Help - Fix / Restoration

[paulomachado]

Hi !

I am a photographer and I know enough about photo retouch, but I am a begineer on photo restoration.

I have two images to restore, so I would like to receive tips and suggestions about how to do it.

How could I upload hi res. images ?

Thanks.

[0lBaldy]

paulomachado, welcome to RetouchPRO

If you can retouch then there is little difference to a restore... restore usually means to keep honest to the original ... but the same basic tools are used in both


***~~POSTING~~~***
You can post a fairly large pictures which is under 100k using the save for web function in Photoshop as described here:
Size, Quality and/or Format your Attached Images.. (Click here)
This may also help some... How to attach Files/Images to your Posts or Threads?(Click here)

If you want to post a larger resolution that is over 100K then you can host your image elsewhere and attach a link, but also please attach an under 100K version here (so the thread remains useful in the future, regardless of external links).
I you do not have your own site to host your images.. then some alternative Image Hosts are: ImageVenue.com (3Meg max, free) or pixentral.com (2Meg max, free) or photobucket.com (1 Meg max free,... 5 Meg PRO)-- mediafire.com (100Meg per file) Plus many other hosting sites... then post a link here in the thread to the site that is hosting your larger image.

[learninlady]

I had to try this one. hi-res or not.

[Ron_H]

Nice, how did you do the curtain?

[learninlady]

cloning by eye. I studied the pattern and pulled out from the rest of the curtain what I needed. If you look close you can see all the mistakes...lol

[learninlady]

And heres the other one. again I just cloned the pattern where ever I could grab it.
I also cropped the arm reversed it free rotated it and cloned it onto the damaged area.

[Kraellin]

nice, kate

on your first one, go back and look at the shadow under the curtains. it's been removed and we kinda need that here.

and on your second, also nice i think i'd take that gray area on the floor to the left out, though. in the original, it seems to be a natural shadow, but in your rendition, i'd just clone over it from the other part of the floor.

[learninlady]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

nice, kate

on your first one, go back and look at the shadow under the curtains. it's been removed and we kinda need that here.

and on your second, also nice i think i'd take that gray area on the floor to the left out, though. in the original, it seems to be a natural shadow, but in your rendition, i'd just clone over it from the other part of the floor.

HA thanks Craig, devil is in the details!
Your right about the left shadow now that you mention it. I try to keep as original as I can even if I dont like the original. but I agree it would look nicer without the shadow.
hrumph, now to figure out how to make shadow curtains....cant I just make shadow puppets???

[learninlady]

Well I find I need lessons in shadowing.
but I did it even if it was wrong.

[Kraellin]

much better on the first one there.

i'm a little surprised you didnt just clone in the shadows from the original, but this now looks much more believable

[Dave.Cox]

Nice Job Kate. Yes, it is important to keep the shadows, because when they are gone, the photo looks fake. It's the lighting and shadows that make a composition really come to life. But your restoration is very good.

[learninlady]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

much better on the first one there.

i'm a little surprised you didnt just clone in the shadows from the original, but this now looks much more believable

I wouldn't do that because the originals where the shadows were had spots and were also discolored. Did you try to clone the shadows from the originals onto the ones I did? I looked again and didst see how I could. as I did fidget the curtains around a bit.

[learninlady]

Yes, Dave totally agree. After Craig brought that up I immediately saw how silly it looked.

[Kraellin]

kate,

the easiest way to restore those shadows on this one is to take your 'push' brush and start in a clean area of the shadow and simply 'push' that across where all the shadows belong. very simple, very quick. do this on a blank raster layer.

[learninlady]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

kate,

the easiest way to restore those shadows on this one is to take your 'push' brush and start in a clean area of the shadow and simply 'push' that across where all the shadows belong. very simple, very quick. do this on a blank raster layer.

Ah that makes very good sense Craig. thank you so much. Yer the best!

[Gary]

Copied his right sleeve to a new layer, pasted to his left and transformed to fit; extracted and placed on a new BG; curves adjustment layers to alter the lighting.

Cheers.

[Dave.Cox]

Hi Gary,

You have a very good start on replacing the back ground. But now the girl looks like the is floating in some bad dream. Take a second look at the original, to see how the shadows ground the girl to the floor.

[Gary]

Originally Posted by Dave.Cox

Hi Gary,

You have a very good start on replacing the back ground. But now the girl looks like the is floating in some bad dream. Take a second look at the original, to see how the shadows ground the girl to the floor.

Thanks for your compliments Dave. I contemplated the shadows, reference the original lighting and thought that, because my 'floor' is very dark, the single shadow against the BG would look proper. However, I do agree that more can be done to 'ground the subject' ... suggestions?

Cheers!

[learninlady]

Ok, I think I understand what Craig was trying to get across to me. Probably not, But I tried.

I am curious on the standing girl. Her shadow is crossed. Now is that the lighting that is causing a cross shadow. ?

[unimatrix001]

I would say yes two lights a strong from the right side and a soft from the left to reduce the shadows on the face. I am no photographer so i cant be sure.

[learninlady]

ya, so its not just my take. I would think that the photographer would have noticed that his/her lights were hitting the floor too, but guess it wasn't adjusted properly.

[chillin]

Very nice work Gary.
You could copy the shadow part & use hard light blend X 2

[unimatrix001]

Everyone did such a good job on this photo i thought i would try my hand at it. there are 17 layers to the psd file. 15 cut and paste 2 selective color adjustments.

[Kraellin]

very well done, unimatrix!

[unimatrix001]

Thank you Craig for the encouragement and with that i thought i would give the other picture a try. Same thing here 10 cut and paste layers, 2 selective color layers and 2 selective noise removal layers.

[Kraellin]

also very good, uni

[Gary]

Originally Posted by chillin

Very nice work Gary.
You could copy the shadow part & use hard light blend X 2

Thanks chillin. Appreciate the suggestion... I'll give it a try.

Cheers

[Dave.Cox]

Yes, Kate, with studio lighting, it is really rare to see less than two shadows. Your eyes use the shadow as a reference, and even though you may not notice the shadow, you will know something is wrong when it isn't there.
Gary, Even though you have a dark floor, you would still see evidence of a shadow. The only time you wouldn't, is if the feet are totally obscured in black.
Ok, that being said, you are asking, what about if the light is straight overhead? You would still have evidence of a shadow. It may be very small, possibly just a tiny edge around the feet. But there will be one. Take a look around the room and see how many shadows you can spot. Virtually everything will have a shadow of some sort. Again, if it is there, the object is properly grounded. If it isn't, it will appear to be floating in mid air.

Shadows are so common, that people tend to not even notice. But your mind knows it should be there, and uses it as a clue to place the object in it's surroundings.

Dave.