Technique for dealing with background

[maverick911]

I would appreciate some ideas for the most effective way to deal with this background. The woman is not too bad but a lot of scratching in the background. I have tried Dust & Scratch Filter but not effective on this. I was considering maybe using the spot healing brush?

[lurch]

Spot healing (using content-aware if you have CS5) should do the trick.

[maverick911]

Originally Posted by lurch

Spot healing (using content-aware if you have CS5) should do the trick.

Thank you, only using CS3 and I often find that the spot healing takes from areas beyond the tool I use. I cant figure it out in set up?

[mistermonday]

Maverick, spot healing brush also works fine if you don't have CS5. You just need to be careful with the tool that the spot you are healing is surrounded completely by similar background, in other words is an "island". The tool does not work when the area you want to heal is a penninsula (ie attached to some contrasting color on one side only).
Regards, Murray

[maverick911]

Thank you Murray,

Mark

[4personnen]

As a thought I'd go with cleaning very wisely and neatly a big part of the background and then use the patch tool with a lower opacity, clean portion as the source. I'm not sure but you should give it a try.

[maverick911]

Originally Posted by 4personnen

As a thought I'd go with cleaning very wisely and neatly a big part of the background and then use the patch tool with a lower opacity, clean portion as the source. I'm not sure but you should give it a try.

Thanks I will.

[Kraellin]

there is essentially nothing in the background. just clone away to a nice generic gray. but, if you're including that board she's resting her hands on and the Avery and Sons logo, those shld be cleaned up. i'd go with clone, airbrush and push (heavy smudge). i'd do a fade correction on the whole first, though. and i'd also do a slight noise reduction at the end.

but more than the background, what concerns me here is the woman's face. it's kind of faded and has lost some detail. the poor thing has no eyebrows to speak of. i'd do a little light painting in those areas to bring some of that back.

and one other thing i'll mention here. on that board she has her hands on, i've seen it done where folks leave the fading in and i've seen where they take that fading out. both seem to be acceptable as long as it's not noisy. leaving it in is like saying that's how it was shot or touched up originally and we're just restoring to that level and the taking it out is saying it was damaged by age and we're restoring it to not being faded. so, to me, this one is up to you and how you consider it. it's not the main focus of the shot, anyways, so go either way. but the logo shld be cleaned up and the borders, too.

i did find one tiny discerable item in the background, but there was so little of it, that i'd take it out. these old shots were sometimes photographed against staged or painted backgrounds and sometimes not. you do your best to find out what was there, if anything, and then deal with it accordingly. in yours here i dont think there's enough left to tell, so almost best to just remove it all rather than confuse things. you're really not losing anything. just dont get too cavalier with this type of thing or you'll piss off the customers

[maverick911]

Thanks for the tips Craig. For interest what would you charge a customer for a job like this over in the USA?

[Gary]

Maybe extract to a new background?

Cheers!

[designer74]

Hey all,
here's my attempt. Will give tips if you like.
Tom

[maverick911]

Originally Posted by Gary

Maybe extract to a new background?

Cheers!

Thank you Gary - nice job!

[maverick911]

Originally Posted by designer74

Hey all,
here's my attempt. Will give tips if you like.
Tom

Tom, this is stunning! Yes I would like tips please.

[vidyakk9]

Originally Posted by maverick911

I would appreciate some ideas for the most effective way to deal with this background. The woman is not too bad but a lot of scratching in the background. I have tried Dust & Scratch Filter but not effective on this. I was considering maybe using the spot healing brush?

If you like this type of change I can explain.view the attached thumb nail

[designer74]

Originally Posted by maverick911

Tom, this is stunning! Yes I would like tips please.

I'm glad you like it. (I didn't do that good a job because it was 3am and I was sleepy.)

As for tips, I recommend using dust and scratches to clean up background (recommended technique available on request) but I eventually decided to replace it with a generic textured background.

The rest was just using clone stamp to repair the paper, recreate the pink trim, and levels adjustment on the woman to make it pop. I decided to boost the paper color a bit to make it look a bit newer.

Any questions?

[Kraellin]

top notch, tom. VERY nicely done! extra points that you rebuilt the logo!

[designer74]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

top notch, tom. VERY nicely done! extra points that you rebuilt the logo!

Thanks Craig. The feedback makes it worth doing.

Tom

[maverick911]

Originally Posted by designer74

I'm glad you like it. (I didn't do that good a job because it was 3am and I was sleepy.)

As for tips, I recommend using dust and scratches to clean up background (recommended technique available on request) but I eventually decided to replace it with a generic textured background.

The rest was just using clone stamp to repair the paper, recreate the pink trim, and levels adjustment on the woman to make it pop. I decided to boost the paper color a bit to make it look a bit newer.

Any questions?

Thanks very much Tom, I would appreciate your tips for Dust & Scrathes? How did you deal with the levels adjustment? I adjusted my RGB upto the point where there is data but it certainly didn't "pop" like yours.

Would also value some tips on adding the new background and blending it in so well. I had considered that but was concerned about it looking like a new background. Yours doesn't!

[designer74]

Originally Posted by maverick911

Thanks very much Tom, I would appreciate your tips for Dust & Scrathes? How did you deal with the levels adjustment? I adjusted my RGB upto the point where there is data but it certainly didn't "pop" like yours.

Would also value some tips on adding the new background and blending it in so well. I had considered that but was concerned about it looking like a new background. Yours doesn't!

OK Here's my dust and scratches method for anything i'm retouching (it works beautifully for removing large pimples on a face before I start fixing skin).
1. Duplicate background layer
2. open dust and scratches
3. keep threshold at 0, start increasing radius until image is smooth textured
(on your image at the size you uploaded, I used radius of 13)
(in the case of removing pimples, stop increasing when pimple is completely gone)
4. Start increasing threshold 1 by 1 until you start seeing some of the original texture (use preview checkbox to compare) without the dirt and smudges
(for your image I stopped at 3)
5. Apply a layer mask and make it black to hide the changes
6. Either select the area outside of the subject with magic wand or just start brushing with white to apply the change to the background
7. You're done.
I think I'll put together a youtube video to demonstrate this and answer the rest of your question. I'll try to have it up in a day or so but I'm off to work now.
Peace,
Tom

[designer74]

Originally Posted by maverick911

Thanks very much Tom, I would appreciate your tips for Dust & Scrathes? How did you deal with the levels adjustment? I adjusted my RGB upto the point where there is data but it certainly didn't "pop" like yours.

OK I just got around to making a 3minute video on dust and scratches. It should open in HD and full screen (the way I like to view videos). Sorry if you have slow internet and it doesn't load right away.

http://www.youtube.com/v/ce1Sw8XYKmQ&fmt=22

More videos to follow. Just check my channel in a day or so.

Tom

[maverick911]

Hey Tom, what can I say. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this for me - fantastic! You're a star! Tell me, how would you deal with the fine detail where the subject edge meets the background? Would it be useful (or not) to protect the subject (who is my great great grand mother) by making some sort of mask over her before filtering out the noise and scratches.

[designer74]

Originally Posted by maverick911

Hey Tom, what can I say. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this for me - fantastic! You're a star! Tell me, how would you deal with the fine detail where the subject edge meets the background? Would it be useful (or not) to protect the subject (who is my great great grand mother) by making some sort of mask over her before filtering out the noise and scratches.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll put a part 2 video up that covers that this evening if i can.

[kevinashworth]

I'd get rid of the old background completely and put in a new one. There's nothing at all in the background worth keeping, Heres what i did in 4 stages...

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/5674/efinished.jpg

You can keep it plain or add an oval vignette like i did. Perhaps add some grain to it.

[maverick911]

Nice job Kevin, what is the purpose of the green layer?

[kevinashworth]

Hi maverick 911 - The green layer just makes it easier to see what i'm erasing on the layer above it. it doesn't have to be green, just a stark contrast. Designer74's video is great. he approached it in a different way, that's what's good about photoshop - there are so many different ways to get the same result. I hope your picture is a success :-)

[Nezbitten]

Replacing the background with a new one is always an option although matching the grain structure of the original photo becomes harder and often a too smooth look makes it look a little too processed for some people’s tastes. You’ve done a great job and it certainly gives folks another approach to getting the job done neatly and cleanly, well done.

[GNOB]

Originally Posted by maverick911

I would appreciate some ideas for the most effective way to deal with this background. The woman is not too bad but a lot of scratching in the background. I have tried Dust & Scratch Filter but not effective on this. I was considering maybe using the spot healing brush?

I would like to try and restore it but where can I download the hi-res image?

[designer74]

Originally Posted by maverick911

Hey Tom, what can I say. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this for me - fantastic! You're a star! Tell me, how would you deal with the fine detail where the subject edge meets the background? Would it be useful (or not) to protect the subject (who is my great great grand mother) by making some sort of mask over her before filtering out the noise and scratches.

Hey Mark (Maverick)
Sorry for the delay with pt.2 video response. I finally worked out the problem I was having with the screen recording program. Here's part 2.
http://www.youtube.com/v/f_d8l-1Fwd4&fmt=22
Not my best work but I hope it helps a little.

[Kraellin]

very nice, designer!

[maverick911]

Originally Posted by designer74

Hey Mark (Maverick)
Sorry for the delay with pt.2 video response. I finally worked out the problem I was having with the screen recording program. Here's part 2.
http://www.youtube.com/v/f_d8l-1Fwd4&fmt=22
Not my best work but I hope it helps a little.

Hey Tom, please dont apologise. I cant thank you enough. I often find it difficult (usually impossible) to transpose written tutorials onto something I am trying to achieve, so to have someone show me on my image is invaluable. I ran a successful company for 30 years and thought I was reasonably intelligent. Photoshop has changed that opinion! I spent 3 hours yesterday trying to achieve something on a colorization!

Thank you again.

Mark