Sun Damage

[mashny]

Hi:

I'm trying to repair the attached picture of my sister (taken about 33 years ago). My parents had it in a frame with a circular matting for many years. As you can see, the sun bleached the exposed circular area, and seemed to take an especially heavy toll on the reds and magentas. After masking the circle, using a gaussian blur to smooth the transition, I tried to match the sun-exposed area to the rest of the picture. I played with HSB, selective color, color balance, and curves for a while, but didn't like any of the results. I also tried to match the RGB values of the curtain inside the circle to those outside the circle (trying for a more mathematical approach), but this didn't give satisfactory results either. I realize the picture has other problems, but it's the sun damage that is giving me the most trouble. Much as I love my sister, I'm getting tired of looking at this picture of her...

I'd appreciate any help you can offer.

mashny

[chrishoggy]

Deleted and leaving this forum due to the actions of member rondon

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Mashny, First I duplicated the Image, and set blend mode to Multiply to increase image density, adjusted opacity of 2nd layer.

Adjusted individual channels using levels to correct colour.

Selected central area, and adjusted hue/sat and colour balance to blend with rest of Image.

Cloned across "join" to hide it.

Like Chris, did'nt have time to clone out all the cracks.

[mashny]

Just wanted to say thanks for both responses. I'm not sure why I had so much trouble with this image, since I've repaired photos in worse shape than this one.

Thanks again.

mashny

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Mashny, sometimes one just throws you a curve.