two tone restoration

[Learnin'lady]

I've not been around for a while due to computer issues and other mindsets.
But I seem to always find my way back when I need help as this is the only gig in town that is worth asking for advice!!

I'm having the worst time trying to figure out how to fix this photograph.
Is there any good advice that someone could offer?
http://oldfadedmemories.com/img322.jpg

[mistermonday]

To start with, I would duplicate the BG and use Apply Image to apply the Green channel to the layer and change its blend mode to Luminosity. I would then add a blank layer set to color blend and paint on it to correct the colors. Finally add a curve adj layer to dodge the rectangular area which will be still a little too dark.
Regards, Murray

[jeremy1986]

Here is my progress so far. I will post again when im finished

[Kraellin]

wow. that's a weird one. i'm actually familiar with those drapes and i can tell you there's no blue or red in them. they were a black and white, essentially. and the blue in her dress was never there either and worse, it overlaps onto his suit. and almost as strange is that this was shot in color, circa 1955 to 1960, i'd guess and at the latest maybe 1965.

the temptation here would be to take this back to a black and white and re-colorize. or, you could just colorize over the existing and making compensations in colors. probably a blank layer with it set to color blend and then airbrush in the right stuff. i think masking all the different areas here would add more work than necessary, but i also know someone will come along and do a good job with masks

your best hope is to have Flora come along and put her wizardry to this. she's much better at these than me

[Learnin'lady]

Ah yes! Lovely Flora! where IS she!!...
I did that Craig. I took it back to BNW and colorized. Tell me what brand new eyes see as mine are a bit pixeled out.
http://oldfadedmemories.com/work6.jpg

She also told me the suit is blue and the dress a very light mint green....

[Learnin'lady]

Yes Jeremy! looks good!!

[Kraellin]

now, i didnt see much evidence of a lime green dress, but the customer is always right

this was mostly my standard fare except for removing the squarish discolored area. for that, i made a selection of that area and then attempted to bring it as close as possible to the lower left hand coloration of the main image. i used a hue/sat adjustment layer on the selection. then, i inverted the selection and did the same on that part. i just went back and forth repeating the process until they matched up fairly well. then, on the original selection i did some airbrushing with the blend mode set to 'color' to make the transition between the discolored area and the rest. from there it was mostly my standard clone, airbrush, push treatment.

now, that's a bit oversimplified, as there were a lot of small actions to adjust here and there. there was also a color balance and some base painting on the woman's face to be able to paint her in color blend mode. this is because in color mode white is pretty much ignored, so in order to get the colorization i wanted i had to basically put a little 'pancake' on most all of her face and then do a colorization on another layer.

near the end i also used the 'lighten/darken' tool to take some of the flash effect which left parts blown out and overbright. it's still a bit bright in spots, but this evened it out a bit and gave the woman and her dress a little more contrast.

this took several hours, but thankfully the baseball playoffs are on to keep me company

[Learnin'lady]

Wow! Craig! amazing job! You work well with baseball n restoration!...lol
I agree I didnt see that mint green evidence either. I kind of felt that the mans suit was more towards black. She stated water damage.
My first attempt with this was to lasso and correct in that manner. and even with different feathering settings it still didnt mesh.

[Learnin'lady]

I fixed the glare in her glasses. did a few touch ups here and there, darkened the suit and the customer is very excited over it!
http://oldfadedmemories.com/finis.jpg

[Kraellin]

if the customer likes it, then ya done good

and thank you!

[Learnin'lady]

tnx Craig. I remember once in a thread here that one can continue on 'fixing' for ever! So I have to find a stopping point and say ask the customer what they feel needs be done, so far that works for me. If they are satisfied, Im satisfied.