Photo Restoration - - Is this photo black and white or color?

Gerald McClaren · #1 02-20-2007, 01:06 PM

I would like to know if this photo is a black and white or color, and what is the original color of the background.

Gerald

philbach · #2 02-20-2007, 01:42 PM

Err good question, Gerald. I think its color since at the very top of the scanned image where the photo may have been a frame edge it appears that some of the color has been preserved. It looks like a door with a brown color.

irshgrlkc · #3 02-20-2007, 05:24 PM

Wow what a touch picture. To be honest I am leaning towards black & white despite what I did with LAB (levels adjustment in LAB mode, back to RGB and played with variations). Although there is color at the top and bottom edges it seems to just be a green tint of B&W. Dunno, am not a pro so I'm probably wrong.

CJ Swartz · #4 02-20-2007, 06:21 PM

Gerald, I guess I'll vote that it was color -- as Philbach said, there is a line of color at the edges, and a Levels adjustment seems to show skintones.

I tried to adjust colors, then ran it thru Polaroid's Dust/Scratch to reduce the spotting and Noiseware to smooth out the artifacts. She's sure a cutie --worth the effort it will take, I'm sure.

Gerald McClaren · #5 02-20-2007, 09:34 PM

Thanks Philbach, irshgrlkc(awesome black and white, what method did you use to get this type of black and white photo? color looks good too. CJ Swartz, thanks. I'll stick with the color and see how it comes out. I thank everyone for their input.

Gerald

klassylady25 · #6 02-20-2007, 11:17 PM

This is what I think she may have looked like. I could pick out the pink in the dress and the little white socks. The background was iffy at best but I left that old time green with a little brown stool.

She did come alive and I thank you for sharing her.

Gerald McClaren · #7 02-20-2007, 11:38 PM

Hi! klassylady, good work, but how did you bring out the pinkish color out of the dress. Thanks for your help.

Gerald

irshgrlkc · #8 02-21-2007, 02:13 AM

For my B&W version I did a levels adjustment layer to fix the contrast. Then I added a channel mixer layer set to monochrome, and primarily used the green and blue channels as the red seemed a bit washed out. Added a blank layer to do some quick healing brush and clone brush. Next I ran the whole thing through Neat Image on the default settings. Finally I went to Edit > Fade Neat Image and adjusted the slider to 80%

chillin · #9 02-21-2007, 04:47 AM

It is a color picture. Needs a lot of work with levels.

zganie · #10 02-21-2007, 06:31 AM

this photo is black & white maybe the color at top is from scanner,but i believe its a b&w photo

zganie

klassylady25 · #11 02-21-2007, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gerald McClaren

Hi! klassylady, good work, but how did you bring out the pinkish color out of the dress. Thanks for your help.

Gerald

I was able to see it when I used the threshold levels. It was faint but there none the less. After that I created a color level and used the color that I was able to pick out to recolor the dress.

chillin · #12 02-21-2007, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zganie

this photo is black & white maybe the color at top is from scanner,but i believe its a b&w photo

zganie

Maybe you're right.

Kraellin · #13 02-21-2007, 02:54 PM

i believe this question was answered in this thread: http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/pho...ighlight=flora so, i'm a little uncertain why we're seeing this again.

Gerald McClaren · #14 02-22-2007, 02:02 AM

Hi! Kreaellin, it was posted a long time ago. I had asked about removing the color cast because I wasn't too sure if it was a black and white or color. I had put it aside for a while because I didn't like the way it came out. I decided to take some time and redo the whole picture since I had learned a lot about layers and color correction etc.

Gerald

kiska · #15 02-22-2007, 03:14 AM

My vote is for BW. I don't think a color pic would 'shift' that evenly....may be wromg, tho.