Thatching removal?

[Jack The Ripper]

Hey folks.

im working to restore a 50 year old pic, most of it has been pretty straight forward but i ran into thatching, at least that is what i decided to call it. it looks almost like staning from the texture of the frame backing.. at least thats what i think it is. it could be the texture of the quilt, but it seems too uniform.

ive messed with it a little, i used paths and gaussian blur and that does a decent job but if im not careful it also wipes out any detail on the blankets.

i was curious what techniques other people use to remove such artifacts?

here is a portion of the pic and the thatching..

[amica999]

Hi Jack, not sure if you have already, but it's worth a try: http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=185

[Jack The Ripper]

Oh HEY! Nice! I honestly did not think there would be a tut on this, thanks for the directionQ

[Jack The Ripper]

is the fft filter a plug in?

[Jack The Ripper]

ok i see it, im a retard. lol

thanks!

[amica999]

Originally Posted by Jack The Ripper

is the fft filter a plug in?

No, I believe it's stand-alone
There are links in the tut where to find it.
Here you can find other resources and a tut: http://www.skeller.ch/ps/fft_action.php

[Jack The Ripper]

I dont think the thatching is enough on this. i ran the fillter and did not get any stars, the red channel in fact was just a big black screen. no stars on any of the channels.

maybe it is just not evident enough to show

[amica999]

Would suggest you wait for OlBaldy to start by. He can give you some hints in the right direction...

[stereokatt]

Sure looks like a chenille bedspread to me. You say the pic is about 50 years old. Chenille bedspreads were very common in those days. They usually had a regular looped pattern or design over the entire spread. If there's similar texture in parts of the pic that aren't the bedspread then it's something else, but by the sample you've posted I'd say it's good old chenille. And if that's the case no sense in removing it since it's actually part of the original image.

[mistermonday]

Jack, that appears to be the material of the blanket. The pattern is not unidirectional - it seems to change directions / follow the buldge in the blanket. It does not appear to be on the infants skin. A FFT will definitely not work on this pattern. It might be best to leave it in.
Regards, Murray

[0lBaldy]

Amica made me feel obligated to put my two cents worth in...

I agree with leaving it in...

any method of alleviating the pattern will result in loss of definition in the repaired areas and show a difference where the repair was made ..

The best I came up with was using Image Analyzer (operations>filters>frequency domain filter) and it looks to be only a partial elimination and the child, and probably other areas will have to be masked from the repair.

[chillin]

I have applied imageJ to selective areas only & blended in back "the corrected pieces".

[Southbay]

I'd agree to leave the weave alone. But if you wanted to soften it, my first impulse was 30% gaussian w/ history brush. There's nothing here for the FFT routine.

[chillin]

Originally Posted by Southbay

... There's nothing here for the FFT routine.

I'm not sure if I agree with you, I used an FFT process in ImageJ.

[Janet Petty]

It is definitely part of the texture and weave of the blanket. To take out the "thatching" would be to destroy the integrity of the piece.

This from a "fiber" person,

Janet

[Southbay]

Originally Posted by chillin

I used an FFT process in ImageJ.

You selected those patterned areas and got a useable reading? Well, I'd never have tried that. Cool.

[Jack The Ripper]

i think yer right, its the blanket material. thanks for all the help though folks! i appreciate it!

[Kraellin]

when i first looked at this, i thought it was just some sort of damage, but when i looked at it closer, i had to agree with the others that said this is part of the fabric.

bearing that in mind, i'm going to remind folks that we, as restorers and retouchers, are liars yup, we lie, digitally... big time! and the reason i say that here is that i'm going to recommend you lie even more. yup, flat out lie to the customer! take that fabric texture and clone over that blown out white area and make it look at thatched fabric, also. sell it! hehe, ok, you dont actually have to hide anything from the customer. the point here is if you truly believe it's a fabric texture, then that's how you restore it or rebuild it or both. just try to be right when you can

but, more than the texture in the blanket, i'm a little more concerned with the noise in that arm. a good noise remover shld do the job pretty well. i used psp's noise removal at a pretty high strength and it worked well.

also, one last note on the blanket. i really do believe that 'thatch' is part of the fabric and not only that, but if you do your contrasting right, you can also see the raised portions of this fabric/blanket. this is actually what finally convinced me it was part of the blanket.