Out Out Damn Spots!

[OhThatGirl2001]

Hi All!

I'm wondering if you could help me. I have an old picture of my great grandparents that I've been working on. Hours of cloning, editing of missing parts... etc. How would you fix a missing part of a body ie: arm in this case or eye. I'm fairly new at this, so be gentle with me. Here is the before and my somewhat average fix. Any suggestions would be greatly (and I mean GREATLY) appreciated.

Also, do you think I should colorize it to give it that old fashioned look to it? I can increase the colors to 16 million and colorize it - if it's a good idea.

Lastly, what are your feelings on Extensis Intellihance Pro for cleaning up the dust, spots etc.

Lisa

[OhThatGirl2001]

Here is my first attempt at fixing my great grandparents picture. Any suggestions?

[thomasgeorge]

Great job of damage repair...only thing I would suggest is to add a curves adjustment layer and play around a bit to give the photo a little more snap.That is an absolutely wonderful photo, by the way. Tom

[Hankster65]

Well, GrlNxtDr, it looks like you've already done one fine job of restoring it! Very nice, indeed.

Two *minor* things...

You might want to clean up the flare in Grandma's eyeglasses. You could do this by copying the eyes from one of the other ladies. Possibly the one standing up in the black dress. Whether or not you do this, of course, depends upon how you feel about preserving the actual "truth" of the original photo.

The second thing is strictly a matter of personal taste...I like b&w's with just a little more "snap" to the contrast. Again, this is personal taste.

BTW, I LOVE British Columbia. I spent several weeks there traveling around and its truly awesome.

[Hankster65]

Gee, Tom, as I'm composing my response you posted yours, which was kind of neat because you also suggested more snap. Great minds think alike so we must be onto something here.

[Hankster65]

GirlNxtDr, Hope you don't mind, I copied your after image and threw a very quick down and dirty couple of changes on it. (As mentioned above.)

Again...its all personal preference at this point. Your image is quite good as is.

[OhThatGirl2001]

Thanks for the postive feedback and great suggestions. I see the word of the day today is "SNAP" ha ha.

I worked with an adjustment layer and fooled around with the levels. I found however, the better fix was to adjust the contrast. I think it's just personal taste. Given that I have an italian family "black" dominates most of the picture

I like the idea of fixing the glare in the glasses by copying the eyes from my Aunt. I would never have thought of that!

British Columbia is covered in a fresh blanket of snow today. It's a winter wonderland out right now.

I'll copy my newly edited picture. A work, forever in progress!

[OhThatGirl2001]

Thanks for the picture Tim. I was just editing mine with a few adjustments. I used Photoshop Auto Level adjustment and found the darks were a little too strong. Even after fooling around with the sliders, it still seemed a little strong. But as you say, it's just a matter of personal taste now. I like how you fixed the glare in the glasses!

Thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it!

Lisa

[DJ Dubovsky]

Hi Lisa
Seems like you figured things out nicely. Excellent job. Normally if someone has one good eye (body part) and one bad one, you clone the good one over the bad. In the case of an eye you would have to select the good eye copy and paste then flip it and lower the opacity of the layer to position it properly. You may have to rotate it also to set it properly.

As for Intellihance Pro, I have it and I liked it. I often used it on photos I had troubles with. I like how you could have several views of the changes side by side. It's a good program. I haven't installed it since I got Windows XP yet.
DJ

[Sanda]

you've done a great job with the photo. These people here are so great, they are always ready to help.
I too have intellihance pro and like it a lot. I haven't reinstalled it since I got photoshop 6 yet but will do when I get around to it.