Making a kid vanish....

[Zabulon]

Hi everyone, this is my first post on this awsome site.

I recently got interested in restoring and retouching...
and will post more as I progress with all your help....HeHe


I was asked to restore this photo and erase the kid if possible.

here is my method and the result..

Healing brush used extensively to fix the cracks and restore whole photo.

Erased the kid, mirrored the right shoulder, use the liquify tool to shift the new shoulder a little bit so they wouldn't look the same, cloned the hair and created a shadow on the shoulder, turned the bow and staightened wrinkles caused by kid leaning up against shoulder of woman.

Finally cropped the photo to remove the part I could not fabricate without making the photo look phony....

Better quality photo available - HERE

Please, some comments are VERY welcome..

[Kraellin]

looks good. a little off-center. i think i'd have stretched the canvas on the left and cloned in some background. but, other than that, good job

for extra credit, use an unsharp mask to bring here more into focus, then clean up the resulting noise with a noise remover or polaroid dust and scratches filter.

[Liz]

If you have only started restoring recently, I think you've done an excellent job. Congrats.

[Gobsmacked]

Excellent job ! I would follow Craig's advice ( his comments are like mini Tuts. ! ) . I think I would try to reintroduce the creases in her top , below the neck .

[TerryB]

Remarkable job. Along with Craig's suggestion I'd massage the mirrored shoulder a bit to disguise the precise symmetry. Clone and/or 50% gray fill Soft Light layer for highlights & shadows.

[DCobb]

Looks good to me.

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[klassylady25]

I agree with the left of the canvas, but great job!

[greg-andrew74]

this is well nice! obviously a lot of work has gone into this. I hoep to achieve stuff like this too. all in good time. Well done.

[greg-andrew74]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

looks good. a little off-center. i think i'd have stretched the canvas on the left and cloned in some background. but, other than that, good job

for extra credit, use an unsharp mask to bring here more into focus, then clean up the resulting noise with a noise remover or polaroid dust and scratches filter.

In regards to this post, i have just invested in Imagenomics Noiseware to help reduce noise. Mainly for my HDR stuff but it will work nicely in reducing noise on any picture once you get the sliders right.