Jigsaw Puzzle Baby Photo need help

[Max Rebo]

I found this site helpful in the past and I am hoping to get some direct help this time around.

Someone here at work just moved and had 3 baby pictures that had been pressed between two sheets of glass and held in place with a dollop of (Elmer's?) glue on the back of each one. Over time the glue seeped through the photos and stuck portions of each picture to the front piece of glass. During the move the panes got separated and you can guess the rest. A center section of each photo stayed on the front pane while the remainder of the photo stayed with the back pane.

With a bit of noodling (and inspiration from this site) I was able to fix two of the pictures quite admirably and was very happy with the results. It's not my normal job but I like to feel my work was at least competent.

I am not able to claim any success with the remaining picture. If anyone here can help me I would greatly appreciate it.

The photo (in pieces) is here: http://www.nanonomicon.com/images/BrokePhoto-1.png

When the photos were copied the photos were directly pressed to the glass of the scanner in the case of the backs of the photos. The "fronts" of the photos had to be scanned through the pane of glass to which they were stuck. I don't know if that difference (in distance) in the scanning process adds materially to the problem of piecing this back together.

Here are the ones I was able to fix:

http://www.nanonomicon.com/images/Bo...%204x6inch.png

http://www.nanonomicon.com/images/Middle%202.png

Here is what I had to work with for them:

http://www.nanonomicon.com/images/BrokenPhotos-2.jpg

Any and all help would be appreciated. I would love to know what techniques were used if you are willing.

TIA

[Flora]

Hi Max Rebo!

Welcome to RP!!

What I'm posting here isn't the complete restoration... I only worked on the baby's face concentrating on blending-in the 'misplaced' part.

Moved the 'missing piece' to its 'place' SNAP-067.jpg


I did most of the work on Frequency Separation Layers ... I'm preparing a kind of very basic Tutorial on this 'technique' and I'll post the link for it right here in case you need it ...

My restoration so far ...Re-BrokePhoto-1.jpg

P.S. Good job on your restoration ... I'd just add a hint of 3-dimensionality to the nose which otherwise tends to look a bit 'flattened'

SNAP-074.jpg

[unimatrix001]

Nicely done Flora. Just wish mine would turn out as good. I also used the frequency separation method but added a little twist to it. i did the blur for the low freq. layer but had to much discoloration after the corrections. So i decided to try a median layer. i liked the final results better and had less luminosity corrections to make. I know me and my median filter.

[Flora]

unimatrix001,

Thank you ... and great job!!!

... I definitely have to look deeper into 'your' Median Filter!!

[unimatrix001]

One of the reasons i have been using it so much lately is by accident i fixed a picture for a friend that had some chromatic aberration around some tree limbs from a sky and some on a building near the trim. I duplicated the layer and by accident i chose the median filter and set it to color mode i believe i used a setting for that picture of 10. but it will depend on the picture. by setting it to color mode it does not affect anything but the color. I was also in lab mode when i did this. So i have been fascinated by that filter. A much under used filter by most users of photoshop.

[Max Rebo]

I thank you both for your amazing help! You know someone's good when they make it look easy. I worked hard on that picture and was repeatedly stymied. Your improvement on the other picture was quite remarkable for a small change. Nice.

I will wait to see your tutorial on how you did this. I used to love watching "The Screen Savers" (all the time) and learned enough to be dangerous when they did photo restores.

I showed Jillian your accomplishments and she was very happy!

Max

[Flora]

Hi Max,

Thank you so much for your feedback and so sorry for the delay .. but I' still waiting for information for the Tut.

In the meantime,you can have a look here where I wrote step by step instructions using exactly the same technique ...

I'll let you know as soon as the Tut is up ...