Need help with weird marks

[TaylorOK]

I'm new to this forum and also to restoring old photos...so here goes. My first attempt is this picture of my mother with her cat. I think I'm doing OK with the scratches and tears. I might get brave and send that later.
Here's the problem....When I first looked at the photo, I asked her if it was a real cat because the face looks so strange. (It is real.) After I scanned photo and zoomed in (using PSP 9), the cat's face looks like it has features drawn on. (weird gray colored marks) There are also some similar marks on the girl's face around eyes, nose and mouth. Just wondering if anyone has any ideas about what caused this and how to correct. I'm sending the original before I starting retouching.
Looking forward to learning from you all...
Thanks,
Taylor

[Caitlin]

Taylor, your original photo hasn't made it through on your post - can you edit your post and reattach it?

[TaylorOK]

I tried editing my message - I uploaded the photo and it shows up below the message, I saved changes, but it doesn't show up in the forum. Don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Taylor

[sdubose99]

It appears to me that someone drew the face on at some point due to the cat being all white...

Scott

[Caitlin]

Yes -you're the victim of an amateur photo retoucher!! I had a photo myself recently where this had happened, but it wasn't as drastic as this. All I can think of is if you found a photo of another white cat and tried to copy more realistic features from there.

[Caitlin]

I don't think the cat had a face at all! I think what you can see in the photo is the back of its head!!

[barry_uk]

LOL Caitlin fancy removing the face hehe. This is my quick attempt at trying to recolour image, I am sure it can be better if time was taken on it. Just wanted show you its possable. Play around with the tone now I think will sort it better.

Regards Barry

[TaylorOK]

Caitlin, I think you may be right. The position of the cat's body and legs makes more sense if that is the back of the head!

Barry, I would love to see what you have done. I"m still trying to figure out how to get images to show up. The only one on this thread that I can see is the one Caitlin sent (and only sporadically) -- not yours or mine.

Thanks to both of you for your help. What a great forum!
Taylor

[nebgranny]

Hi Barry:
You really like to colorize don't you? And looks like you are getting better at it all the time. Do you or anyone know of a color code to use for skintones? I would like to try to do a color. Thanks Blessings Neb

[nebgranny]

Opps, please forgive me Taylor for not saying welcome and hello. So nice to have you here. You will find a lot of nice folk here whom will help. So you use PSP9? Do you like it? I still use 8 and like it alot. So many people told me not to upgrade as 9 has a lot of bugs? But my friend did a retouch of a photo with it the other day with a one step function in 9 and it was very good. Well take care. Blessings Neb

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Neb, if you look in the Resources section here at RP, you'll find a couple of charts containing skin and hair colours. They're by Bruce Beard, and they're used by many here when doing skin colourisations. As you are using PSP, I'll just add that they will work on both PS and PSP, as a matter of fact Bruce originally developed them for PSP.

PS. They're in the Miscellaneous section.

[TaylorOK]

Barry - finally got my settings so I can see pictures. Thanks for the recolour. I'm still working on getting all the scratches removed. Obviously I"m really slow at this.
Taylor

[TaylorOK]

Hi Neb - Thanks for the welcome. I just started using PSP 9 - no problems so far. Hope upgrading wasn't a mistake. I know so little about what I'm doing maybe it won't matter....
Looking forward to learning lots here.
Taylor

[nebgranny]

Thanks Gary:
I will check that out. I still get lost around here. As a matter of fact I am trying to find a picture I was trying to practice on from one of the forums. And do you think I can ..no..hope to find my way soon !! Blessings NEB

[Sean2]

Hello Taylor,

OOOOPPPPPS !!!!

Sean:=)

[barry_uk]

Ok now who said the cats face was not clear! Amazing what psp can do with a little practice LOL I know its not that clever but still it does have a face.

[Caitlin]

Originally Posted by barry_uk

Ok now who said the cats face was not clear! Amazing what psp can do with a little practice LOL I know its not that clever but still it does have a face.

*lol* very cute. (And quite successful!)

[TaylorOK]

Sean,
Where did your picture go? Didn't have a chance to thank you yet. I don't really think that is part of the dress -- looks like the cat's leg to me. I love the pink dress, though. I think I'll use that in a color version.
Thanks,
Taylor

[TaylorOK]

Barry - I thinks it's quite clever.....and cute. I can't believe how fast you all are. Hopefully I will be some day.
Taylor

[Sean2]

Hello Taylor,

It looks like I misinterpreted the desaturated photo. The cat is more visible in the yellowish original. The cat appeared to be reclining in her lap, with her left hand holding the hind legs in a dress fold and the right cradling the cat on its back, with the head, ears and whiskers present on her left side near her knee - at least in the grey version.

The facial characteristics in the "original" obviously don't coincide with that interpretation, and the "resulting ribbon" didn't look quite right.

It did give me a chance to practice colorization with the worth 1000 tutorial though.

Thanks for uploading the pic.

Sean

[TaylorOK]

Hi, Sean -- Where's the tutorial you used? I need to learn all I can.
Thanks,
Taylor

[Sean2]

Hello Taylor,

Happy to help out where I can. This is one that Flora and others seem to enjoy and I am learning how to do it myself. The difficulty arises with the edging effect and trying to cover all exposed B/W markings:

Worth1000 colorization

Sean

ps

Hope I managed to make the proper link

[TaylorOK]

Thanks, Sean. The link worked fine. Can't wait to get started.....Taylor

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Taylor, just had a quick play with your photo. As per others here, I pasted a cats head over the original, then did a quick colour job, hoping to keep the feel of the original.

[TaylorOK]

Hi, Gary - I'll be glad when I can use the word quick related to photos....so far, not in my vocabulary. Thanks for the picture - it looks great!

I can't believe how helpful and friendly this forum is. I've been in forums before (not photo related) where there were sometimes no responses to questions. Thanks to all for making me feel so welcome.
Taylor

[grafx]

I agree that the head is turned facing the girl, but I went ahead and replaced it for a forward facing head. My version of the excorsist cat

Edited post and added colorized version. You guys made it look like too much fun!

[barry_uk]

I had another quick go at colour great fun this. Lovely photo to work with.

Regards Barry

[Caitlin]

There have been some great 'exorcist cat' head replacements going on around here! *lol* But I think you will have to consult with your mother on what she wants done. As it was her cat it's as risky as replacing grandads head with some other old gentleman! Of course if she doesn't remember what the cat looked like you can do whatever you like!

It's really quite an interesting example of the philosophy one must use in restoration - a true restoration would see the cats face removed. But if your mother has grown up with that face drawn on and believing it is true she may want it kept (or substituted with something a bit more lifelike!!)

[TaylorOK]

Thanks to Grafx for your great cat 'addition'. Looks so real! And thanks again to Barry. Can't wait to show these to my mother.

Caitlin, you bring up some good thoughts. I had already decided to ask my mother how she would like the cat to look. I was initially thinking to restore the picture as close as possible to original (without the drawn on cat features). Hadn't thought about the idea that she may remember seeing the altered picture more than way the actual cat looked. It's nice to be able to give her a choice.

When I see how fast you all turn out these results, I think maybe I'm really missing something. I've worked on the larger version of this for a long time, and it's still not where I want it. Is there a tutorial (with really basic steps) on restoring that you would recommend? I have many, many pictures to restore and if I take this long on them all.... Of course, this may also be a beginner's impatience to be better (and faster). At any rate, it's great fun - especially finding people to share this with!

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Taylor,

Speed just comes with practice, like everything else. We all started where you are now. Don't get hung up about doing a job within a set time, some jobs just take time to get the results you want. Most important is that you enjoy what you're doing.

In terms of learning, I highly recommend Katrin Eismann's book "Photoshop Restoration & Retouching" (as will many others here at RP).

Apart from that, browse round the many tips and tutorials here. There's a real treasure trove of information on this site. If you have any questions on anything you find, just post it. I'm absolutely sure that someone here will be able to help you.

Good luck with your restoring.