Any hope for this?

[morrow]

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I've posted. A neighbor of mine said he had a photo he'd like for me to restore after seeing a job I did for someone else. This job was pretty simple, a few cracks which I used the clone stamp on and I was done. Well, I took the first step on this one by removing the red color cast, well.. at least I tried to remove it.

Where can I start with this image? I didn't realize it was going to be this bad.

Thanks for your help!

http://www.njflyfishing.com/dev/myneighbor.jpg

[thepcmouse]

Gosh morrow, I thought I'd gotten some bad photos. This is awful. I think if I had to do it, I'd tell the person that I might not be able to restore it to anything like it's original condition. I did one recently that was a very tiny picture and blurry. It was a challenge but yours is worse. Scary. Do you mind if I tackle it a little bit?
Jennie
By the way I wouldn't even bother with the background but would focus on the two people.

[DCobb]

Hi Morrow,

I took a quick try at this and did a portion of the arm. There is a lot of detail work. I also noticed that the picture seems to have a little focus problem. I used the clone tool, healing brush, working on a blank layer. In some places the healing bush set to replace was also helpful. In the end, some degree of sharpening would be helpful. Anyway, any work you do will be an improvement of the image.

dc

[0lBaldy]

I tried a short cut and it shows!
Copied background 4 times set each to darken
with the move tool moved each one in a different direction 1 pixel
Then mostly healed with a bit of cloning and some color corrections.... Till I got tired of this picture and gave up! (for a better view.. stand back a long ways to view it! LOL)

I like what DCobb did and agree that with a small brush working at a high magnification there is a LOT of small detail work but I am sure with a lot of patience there can be a significant improvement and it is salvageable... GOOD LUCK!!!

[morrow]

PCMouse, I don't mind if you take a look at it!

I followed some video instructions on how to get the red tinge out but it looks like OlBaldy did a much better job at it.

This certainly is a really tough photo. My neighbor/friend kept this in his wallet for a long long time. I'm thinking it was in one of those plastic things and when he removed it, the other 1/2 of the picture was left stuck onto the plastic.

I started to retouch it but then thought that there had to be an easier way than the clone stamp tool.

[morrow]

OlBaldy, sorry, I also ment to say nice work at the restoration and thanks for the insight on making a few copies and slightly moving them. Makes sense!! Looks great! Now let me see if I can give that a shot.

[Kraellin]

hi morrow,

you're not going to find many workable shortcuts on this one. you might try the Polaroid dust and scratches filter in stand-alone mode. you can then mask the areas you wish to clean up. but, i'd be reluctant to say that you're going to have great results with it... but maybe.

[Liz]

Shees! The things we do for family and friends!....(just to keep our pride...I can do that that....then take 30 hours of our personal restoration time for them to say gee thanks! I thought it would be clearer! Sorry, a cynic, been there done that too often).

Well, now that I've been totally unhelpful, based on my past awful experiences, I would suggest your first move is to ensure that your neighbour's expectations aren't focused on a clear glossy 6x4 just like it used to be.

My second comment is having done quite a few of these "disasters" I have found that Scanners sometimes introduce more problems than they are worth with these severely damaged images, and I would suggest you re-photograph it. Will be a bit softer, but you won't have so much gunk to clean up. It's not likely you will have a copy-stand to do that with, so......just give it a go with your camera first and see what that brings.

I'll get back to ya

[thepcmouse]

Liz is right on. Re-photograph it. It will be a better rendition.
If I was insane enough to work on it (lol, a joke) I would first get rid of the dust and scratches, lift the red, work the healing tools and clone stamp. Then on less horrible pictures when I find a good little piece of flesh I make a pattern using >edit>define pattern> then use a soft brush and paint in the flesh. You can fool with the opacity and build it up.
You can all polish your halo's for working on this picture. giggle.

[thepcmouse]

Really nice work on that arm Cobb. I think Olbaldy is doing a bang up job. Can you find him a replacement nose? I just noticed there's a small person in the upper right corner.

[Kraellin]

this is a doozy alright. but, being the masochist i am, i had a go at part of it. i'm NOT doing the whole thing without a wheelbarrow full of money

[morrow]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

this is a doozy alright. but, being the masochist i am, i had a go at part of it. i'm NOT doing the whole thing without a wheelbarrow full of money

That's a damn good job! I wish I had a wheelbarrow full of cash! I just figured I'd see some different techniques being used, print it out and give it to my neighbor. I tried but I didn't think there was any hope.

[Kraellin]

thanks.

i'm not real pleased with the results, but these are always difficult. i think i need some shadows in there yet. her face looks a bit stretched or flattened or something.

and generally, when an image is this badly damaged, you've got to figure on a lot of clone and detail work. there is no magic, one-pass remedy, despite what the various detective, FBI and other police type shows show us

[lonelaser]

The hope is that you'll spend the hours required to repair this image without receiving compensation. There's a reason I stopped doing restoration except for close friends (and I mean real friends): the amount of time required is beyond anyone's (short of billionaires) means to pay.