help please..

[felly1000]

My dad asked for some help in the restoration of this photo of my mum but unfortunately this is not my arena so I hoped that someone in this forum could help me in the workflow.

http://files.me.com/tamara.dyer/nz2juc

Many thanks

[TommyO]

Steve,
Much of the restoration workflow is similar among different users. While there are subtle differences, those differences are more in where the step takes place, not if.
So, here is a basic workflow which can certainly be modified based upon personal preference and the image requirements.

• Inspect the image thoroughly;
  - view the individual channels for unique differences that can
  be exploited to your advantage.
  - view the histograms to note what may need correcting and
  may result in more detail revealed.
• Work on correcting tonality and contrast before repairing damage.
• Don't convert to b&w too soon, as you may loose important detail.
• Only then comes work on exposure, color.
• Damage can repaired once the original baseline of tone & color are restored.
• Rebuilding of some elements, if required, can be done.
• Inspect, inspect, inspect.
• Convert to b&w, add tone, colorize.
• Final tweaks, then a little sharpening if needed.

[TommyO]

Oh yes, the other thing that bothers me is trying to tell what color is original and what is damage. It appears the golden tone at the top and in all the cracks is damage. There is a hint of color in her dress that looks original. But, the image looks hand colored, not a color photograph. Is that correct ?

[Kraellin]

boy, you guys can sure dig up some doozies. because of all the cracking this was tricky. i started working on the background with some airbrush and clone. this was all done on a blank layer. i airbrushed and cloned her hair, also on a blank layer. the dress was pretty much the same. i finally worked on the face, starting with clone with a small brush (about 8 - 12 mostly) set at a medium opacity (40 to 50% mostly). all of this was done just with the idea of getting things closer, not perfect. to smooth things out a bit, i ran a digital camera noise removal followed by push (heavy smudge).

now, when i get things fairly like i want, but not good enough yet, i do a copy merge and paste to new layer. i then turn off ALL other layers except the background. on the top layer i turn down the opacity to see how close or far off i am from the original. this often results in having to put up another blank layer to fix the differences. i just keep going back and forth between the original and my rendition, correcting, until i'm more or less happy.

and that's mostly it. sounds simple enough, but on an image like this one can easily spend hours and still not be satisfied. i'm not completely happy with it, myself, but i'm just not one of those that can spend 18 weeks on one image

[Flora]

Hi Steve,

I see you use Photoshop ...
I agree with everything TommyO said, but, after inspecting the image and trying unsuccessfully to 'bring back' what could be taken for original colour 'hand colored' or not, I decided that what bothered me most were the cracks and the discoloration was very distracting so I:

• created a Black & White Adjustment Layer to remove all the colour (Attachment 1).

• Merged visible.

• Duplicated the merged Layer twice and run Filter>Other>High Pass (Radius 4.0 px) on the top duplicate.

• Inverted the High Pass Layer and run Levels on it to strongly increase the contrast ... Yes! I am creating a mask for the dark scratches using the High Pass Filter. (If necessary, - I did that here - run a Filter>Other>Maximum Radius = 1 px and apply a light gaussian Blur to your newly created 'cracks' Layer). (Attachment 2)

• Working on this new 'mask like' Layer, press Ctrl+Alt+2 (Cmd+Option+2 for Mac ... I think) to select the Layer's Luminosity. (marching 'ants' around all white areas)

• Turn off the 'eye' icon on the left of this 'mask' Layer and you will see the marching ants, in the merged Layer right below, around the cracks and other parts of the image ... but we will correct this later..

• Activate your 'merged' Layer right below by clicking on it, run a Filter>Other>Maximum Radius = 1 px and watch how the cracks have faded.

• If this procedure affected parts of the image you would rather not, just create a black Layer Mask for this Layer and, using a white fuzzy brush (100% Opacity), paint over the parts you wish .. in this case the woman's face... (Attachment 3 = my before & after this procedure.)

It sounds very complex, but it's actually very easy and fast. After this it's up to you to decide how much or little you wish to work on the image...

(Attachment 4) my final result ... greyscale and very lightly coloured.

Nice job Greg!!! .... any hope of you switching to Photoshop??

P.S. could I use your picture for a RetouchPRO Tutorial on this masking technique?

.

[Southbay]

Originally Posted by Flora

It sounds very complex, but it's actually very easy and fast.

What a helpful posting! Thanks. This quick process is going to come in very handy.

[Kraellin]

Nice job Greg!!! .... any hope of you switching to Photoshop??

hmmm, i assume i'm 'Greg' here. no worries; i get called a lot worse and thanks, flora

switch to photoshop? what is this 'photoshop' of which you speak? is it a shop with photos? i actually have cs2 and an upgrade version to cs3, but dont even have them installed currently. i tried photoshop several times but i kept running into things i just didnt like as much as psp, like the clone tool. psp's is much more intuitive... for me, anyways. and the learning curve was quite a bit higher and i've got about 1500 different things i'm trying to learn already. so, it's not too likely i'll move to ps in the next few months, anyways. but, never say never. who knows, flora might decide she wants to tutor me. i hear italy is a pretty nice place

and i assume you're asking felly1000 to use his picture?

and very nice job, flora

[felly1000]

Thanks for everyone's contributuion... some very helpful posts.

The original photograph was black & white.

Flora, if you are asking to use my photograph thats no problem, however, I am getting the original off my dad shortly and I will be re-scanning at a better quality.

Thank you

[Flora]

Southbay,

thank you very much for your kind feedback!!!


Craig,

Originally Posted by Kraellin

hmmm, i assume i'm 'Greg' here. no worries; i get called a lot worse

... that happens when I try to do several things at the same time .... ... I'm so sorry Craig ....

Originally Posted by Kraellin

and thanks, flora ...... and i assume you're asking felly1000 to use his picture?

and very nice job, flora

... thanks to you too and yes ... I was asking felly1000 to use his picture .... I wasn't clear at all, but again .... "that happens when .... "

felly1000,

thank you very much for your feedback and for letting me use your picture for the Tutorial ....

I'll start writing it with the image you have posted already which, I think, is good enough for that purpose.

I'll post the link to the Tutorial here as soon as it will be up...

Thanks again!!!

[Kraellin]

flora, no worries. you can call me 'mud' if you want

[unimatrix001]

I tried this using flora's instructions only i didn't convert to black and white.
I made a new background using black to white gradient set to difference mode.
masked the face and used flora's high pass filter instructions to get rid of some of the cracks. I removed the stain, color bleed from the hair and recolored it using a blank layer set to color mode. I replaced the dress with one from the internet. its still pretty grainy but i am still learning. I forgot i had a standalone version of neat image. the second photo was run through that.