Image Help - - Calling for Help!

jonk · #1 02-26-2005, 08:31 AM

Hi Gang,

This one is really giving me some troubles. The subject is outside with cast shadows from the trees. The spots on the photo are also giving me some troubles. I would appreciate any help and/or suggestions that you might have.

Jon

philbach · #2 02-27-2005, 09:45 AM

Well I don't know if this can really be restored. Perhaps an artist could come up with something. I tried a bunch of things like levels, curves, overlay blend modes etc. Various blur filters in lighten and or darken modes. Finally just painted some of the areas. The variable lighting from the trees did add some excitement to this challanging restoration.

jonk · #3 02-27-2005, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by philbach

Well I don't know if this can really be restored. Perhaps an artist could come up with something. I tried a bunch of things like levels, curves, overlay blend modes etc. Various blur filters in lighten and or darken modes. Finally just painted some of the areas. The variable lighting from the trees did add some excitement to this challanging restoration.

Hi Phil - Thanks for the reply. I am having the same problems. I frist thought that this would not be that bad until I got started on it. Let's see what others might come up with, but I do like what you did thus far, I had to do the same.

Thanks Again!
Jon

chrishoggy · #4 02-27-2005, 11:00 AM

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

Flora · #5 02-28-2005, 01:49 AM

Hi,

Jon,

I have to agree with Phil about "if this can really be restored"
It's one of those picture you could work on for hours and never be satisfied with the result ....

Like Phil, I tried a bit of everything (concentrating mainly on the lady's face) but I'm far from satisfied .... I'm posting it anyway and, if you'd like details of what I tried just let me know...

philbach · #6 02-28-2005, 04:59 AM

Very nice. I think cropping was an excellent idea. The facial details are accurate to what the original was I believe. Her hands were tough to restore as where the margins of the lower part of the dress to the background.

Juliana Ross · #7 02-28-2005, 08:38 AM

Hi Jonk,

sorry this is crude but I usually visit Retouch pro while at work....and all I have on this workstation is paint. Feels like trying to spot with a two by four....anyway.... I mocked up some reference points for you, hopefully they will help you a little.

A couple of things that mess with ones perception.
The lady has the double chin thing going on, which makes it difficult to determine where the jawline lands.
Also there is a corner behind her, see the different perspective in the boards, I'd mask that off while I was working as I would find it distracting (but that is just me. I drew out the corner on the image.

There is an object sitting on the ground behind her on the left side of the pic, who knows what that is.
The dress should fall straight down from the hips given the style of it, you can see the building behind her through the gaps between her arms and her body. I drew up where her waist is for you.
If you are brave enough to try and mock up the folds in the dress by airbrushing, hit the library and grab the "10,000 years of fashion" book (it is really helpful when you just can't quite make out a line or detail on clothing)

jonk · #8 02-28-2005, 07:19 PM

Hi Gang!

Thanks for the tips everyone!

Well, I rolled up my sleeves and began working away on this one. I'll post it when I complete it. The very first thing I had to do was rebuild the Green and the Red channels by using the "Apply Image" method. This did seem to help but now I am working with the healing and clone brush to restore as much as possible before rebuilding the face and hands. It's a good thing that I am a portrait artist; I think my knowledge of structure is really going to pay off here.

I post it soon - Thanks Again!

Jon

Flora · #9 03-01-2005, 12:17 AM

Phil, Jon,

thank you for a great feedback!

Jon,

after reading you'd like to start by tackling the Channels, here is a small tip:

don't limit yourself to the RGB mode ..... attached is the CMYK yellow Channel which I tweaked with the Levels. I found a lot of information there and had used it on my restoration to tackle the points raised by Juliana:

1* clearer definition of the lady's jawline and body contour (dress).
2* clearer definition of house boundaries and window behind the subject.
3* clearer definition of the darker area (near bottom left, behind the subject) which, looking where the light is coming from (top, 'my' right through the branches), I took to be the subject's shadow on the house wall.

Hope this helps.

Juliana Ross · #10 03-01-2005, 07:31 AM

I like that Flora

You can pick up almost all of the detail in her face now.

I'll have to try that (CMYK) with the next couple of projects I have to do

Thanks for the tip

Juliana Ross · #11 03-01-2005, 08:06 AM

I like that Flora

You can pick up almost all of the detail in her face now.

I'll have to try that (CMYK) with the next couple of projects I have to do

Thanks for the tip

venivedi · #12 03-01-2005, 11:11 AM

Thanks for the tip, Flora. Small but great tip which sometimes I forget about.

Flora · #13 03-02-2005, 08:58 AM

Juliana, Venivedi,

Thanks for your kind feedback .... so glad you found the tip useful!!!!

jonk · #14 03-13-2005, 11:07 AM

Hi Everyone!

WOW! This was the hardest restoration that I EVER had. I did not think it was going to be so hard at first. I first want to THANK EVERYONE for your help and suggestions, it was a big help.

Although I will continue to do so more fine tuning/adjustments on the photo, I thought that I would post my progress thus far for you to see.

So what do you think?

Thanks Again All!
Jon

Juliana Ross · #15 03-14-2005, 12:17 PM

Drop a shadow into her left arm in the inside of the elbow area. It is there on the original, just really faint.
Also you may want to wrap the shadow on that arm a little more (darker at the furthest edge/closest to the body, fading as you come out towards the middle of the arm.
I think that would help that arm look more natural, it looks a bit "plastic" compared to the other one.

Are you going for more of a painted look rather than photographic?
I don't want to critique something you were actually trying for