family picture

[jesterjeni]

I recieved this picture after the funeral of my aunt. this is my fathers family (my dad is the littlest boy) all but one of these people have passed. I am not sure what to do to bring a little life into this picture. Please help!

[0lBaldy]

Straighten, color correct using white, gray, black points, find best channel (use that channel for corrections... clone and heal etc), sharpen, re-tint sepia-tone if wanted

[jesterjeni]

I was afraid if I straightend it - it would take a loss?

[0lBaldy]

Yes, you will lose the corners on the top left and bottom right and a tiny bit at the top right corner but nothing that can not be corrected with some cloning (the girls legs and background) and some copying/transforming (the big boys pants into the little boys pants)

That should get you off to a good starting point for your restore

Used the green channel for first one then sepia toned it

[jesterjeni]

much better straight!! any advice on the shadows of the little boy? He died in 2002 I wanted to clean this photo up so I could give it to the only survior, she is 80 yrs old.
thank you

[Flora]

Originally Posted by jesterjeni

....any advice on the shadows of the little boy?...

.... Selected the shadows on his face and 'lifted' them using a Levels Adjustment Layer ....

The details are there ... pity the picture is so small .... For better view, I increased its size and zoomed in at 200% losing some sharpness ...

[jesterjeni]

looking much better! I am going to toy with that a little

thank you!

[jesterjeni]

wow! I can see his face!!
I replaced the little girls leggs but they look very fake
how do I fix that?

[Flora]

Originally Posted by jesterjeni

wow! I can see his face!!

Great!!!

Originally Posted by jesterjeni

I replaced the little girls leggs but they look very fake how do I fix that?

In this picture, I wouldn't replace the girl's legs .... Obviously 'borrowed' from another picture, they look fake because of wrong size, sharpness, luminosity etc.

In my opinion, parts of a picture should be replaced only if absolutely necessary ... possibly with a good part of the same picture. I don't think this picture would 'suffer' a lot if simply cropped after the 'straightening'

[Cupcake]

Here is another try.

[jesterjeni]

wow cupcake that does eleminate the problem I was having-- I love the fact that I can see my dads face. that makes a huge difference..
thanks

[jesterjeni]

anyone have any idea how to draw out the eyes a little more?
the one surviver of this picture is the little-est girl, and her face is a bit dark. I have tryed using the dodge brush, but the result seems a bit pixelated.??