[Mica]

I do a little Photoshop stuff at work, but it's all with product photography. My grandmother gave me this picture of her grandmother and great grandmother taken in Portugal.

I put about 2 hours into this project so far, just mostly cleaning up the dirt (there is a lot of it!), and my grandmother is happy with the result so far, but I know it needs a good deal more effort. Even though I increased the contrast, the faces are very flat still, the woman could benefit from some eyebrows maybe. The little girl's dress needs more cleaning, but once it's white, I'm hoping to make it not look flat as well. I'm hoping to get some suggestions for increasing the tonal range in the face of the woman especially.

Any ideas on what is in the background?

[Flora]

Hi Mica,

Welcome to RetouchPRO!

I had a go at your picture....

I'm not really satisfied with the result, but here it comes...

Working with Photoshop CS2, I used s Shadow/Highlight Adjustment trying to balance shadows, highlights and add some consistency to the very faded areas ... and followed most of the steps described in this Tutorial to finish the restoration.

The woman has very deep set eyes that's why it is difficult to make out her eyebrows .... as for the background, I think it is one of those painted backdrops photographers used back then ...

[Kraellin]

nice flora

i did this one up also. a bit tricky. lots of clone and contrast and push/smudge. i didnt work from the original, but rather from your restoration.

craig

[Mica]

Thanks for evaluating the photo, it is pretty tricky. I haven't used the shadow/highlight adjustments much, but after playing around with my source file, I was able to see how you coaxed some details out with it, Flora.

Craig, I am encouraged to keep trying after your results on the woman's face. My skills are more graphic, and the artistry needed for subtle facial details is more frustrating to me. I'll post the finished result will probably be a week or two until I'm done.

[Kraellin]

mica,

i'm glad i could help.

i actually had more trouble on the little girl's face than the woman's. you might want to look at flora's version again. i think she did a better job there than i did. the girl's face has been partially washed away, especially around the eyes and i had a hard time with it.

on the woman's face, try the lighten/darken brush instead of painting or cloning or smudging. this will give you some depth and contrast. lower the opacity and density for applying smaller bits at a time. works better to build up rather than build down.

craig