[Kraellin]

but in good nick other than that,

in good nick? what does 'nick' mean here?

[toe]

Sorry mate, Aussie here, It means good condition, Sometimes i forget you guys mite not know what the hell im talking about, I'll try and be clearer in future, Did'nt mean any offence.

[Kraellin]

no offense taken. i just want to understand. no reason i cant learn a new language

and if i havent said it before, welcome to RetouchPRO.

[toe]

Ha ha. Oh good then consider me your guide to Aussie slang, Unintentionally, just cant help typing the way i talk, Will try to keep it under control though.

and thanks for the welcome.

[Graphics23]

Originally Posted by toe

Graphic23, I'm new here and very new to photoshop and after reading your last few post's, I'm absolutely amazed!

Thank you, that's very nice of you to say.

I'm new here as well, but I'm not exactly new to Photoshop.

Originally Posted by toe

I,m kind of at that point you said in another post where i looked at the channel thing and though that looks pretty!

Just about everything done in Photoshop - Blurring, Color adjustments, Sharpening, even making a simple marque selection - is done to and with channels. About the only things that don't involve channels are the type and paths features.

For anyone using Photoshop, a thorough knowledge of channels and how to manipulate them is invaluable.

Originally Posted by toe

Anyway i would LOVE to see what you could do with the restoration challenge 79, it has a lot of yellow dots on it but in good nick other than that, I tried to do what you have been talking about, but like a Neanderthal!

If you're referring to the channel blending moves I used in some of my posts, they may not work very well in this example. The image is a B&W which has been yellowed with age and scanned in RGB. The real power of channel blending comes from working with full color images. There does appear to be a little more detail in the Blue channel than either the Red or Green. I might try using a Channel Mixer Adjustment Layer, set to Monochrome, then emphasize the Blue channel and reduce the Red.

What I would most likely try first is to create a mask to isolate the worst of the damage. To do so I would convert to LAB and use the B channel to create the mask. Then probably use the Clone Stamp tool to repair most of the damage. I would follow up by adjusting contrast both overall and locally, then see if I couldn't coax some detail out with some judicious sharpening moves. Finally, I would convert to Duotone.

Originally Posted by toe

I thought all these spots are the same color, You've got to be able to get rid of them some how, My attempt turned out "black and black" through contrasting.

You have the right idea. Unfortunately, the damage exists in all three channels. So blending moves would not be able to reveal any hidden detail. That's the essence of channel blending, taking detail from one channel to enhance or repair detail in another.

Originally Posted by toe

I'll have to get that book on the subject that you talked about and have another swing at it with your methods.

I'm sure you're referring to books by Dan Margulis. I highly recommend you start with Photoshop LAB Color. Another author I like is Katrin Eismann. She has a book that is specific to restoration and retouching. Both authors require a certain dedication from their readers, but with your enthusiasm I'm sure you'll do fine.

Originally Posted by toe

Again I'm amazed, I don't even know what your talking about "yet".

And again, thank you.

Understanding will come with perseverance and time. One topic which supports my channel skills is color theory. Check out Wikipedia for starters. Then read the articles here:

http://www.worqx.com/color/index.htm

I'm always willing to answer questions, so don't be shy. And judging from your posts, that's a trait from which you don't appear to suffer.

Regards,

Michael

[toe]

Michael,
Thanks for taking the time to reply, and thank you for the book and web reference I'll look into it, Although photoshop for dummies might be even more appropriate at this stage, They do say to post your skill level, think i pretty much achieved that the first time i opened my mouth.
A big thing for me too is knowing what your looking at, Some of the threads I've seen in here, You more experienced people pull apart photos to the smallest degree, Just comes with reading what others have to say again i suppose.
It is very frustrating seeing a photo like that though and knowing that once you're done with brute force it isn't going to be the same picture anymore.
Anyway it's "more reading" less typing for me it seems, and that offer to ask questions might have been a mistake, ha ha

[Kraellin]

Ha ha. Oh good then consider me your guide to Aussie slang,

well, as long as you dont try to explain rugby to me, we'll get along fine. i used to work with a couple aussie blokes and made the mistake of asking them to explain it to me. lol. i never got past 'scrum'.

[Gerald McClaren]

Philbach and Kraellin thanks for in how to show a before and after, but how can I show them side by side?

Gerald McClaren

[Kraellin]

gerald,

there are two ways to do it, though this first will only show the thumbs side by side... when you export your image to retouchpro here, simply add another image after the first one, but do it in the same post. each post can have five images within it, like graphics23's post above.

or, you can do it in Paint Shop Pro/Photoshop by stretching your canvas and then placing a 2nd image in the new blank area of the image. or, you could make a new blank image that is the size of both images combined and add both images onto the blank and save it that way.

[HroadhogD1]

I tried something different. All I did was use the spot healing brush, cleaned up the picture a little bit, and used a curves adjustment. Then I used noiseware to get rid of some of the noise.

[maginp]

See my post about inpainting,
you can try the tool, I managed to remove most spots and defects