Uneven color and fingerprints

[ChrisVas]

Hi,
I'm progressing with this image, however, now I'm dealing with these wierd orange fingerprints to the left of her head, the bottom of the print and to the right of Santa's head. Also, the color looks blotchy and uneven. I have attached a jpg with the original on the left and the progress that I have made on the right. How can I remove the fingerprint as well as even out the color of the photo. Should I remove all the color and recolor it myself?

Thanks for your further advice.

Chris

P.S. I hope that it is ok to continue this thread here ... or should I have started a new one since it is a different issue?

[Flora]

Hi Chris,

size and condition weren't the best for working on this picture...

I think you did a nice job in cleaning/brightening it but, in my opinion, the final result is both, a bit too 'smoothened' and a bit too sharpened...

I had a go at it ...

• Duplicated the Background Layer.
• Working on the Channels, I tried the Patch Tool on the problems of the individual Channels and an 'interchannel' select, copy and paste technique ... (YES! It worked ... ) .... This procedure removed the spots and the yellowish fingerprints.
• I run Neat Image (softer settings) to minimize the noise.
• I adjusted colour and contrast with a Selective Colors and a Curves Adjustment Layers.
• I created new empty Layers (Blending = Multiply, Color) painting on them with a fuzzy Black/Color(sampled from the image), to fix faded spots and correct the colour.
• I sharpened the image slightly.

Hope this helps...

[byRo]

...just to plug my little tutorial .......which can also be used to unblotch.
Hmm, maybe I'll change the name!
Unblotched, cloned, NeatImage, Levels.

[Janet Petty]

Ro, I really like your tutorial. What a great help to start fixing a photo.

I hope you don't mind, I took the pic you did and tweaked the colors a bit using hue/sat and painting over the masks as needed for each color. However, there is still significant color abberation on the bottom of her pant legs. The picture was much too small to do much with. But at least you can see what might be possible with the original.

Flora, yours is great as always. I keep learning from you all the time.

Good luck,
Janet

[ChrisVas]

You guys are incredible! I'm sorry that the picture was not big enough. I'll try the techniques recommended. For what it is worth, I'm attaching a better image above in my initial post as per Flora's great optimization instructions.

Thank you again and again!
Chris

[ChrisVas]

Flora,
I am a complete novice when it comes to channels. Would you mind providing a little more detail of the technique you mentioned?:

Working on the Channels, I tried the Patch Tool on the problems of the individual Channels and an 'interchannel' select, copy and paste technique ... (YES! It worked ... ) .... This procedure removed the spots and the yellowish fingerprints.

Thank you!
Chris

[Flora]

Hi everybody,

thanks for your feedback and sorry it took so long to reply .... (I've had Line/Connection problems).

I had worked on this picture before reading Roland's excellent Tutorial ... since then, I read and tried it on this same picture (and others) with great results!

But since I was asked to describe my work on the Channels, here it comes ....

The original came with yellowish fingerprints smears ... (Image 1) After checking the Channels I saw that the fingerprints damage was limited to the Blue Channel.
I duplicated the Red channel (Red Copy) (which was the 'closest' to the Blue), tweaked it with the levels to get it even closer to the Blue (darker), then did the following:

Important!!!
Always create and work on a duplicate of your Background Layer .... If your corrections result too strong or 'spill' over other areas, by tweaking Opacity and with the help of a Layer Mask, you can correct your initial correction until you are satisfied with the result.

• Duplicated the background Layer.
• Clicked on the Channels Tab and highlighted the Blue Channel. (Image 2)
• Loosely selected around the darker smears and feathered my selection. (Image 3)
• With the selection still active, I highlighted the Red Copy and pressed Ctrl+C to copy my selection. (image 4)
• Still keeping the selection active, I went back to the Blue Channel (highlighted it) and pressed Ctrl+V to paste my selection.
  TIP:when working on a single Channel, press the ~ key to view the corrections made directly on the composite image.
• Following the above TIP, I checked the composite view and used the Levels on my selection to blend it better with the rest of the image. (Image 5)

This method works best if the damage is limited to one channel.
Hope this helps...

[albatrosss]

Flora,

There are some very, very talented individuals using RetouchPRO and I certainly draw whatever I can from all of then. You certainly are in that category PLUS you have a great knack for explaining things so clearly that I would place you at the very top. I wish that everyone had your ability to explain procedures so clearly.

This is certainly not the first time, nor do I think that it will be the last time, that you have helped me to understand a certain concept.

Thank you once again and please keep on writing.

[Flora]

Originally Posted by albatrosss

Flora,

There are some very, very talented individuals using RetouchPRO and I certainly draw whatever I can from all of then. You certainly are in that category PLUS you have a great knack for explaining things so clearly that I would place you at the very top. I wish that everyone had your ability to explain procedures so clearly.

This is certainly not the first time, nor do I think that it will be the last time, that you have helped me to understand a certain concept.

Thank you once again and please keep on writing.

...Thank you so much for your words albatross!!!! I really appreciate your comment...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!