Need help with scanned photo

[Diddle]

I really need some help with a photo. It is a picture of my daughter and my step-grand-daughter, Justice, who was killed in a car accident 2 years ago. Me and my daughter would like to get this picture cleared up somehow. It was the only picture out of several that turned out bad.
I have tried several different things in PSP, but I just can't seem to do anything with it. Some others in a newsgroup tried also, but no luck.
I was told, by someone in the newsgroup, that maybe I could get some help in this forum.
I see that the post limit on the file size is 102400 bytes. My picture size is 441.1 kb's. Is it too large to post?
I hope someone can help me out with this !!
Thanks for any and all responses !!
Diddle

[gland]

Is there any way you can optimize the image enough to get it under the limit? If not, send the image to me and I can either post it on my website as is or optimize it enough to post it here.

gland@aaahawk.com

[jeaniesa]

Hi Diddle,

Welcome to RetouchPro! I'm glad you found us. If we can help, we surely will.

I've found that if I make my image size between 700-800 pixels on the longest edge and then use a JPEG setting of 50 or so, I can usually get under the 100KB file size limit to upload. If you want a (detailed) explanation as to what affects file size, you might want to take a look at this tip.

Or, you can take Gary up on his offer to help post it for you.

Jeanie

[Diddle]

Yes, I would like very much if I could send you the picture and then you could re-size it for me or post it on your website, which ever works best for you. One thing, I would like to try to keep it close to the size it is now (if possible) ? Right now it is 1050 x 710 x 24b. Don't mean to be so picky, except the picture is special to us. I don't know if I mentioned that I scanned the photo.
Please let me know where and when you would like for me to send it to you.
Thanks so much for your help and Thanks to all who offered tips and help.
Diddle

[jeaniesa]

Diddle,

Gary posted his e-mail in his reply. You can just send your image to that address and he'll post back here with it. (Actually, it will probably have to be on his website b/c I don't know if it's possible to keep those dimensions and still make it under the 100KB limit we have here.)

Jeanie

[gland]

Jeanie is right. Looks like I'll have to post it on the website..

gland@aaahawk.com

[BigAl]

An alternative would be to take a smaller section of the image, which really shows up the problem you're having, and save that as a new file, then jpeg that file and send it to the forum.

[jeaniesa]

Al is right. If you want to crop just a part of the image to post here, then we can work on that. We do our best to tell you what we have done to achieve our results, so you should be able to then duplicate the technique yourself on the whole image.

Attaching files here also helps for future members reading this thread so that they can "see" what is being referred to in the discussion. (Linking to images on websites have a habit of disappearing after a while, leaving the thread a lot less useful than it would otherwise be.)

If you still want to send the image to Gary, then perhaps he can do both - post the full image to his site and post a cropped version here. (TIA Gary! )

Jeanie

[Diddle]

I e-mailed a copy of the scanned photo to Gary. Not sure if it will be posted here or at his website, or both.
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and help !!
Now, I'm anxious to see what can be done with it !!

Thanks again !!
Diddle

[gland]

Attached is a smaller version of the photo.

Here is the link to the big one.Large Photo

[CJ Swartz]

I'm sure there will be some better ones, but here's one version.

[CJ Swartz]

With a bit more time, my second try:

I used Image Calculations on the Red channel to multiply it and then pasted it above a dupe of the original layer with a Luminosity blend mode. Adjusted the opacity to taste and got rid of some of the color problems. I tried a number of Calculation variations on LAB and CMYK dupe copies with some limited success, but nothing better than this yet. Tried Selective Color, Color Balance, Levels and Curves, again with varying degrees of success -- nothing great. Decided to paint and select/copy to another layer and use Blending modes to bring out some of the detail of the party decorations (I guess those are balloons and strings of stars, etc.)

Diddle, you said that this photo is the only one that did NOT turn out well, so I hope this means that you and your daughter have some good photos of this adorable little cutie.

Hopefully, you'll get some other renditions here also.

Ken, going grayscale is certainly a good choice with this photo!

[Diddle]

So far, they are all great !! I can at least see their faces !! And, I didn't even realize that there were balloons in the background !! LOL
Yes, we do have lots of other photo's, but this one was more special because of it being one of Hailey (my daughter) and Justice, just the two of them (because Hailey was usually the one who was always taking the pictures). And it was taken just a couple of months before she died from injuries substained in a car accident, with her real mother. She was a very adorable and bright child and we miss her dearly......
Anyway, Thanks to everyone for their help (so far). I'm anxious to see more !!
Thanks,
Diddle

[jeaniesa]

Diddle, I have to say that this was an incredibly difficult photo to work with (at least for me). I tried to work with the color that was in the photo, but both the green and blue channels were just full of noise it seemed. I tried all sorts of channel replacements in all of the color modes (RGB, CMYK, Lab), but to no avail. So, I did as I usually do in these cases and used the one "good" channel (red), which made the image grayscale. Then ran that through Neat Image to get rid of some of the noise, brought it back into PS and used Katrin Eisman's fill-flash technique along with some further curves adjustments.

Once I had the B&W image where I wanted it, I worked on colorizing the image. I hope I got the hair coloring close to real-life - I was just guessing. After colorizing Hailey & Justice, I wasn't sure what colors should be in the background (plus it's late and I'm tired ), so I just made it sepia tone. I made Hailey's shirt pink because the photo appeared very monotone without it. (I'm guessing she was actually wearing white, but it's difficult to tell for sure.) It would be possible to colorize everything in the background, but I kind of like it the way it is now b/c I think it puts the focus on Hailey and Justice.

Anyway, I hope you like it. I think (hope!) I'm posting the full-size version. Let me know if you'd like me to e-mail you a higher JPEG quality version.

Jeanie

[Flora]

Hi Diddle and everybody!

...as for everybody , the colour was definitely the biggest problem for me as well .... so, after changing to CMYK, I worked on the Cyan Channel.
I enhanced it using practically everything I could: contrast, blur, sharpening ... etc., and, like Jeanie....

Once I had the B&W image where I wanted it...

I copied the original picture on top of it, blurred it, increased the Saturation and changed the blending to Color as to get back some of the original colour which turned out quite flat.

So... after selecting it, I blurred and slightly desaturated the background and then I lightly colorized Hailey and Justice to make them stand out more.

I created an Overlay Adjustment Layer and, using a soft brush, (either black or white), I selectively enhanced parts of the picture.

I slightly sharpened Hailey and Justice and made a soft Vignette as to fade the background even more and to give the image a softer look.

Unfortunately I worked on the small sized picture because yesterday ..... (I'll blame it on the gremlins... ...), I wasn't able to download the large sized one.

[Bill M]

Flora and Jeanie, truly remarkable work. Thanks for the tips.
Bill

[Flora]

Hi Bill!

...Thanks for your comment and Happy Easter!.....

[jeaniesa]

Thank you so much for your kind words Bill!

Flora, yours is beautiful as always. I'm amazed at how similar ours turned out - I must be learning some things from you!

I have one question though... What is an "Overlay Adjustment Layer"? Is that an adjustment layer in overlay blending mode? If so, what kind of adjustment layer?

Jeanie

[themanda]

I would just like to say how wonderful all of these image adjustments are. I took a quick swipe at it and came *nowhere* close to what you all got. Great work!

Jeaniesa and FLora, though...wow! Those are both truly awesome rescues of that photo!!!! I am just reeling with appreciation of what you can do.

And Diddle, I'm so sorry to hear of the loss your family has experienced. Children are a precious gift, no matter how they come into your life, and it hurts even more when they're taken so abruptly.

[Diddle]

I am totally amazed at your work !! Both of you did an outstanding job on this photo !! I just can't hardly believe how great they both look !! I can't imagine how much time was spent working on this photo. My daughter is going to be so pleased !! Jeanie, you were real close with the hair color. If I can figure out how to send a smaller photo (a good one), I will post one so that you all can see how close you were with details, hair color, etc.....

I am really grateful to all who have spent their time, working with the photo. You don't know how much this means to me.......
Diddle

[Flora]

Jeanie, Amanda, Diddle

Thank you so much for your kind words...and Jeanie...I 've learnt a lot from your constant beautiful work....

Jeanie

As for the 'Overlay Adjustment Layer', it is exactly what you described: an empty Adjustment Layer in Overlay blending Mode on which I selectively paint either black to darken or white to lighten parts of the image below....the intensity of the results are determined by the Opacity of the Brush or of the whole Layer.

A very Happy Easter for you all and your families.

[gland]

Overlay adjustment layer!! I learn something new every day.

These are some remarkable restorations. I'm afraid my attempt isn't worth posting.

[jeaniesa]

Flora, So is the Overlay Adjustment Layer like another way to do dodging and burning? I've been trying it out to see what it does (since this is a new technique for me) and it seems like it doesn't matter what kind of adjustment (levels, curves, color balance, etc.) it is, they all have the same "effect" when set to Overlay mode. The problem is, I can't quite tell what the effect is! It seems to darken and increase saturation over the entire photo - and painting with black on the layer mask removes any effect, while various shades of gray control the intensity of it. I can't find any "documentation" about this though, so aside from using it as another way to dodging and burning (actually, more like just burning), I'm not sure if I'm missing something. (Sorry, I'm an info junkie. )

Diddle, I'm so glad you liked the versions that Flora and I did! If you want to send me another photo with the correct colors, you can e-mail it to me. I prefer not to post my e-mail directly in a post because I've found it attracts spam. I tried to send you both a Private Message and e-mail, but it looks like you've got both of those features disabled here. So, you can send me an e-mail by clicking on the "profile" button beneath any of my posts and then clicking the link that says "Click here to email jeaniesa". You won't be able to attach a file to that message, but then I'll be able to send you an e-mail with my "real" address.

Jeanie

[Flora]

Gary

Thank you so much for your kind comment....and here is the correction to what I wrote on my previous post...

Jeanie

...so sorry to get you confused with my mistake.....

When I wrote Overlay Adjustment Layer or again ..empty Adjustment Layer, I should have left the word Adjustment completely out.... .... because what I use is a simple new empty Layer in Overlay blending mode ..... I find it works much better than Color 'Dodge or Burn' for the following reasons:

1) Being on their own Layer, all corrections can be erased or faded (changing Layer Opacity)...which can't be done with 'Burning or Dodging'

2) Working on an empty Layer the file size doesn't increase as much as having to work on duplicate Layers...

3) I don't use it only to darken or lighten (black or white brush), but also to increase or decrease colour depth or, sometimes, even to lightly colorize an otherwise flat part of the image, by sampling and using the sampled colour brush.

Since learning this technique, I very seldomly use either Color Dodge or Burn anymore since I found the usage of these Tools unsatisfactory and sometimes it leads to loss of precious details....

.....attached is an example.... hope size and compression let you notice the difference....

......from one "info junkie" to another ...

[gland]

Thanks for the explanation Flora....

[roger_ele]

Wonderful work!

I like yours better in terms of being pretty - but I thought I would throw mine in the pot for a diofferent take and technique.

I am thinking that if this had been photographed with grainy 35mm film on purpose it would be loved for artsy and feeling, so I made it b&w and kept the grain to the minimum with no grain removal roughly as follows;

Duplicated image, changed to LAB mode

returned to original image, created two new layers, to the first i used apply image to insert the LAB a channel, to the second the LAB b channel, set both layers to overlay mode, then i think it was to light and i used apply image on a new layer to insert the cumulative affect of the layers and set it to multiply (i played with it a couple of different ways). Then used the green layer from this to make the black & white.

Had fun, Roger

[jeaniesa]

I like it Roger - I think it still has a "soft" feel to it, which really works for this image. I definitely need to study "apply image" - I've seen it used a few times now and I think it's time for me to learn the technique!!

Flora, Thanks for the clarification. I've been using that method for dodging/burning for a while now - for all of the reasons you mention. You just confused me with the term "adjustment." Don't worry - you're forgiven!

Jeanie

[Diddle]

Roger,
I love this version also !! I'm sure my daughter will too, because so far, she LOVES all of them !! I will e-mail her your version as soon as I get finished with this post.
Thank you so much for working on it and I'm glad that you had fun doing it. You all have done an excellent job, I'm totally amazed at each person's work !! Everyone has their own style.....

Jeanie, my daughter loved your version, just the way it is, and doesn't want anything changed (hair color, etc.). She was very impressed with all of them and a little surprised that anything could have been done to improve the image as much as you all improved it.

Flora, she liked how you had the before and after, and just can't hardly believe how great it looked !!

She wanted me to "Thank" each and every one of you for helping us out with this and your time spent doing it. She was so excited and anxious to show her hubby (Justice's daddy). I know he will love them also !!

Thanks again to all and not to forget, Gary, for re-sizing and posting the image.

Diddle

[jeaniesa]

Diddle,

I'm so happy to hear that your daughter likes all of the different versions. It is always interesting to see how everyone works on a photo differently and often with different goals in mind for the end result - even though the same basic techniques are often applied.

Jeanie

[jerry]

Diddle,
I was very sorry to read about your loss..She is a beautiful little girl.

All of the restorations are really excellent..I have been doing photoart at this site for quite a while.. I took a try at your photo and came out with a stippled image..Its not great but I thought I would let you see it.

Flora..thanks for the really interesting tip for dodge and burn..You are so talented..

Jerry