Restoring chemical damage on photo

[Gerald McClaren]

This is an original of my niece, consequently, some chemical was spilled on the right-side of her face. I would like to know what's the best way to restore this photo.


Gerald Sr.

[Kraellin]

hi gerald,

for reconstructions like this you have basically two options. you can clone in from surrounding areas and guess at what her face really looks like, or you can use info from another photo and clone that in. there are variations of all that, but it's basically guess what it shld be or borrow data from another source. and that's about it.

craig

[WhidbeyPix]

Well, I decided to try to see what I can do with this and here's what I came up with. It's not finished, but most of her face is reconstructed. The nose could still use some more work, and I didn't mess much with the rest of it.
Basically I cut pieces from the good side, flipped them horizontally, rotated them to match and did a little to blend them in.
She's such a beautiful kid.

[Swampy]

Excellent WP!

[Cameraken]

Hi WhidbeyPix. Welcome to RetouchPro.


Hi Gerald.

I did the same as WhidbeyPix. And copied the right side to the left. That just left the nose to paint in. I am not too good at painting but this seemed to work OK.

I used a tiny amount of liquify on the mouth to avoid that symmetrical look.
Cloned/Healed and painted over the other spots
Added a layer set to Multiply before adjusting levels
Added a little blue and noise to the background.
Neat Image
Sharpened.

Ken

[Gerald McClaren]

Whidbeypix the job on the upper and lower lip were really great. Did you follow the same procedures on the lower lip also? Did you use the transform method or what? The upper and lower lips came out exactly as it should. Also, Cameraken, the color and subsequent clean up came out fantastic. Cameraken how did you clone the left and rightside of her face without making it look flat. I tried it and it came out flat, however, it did not have that contour. Gentlemen, you guys had done a hell of a job on this picture. Thanks very much.

Gerald McClaren

[Flora]

Hi everybody,

Gerald,

... I couldn't resist working on your picture ....

Originally Posted by WhidbeyPix

...She's such a beautiful kid...

I also used the : select, copy, paste, flip and warp/transform routine ... if you work with PS CS2 the 'Warp' Tool is an incredibly useful option in these cases ...

I used Selective Colors and Levels to adjust the colours, Brightness/Contrast for the contrast, Curves to add consistency on the hair at the top of her head and USM for sharpening.

Finally, I used Filter>Distort>Diffuse Glow to soften and brighten up the very light parts of the picture and make your niece's lovely face stand out more ...

WhidbeyPix

Welcome to RP!

Great job with her lips!

Ken,

Great job!! ... Just two small things ... the base and lighting make her nose look a bit askew ...

[Gerald McClaren]

Flora, all I can say was wow! when I saw the job you had done on my niece picture, that was really professional stuff. The job that the others had done were great, but yours is really, really, amazing. The colors, the smoothness of the skin etc. Now, how did you made the skin so smooth? My reason, as a person with not too much experience in photoshop, I'm always having problem with using the clone stamp on the facial area. The area always comes out flat, and I can see marks from the clone tool on the area. I tend to lose contour of the face all the time. Is the clone stamp too hard or what?
Best restoration I've seen on a damage photo like this so far. I know I've got a lot to learn technique wise in restoring photos. You had really done a fantastic job on this photo, it was topnotch. Thanks for your time and effort.

Gerald McClaren

[Gerald McClaren]

This is the problem I'm talking about when I'm using the Clone Tool. The area of the face comes out very flat. There are marks or indentation from the Clone Tool. Can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong. Thanks.


Gerald McClaren

[WhidbeyPix]

that's why I cut and flip pieces as much as possible and then use tools like smuge and delete (set on very low opacity) to blend the pieces in).
in this case, it helps a LOT if you cut out the lip, nose and cheek areas separatelly, flip them and paste them in one at a time, it allows you to rotate them into proper position. I tried doing it with the whole right side and the "puzzle" just doesn't fit together right because the different parts need to be rotated at different angles.
Also, when I use clone, I've developed a technique where I basically work my way into an area from all sides by cloning from a place very close (to the outside) of the area being filled.
For smoothing out the face, don't underestimate the power of the smudge tool used with a fairly large brush set to medium opacity.

Btw, I still use PS 6.0 (I'm broke so I gotta use what I have).

question for PS 6.0 users, is there a way to rotate only one layer? because I couldn't figure it out so I've been copying a layer into a separate file and then rotating it and pasting it back in.

[Gerald McClaren]

I had some problem with this photo. First, when I tried to remove the reddish cast with the level and I used the black, gray, and white eyedropper, the nose and mouth turned black. Second, I cannot get the nose and lips the same or similar color of the face. I had tried copied the color from part of the face with the brush and paint the color on nose and lips they both look terrible. Third, the hair has this reddish coating and I cannot remove it even using the to give the hair a black color. Between the face and the hair, you can see the peeling and lifting of the edges. I need some help with this one.

Gerald McClaren

[WhidbeyPix]

it looks to me like you're tyring to paint right on the same layer. Have you tried creating separate empty layers for say the hair, the lips, the face... etc and painting the colors on those layers. Then set the layer blending mode to Color.

[WhidbeyPix]

I just figured it out and it's awesome. exactly what you need.
just think about it this way.
Say we want to deal with the hair (deal with one thing at a time).
duplicate your layer that has all the fixes.
make adjustments to color to make sure the one thing you care about (hair) looks exactly the way you want it. Ignore the other parts of the photo.
Hold down alt while clicking the layer mask button (it's a rectangle with a circle in it in the bottom of the layers window). This turns the layer into a layer mask.
now click on the black square next to the photo for that layer (the mask)
use a brush set to half opacity and the white color and paint over the hair. It will reveal the changes you applied to the image only for that area.
Now you can repeat for the other parts of the photo.

[Flora]

Hi everybody,

Gerald,

Thank you so much for your kindness!!

I agree with WhidbeyPix

it looks to me like you're tyring to paint right on the same layer. Have you tried creating separate empty layers for say the hair, the lips, the face... etc

... You could have a look at this Tutorial I wrote about the 'empty Layers' technique and my 'Skin smoothing' technique ....

WhidbeyPix,

Originally Posted by WhidbeyPix

I just figured it out and it's awesome.

.... seems to me you have just discovered the power of Layer Masks!!!! If you want to know more about them, here is a 'beginners' Tutorial on them, and here is a more advanced one ....

Have fun....