Suggestions to improve this image

[Kraellin]

here's what i did:

duplicate background.

correct lighting with contrast/brightness adjustment layer.

copy merged layers and paste to new layer.

on this layer i made an 'edit selection' and masked out the eyes, nostrils, lips, ears and sweater. i changed this into a selection and inverted it.

on the inverted selection i ran the 'light' setting of polaroid's dust and scratch remover.

i inverted the selection back andi did another 'edit selection' on this and included the jacket as part of the mask. changed this all back to a selection and inverted again. on this i ran the polaroid D&S again, but on the 'dark' mode.

i then duplicated that layer and ran 'clarify' at a setting of 2.

duplicated this and ran a usm at 2/100/5.

added a new blank layer and did just a tiny bit of clone to touch up a few areas.

copy merge and save as new layer and done!

this was a fairly simple restore. and if you notice, there is no ONE tutorial that anyone used. they all were slightly different. some used noise reduction while others used polaroid's D&S. i used a usm filter while someone else used a high pass. so, there are similarities, but none exactly the same. it's a matter of knowing your tools and what they do and then practicing with them... a LOT

you did a fair job, but you need more practice. looks like the clone got away from you a bit. that's one of the hard ones to learn well, but it's also one that needs to be mastered for this kind of work. and this piece doesnt really need a lot of clone or smudge. so, if you're going to continue just keep studying the tools and practice, practice, practice!

[Kraellin]

and just one note on the jacket, i looked at it pretty closely and felt that black speckling/thread thing going on there was part of the jacket. i've seen those before, but, if you felt it isnt part of the jacket, in my steps you'd simply leave out that extra mask i added on the jacket when doing the 'dark' part of the dust and scratch.

[maverick911]

Thank you very much Craig. I will give it a try.