work?? It's for my parent's neighbor, so I don't exactly want their house to get egged, but I figured if she's willing to pay, I'm willing to charge!

Thanks!!

[lhowell]

Sorry - I might have put this in the wrong forum! Should it be moved to Restoration?

[0lBaldy]

welcome to RetouchPRO lhowell! Hope you enjoy your time here!

As far as I can tell on this small sample your repairs look OK and blend pretty well.. but it is a shame you lost the trim behind the lady (you left a piece by her elbow) and you lost the shadows in the interior.. Your restore looks a bit contrasty to me.. maybe lighten up on the harsh blacks and soften it a bit... but then again I am a lover of old Sepia and grain.. just a matter of taste.

[lhowell]

Thanks! Wow...I completely mowed over that trim on the car...Thanks for catching that! Appreciate the feedback ;-)

[lhowell]

Here's a revised version...

[0lBaldy]

Originally Posted by lhowell

Here's a revised version...

Looks good to me... Do you like it? That's all that realy matters in the end..

[LQQKER]

Yeah, I agree with "the bald one", however, you did manage to lose some detail in your first attempt. In the second, you over compensated (in my opinion) to regain the detail you lost, at the expense of loss to some of the original contrast "that worked".
I would think that careful masking could reveal a nice combination that would be something one would be proud to display (without the leg halo, of course).
As with all restorations, it's about preserving the "truth", meaning not losing the espressions captured at the moment. That said, I think you're on the right track.

When you are doing something that is personal to you, all that matters is what you feel is improvement, without changing prominent distict features about a past individual. Afterall, results and memories are all you have to show to a limited amount of people who are relevant to your end result.