smooth cracked photo

[dasailr03]

Hello. Any ideas on how to best to:

1. smooth and/or enhance: face, eyes, lips, necklaces).
2. Replace background (same colors but without the debri)
3. Give the pic a more sharper focused (worthy of printing at 8x10)
4. Color, B&W and or sepia touches.

Unfortunately the picture is old and aged the the peeling/crack is embedded in the paper. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.



http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-...46/image1a.jpg

[maureeno]

I don't know how to do it, but a bunch of people here do! So just wait, someone will answer you.

Maureen

[philbach]

Well I felt is was best to replace the background. I selected her from the background and copied her to a new layer. Underneath her I applied the fake one.

To her face I used various repairs; Healing brush, Neat Image, G blur and surface blur. What seemed to help most out of this was to copy her face and use surface blur. Then a black mask to that copied layer and then paint in the areas that needed blurring.

Lastly I copied her face again and used smart sharpening and again a black layer mask to selectively sharpen the eyes.

[RokcetScientist]

On my screen that looks fantastic, phil! Great work. Oprah's prom photo...
Will it look as gorgeous on a 8"x10"?

[Peter S]

Similar to Phils methods but I kept the background and cleaned it up.
Lots of cloning, healing, noise reduction, local blurring and finally levels.

Nice pic Phil

[olehippy13]

Hey, I just wanted to let yawl know that your work is fantastic.

I'm amazed .

Excellent.


oh and ah...
keep smilin,

[Daviskw]

Same as above but I messed up on the skin color I think. I have a picture of a good friend I used her skin tones... Just an experiment but of course the tone was on its own layer and can or could be changed at any time.

Butch

[philbach]

Well it could. But in my case I didn't spend a whole lot of time on it and I used the Save for Web Feature in photoshop to upload the downsized photo.

Lots of nice restorations posted and several different ways to get to the final product.

[dasailr03]

THANS EVERYONE FOR ALL THE GREAT WORK POSTED. I REALLY APPRECIATED!!!

perhaps because i still consider myself a newbie i should have reprashed the question.

I was looking for a bit more of a step by step procedure so i could practice and understand the approach a bit more.

thanks again! everyone for their input.


PHILBACH: i LOVE WHAT YOU DID WITH THE BACKGROUND. CAN YOU GIVE ME A STEP BY STEP ON WHAT YOU'VE DONE.

[Flora]

Great jobs!!!

I had a go ....

Attachment 1 the simple restoration (I also changed the background)

Attachment 2 a B&W and a B&W with a hint of Sepia on the lady's skin ...

dasailr03,
I'm in a hurry right now, but, if you are interested, I could post the description of what I did later ...

[philbach]

Well after selecting the lady I copied her to a new layer
I then added a new blank layer below the copied lady

I sampled the background color and then filled the blank layer with that color

I tried to replicate the difference in luminosity by using a curves adjustment layer to darken the background color in the upper right hand corner of the background layer.
I used a gradient black to white to the layer mask to apply the darkening to the upper right hand corner.

I added some noise to the background.

[dasailr03]

anyone care to share their ideas on how ya smooth out the skin. I tried to do a combo of both blurring. etc. but still see some splotching.. etch...i like what philback & nora has done...please share. thanks...

[dasailr03]

thanks flora.. u r wonderful. Please check your pm. how did you get the skin smooth out. i've used PHILBACH (THANKS you philbach) technique to reduce the imperfection but im curious as how did you smooth out the skin tone... please share.

[

QUOTE=Flora]Great jobs!!!

I had a go ....

Attachment 1 the simple restoration (I also changed the background)

Attachment 2 a B&W and a B&W with a hint of Sepia on the lady's skin ...

dasailr03,
I'm in a hurry right now, but, if you are interested, I could post the description of what I did later ...[/QUOTE]

[Flora]

Hi,

dasailr03,

sorry, sorry, sorry for getting back to you so late!!!

Ok, here is what I did with your picture ...

Skin Smoothing:

1) duplicated the background and run Neat Image (just to minimize the kind of pattern on the whole picture) on the duplicate.

2) duplicated the Neat Image Layer and run Dust&Scratches on it, added a black Layer Mask to this Layer and with a soft white brush I painted over the most distracting spots and scratches to remove them.

3) Merged Visible (*) and used the Patch Tool on the merged Layer to remove the 'bigger' scratches and spots.

4) Duplicated the Merged Layer and run Gaussian Blur on it to smoothen the Skin on it... This procedure had also smoothened parts I wanted to keep sharp, so, I added a black Layer Mask to this Layer and with a soft white brush (changing its Opacity as necessary), I painted over the skin leaving out eyes, mouth/teeth and nose.

Adding Noise

To make the smoothed skin look a bit more realistic and blend better in with the rest of the picture, I added some noise to it in the following way:

* Keeping the Alt key pressed, I clicked on the 'Create a new Layer' button at the bottom of my Layers' Palette.

* In the dialog box I typed Noise in the Name space

* Clicked on the 'Use Previous Layer to Create a Clipping Mask (*)' option.

* Selected Overlay in the Mode space

* checked the 'Fill with Overlay-neutral Color' option.

* Clicked OK.

* Working on the Overlay Layer I went to Filter>Noise>Add Noise (1.55% , Uniform, Monochromatic)

After this, as you can see in the .PSD file,

I changed the background,

cleaned the image and removed blotches with the help of 'my' Blank/Empty Layers set to...' found in this Tutorial,

Used Levels and Brightness/Contrast to improve the contrast,

Used Channel Mixer to change to B&W

Used Hue/Saturation for the Light hint of Sepia on the skin.

(*) Merge Visible:

Keeping the Alt key pressed, open your Layers Palette's Menu and, click on 'Merge Visible'.

A new Layer containing all your corrections will be created on top of all the other Layers ....

This procedure enables you to carry on with your restoration from your advanced point... without losing any of the previous steps/Layers... thus giving you the possibility to retrace your steps and making changes wherever necessary.... even after you've 'finished' the job....

(*) Clipping Mask:

A clipping Mask limits the effects of the corrections (top Layer) to the Layer directly below. The overlying layer displays a clipping mask icon.
A clipping Mask can also be created by keeping the Alt key pressed while clicking on the line dividing two layers, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+G

Hope this helps.

P.S. Thank you so much for your kindness!!

[Daviskw]

Hi Flora

Can you answer a question for me?

I often like you add noise to a photo that I have over-smoothed or otherwise need texture. Like you again I add a 50% gray layer add noise as in your example 1.5 % then change to overlay.

May I ask why can’t noise be added directly to a photo? Why must or should it be applied to a gray layer?

I am guessing that the noise gets its color from the gray layer, or is that the case. Gray layers are added for many procedures and although I know when I do not understand why they are needed.

Hope you can explain…Butch

[Swampy]

I felt her skin tone needed a little more red. Also whitened eyes, pearls, teeth. added a touch of lipstick color to her lips, changed background and a soft shadow to lift her "off the page" a little.

I really didn't spend much time on healing some of the blotches in the neck and chest area. I've got house guests and they were watching over my shoulder so I didn't have much time or I'd bore them to death doing "all the detail" stuff. LOL

[Flora]

Hi Butch!

Originally Posted by Daviskw

May I ask why can’t noise be added directly to a photo?

By adding noise to an indipendent Layer, you have much more flexibility .... you can 'correct' it ... meaning ... you can very lightly blur the noise layer if it results a bit to harsh or you can decrease the 'noise' Layer's Opacity if it's too strong ... If you add it directly to the image... that's it ...either you like it, or you have to delete the whole Layer ....

I know, you could always duplicate the 'full' Layer, add noise to it and still lightly blur it or decrease its Opacity, but this would effect the sharpness and contrast of the whole image ... and each 'full' Layer added increases the file size considerably ... a monochromatic Layer is much 'lighter' on the final file size...

Originally Posted by Daviskw

Why must or should it be applied to a gray layer?

Since the Noise Layer's Blending is Overlay, filling it with its Overlay-neutral Color (50% grey) doesn't have any impact on contrast and Saturation of the underlying image Layer... you can't add any noise to an empty/transparent Layer!

Originally Posted by Daviskw

I am guessing that the noise gets its color from the gray layer, or is that the case.

When adding noise, I always check the Monochromatic option which applies the filter only to the tonal elements in the image without changing the colors. So, on a grey Layer (Blending=normal) noise would consist of lighter and darker grey. but I use the Overlay Mode and the Overlay Mode:

"Multiplies or screens the colors, depending on the base color. Patterns or colors overlay the existing pixels while preserving the highlights and shadows of the base color. The base color is not replaced but is mixed with the blend color to reflect the lightness or darkness of the original color."

... and that's where the noise takes its 'colour'...

Originally Posted by Daviskw

Gray layers are added for many procedures and although I know when I do not understand why they are needed.

Like Black and White, 50% grey is used as 'neutral colour for many correction/enhancement Layers : Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light etc. ... The advantages of a monochromatic, indipendent Layer for your corrections/enhancements are those I explained before: flexibility and final file size ...I used them a lot at the beginning, but, beside for the noise (impossible to add to an empty Layer), I eliminated the monochromatic correction Layers and started using 'Blank Layers' instead... they are just as flexible and even 'lighter' on the final file size!! I talked about this in this Tutorial in the Blank/Empty Layers set to ... section.

[Flora]

Swampy,

I like the blue background and the warmer skin tone ...

Originally Posted by Swampy

I've got house guests and they were watching over my shoulder so I didn't have much time or I'd bore them to death doing "all the detail" stuff. LOL

...As long as you talk about the transformations, the retouching, the changing of this and that, or the wrinkles removal ... they all look at you with great interest and fascination and tell you they'd love to watch while you are performing your 'magic'... but when you get down to the 'nitty gritty' ... you can physically feel their boredom .... been there.. done that!!!

[Luchia]

Hello every one I am new in this forum.
Here is what I’ve created.
I am really interested how Flora made such a shiny eyes?

[Flora]

Hi Luchia,

welcome to RP!!

.... and so sorry I'd missed your post entirely ...

Nice job! ... Just a bit 'unclean' around the selection's edges ...

Originally Posted by Luchia

I am really interested how Flora made such a shiny eyes?

.. I usually enhance or create the 'catchlights' in this way:

* I create a new blank Layer and with a soft white brush (Opacity 20-30%) I carefully paint the catchlights being very careful of their right position...

* If necessary, I blur the catchlights layer a bit and/or decrease it Opacity...

Hope this helps...