Fixing mottled look on face

[Jannz]

I usually work with the clone tool and the healing tool when working on old photos but it is just not working with this old photo. I would like to at least get the face looking correct. I even tried using Portrait Professional but it didn't seem to like working on the black and white photo.
I would appreciate any help you are able to give me.
Thanks
Jannz

[Jannz]

I have tried using the healing brush on darken and then again on normal. I am only part way through and am still not really happy with the results. I am posting the partially mended photo. Are there better ways of doing this?
Thanks
Jannz

[rbrum]

That's a very tricky photo! I'll give a try...

[Jannz]

Thanks. I appreciate all the help I can get.
Jannz

[aartist]

This is a tuffy!
I usually like to take out as many mottle cracks as possible,
then do an image soften with noise added afterwards.

[Jannz]

Thanks aartist.
How did you remove the mottle cracks?

[aartist]

Just like removing tears, lines and cracks.
Scratch Remover, using PaintShop Pro.
Healing brush, if using PhotoShop.

Just select out eyes, part of nose and mouth to
keep that detail. Work on those areas after taking
care of overall facial skin.

[Tony W]

Have to agree on this one a real tuffy! Hoping that someone might offer a magic technique to reduce the cracks - tried to find one myself and failed!

Resorted to using heal and cloning to remove most of the cracks on a new layer (Concentrating on the face and neck only).
Duplicated and used surface blur and reduced opacity to approx 75%.
Curves layer to brighten the contrast a little more.

Trying to do this type of restore always worries me that I may inadvertantly alter the facial features so tried not to go too far with this one. With a great deal more work I think that it may start to look better.

I wonder if a re scan in full colour at max resolution would help bring in more detail to work with

[byRo]

Originally Posted by Tony W

Trying to do this type of restore always worries me that I may inadvertantly alter the facial features ...

I'd say it's going to depend on the client. The information that you need for a full restoration just isn't there. Do you leave it out, or make it up?

Round here folks aren't usually too fussy about historical accuracy, they just want a pretty picture, so I'd dive in with an "artistic impression".
In Europe and América that might not go down too well!

Rô

[Flora]

Rô.... gosh it's great to see you back!!!

I did try to work on this picture in several ways but I got to the same conclusion ... about the 'artistic impression' ... the result I liked better was with the crosshatch brush strokes ...

[Jannz]

I really appreciate the time you are putting in to assisting me on this.

Tony W:

I wonder if a re scan in full colour at max resolution would help bring in more detail to work with

The original is black and white and I scanned as a B&W at 1200dpi. Would I have been better to scan in colour?

Flora:

the result I liked better was with the crosshatch brush strokes

I hadn't thought of doing that. I am off to try it.
Thanks

[byRo]

Here's a way of getting started...

1) Copy the layer and apply High Pass radius 1. Use Levels to make this a Black image with white marks where the cracks are. Apply some Gaussian blur (radius 1) to tone down the edges.
2) With another copy of the original apply the Median filter until the cracks disappear (most of the image will too!). I used radius 7.
3) Make a Levels adjustment layer above the Median layer and Group these two together.
4) Use the HP layer as a mask for the group, and adjust the Levels layer to taste.

This is what I got...

Rô

[byRo]

Here we are after a bit of smudging.
I always prefer leaving the difficult bits till last.
Clothing is pretty is east to restore, if there aren't any patterns.
Sometimes if you do a good enough job with the background and clothes, you can distract the viewer's attention away from the face.

Or as our young auntie here would say, "Accentuate the positive!"

Rô

[Kraellin]

the clothing is amazing, Ro, but why leave the face?

also, i had some success using the fft rgb filter, but in a very non-standard manner. i noticed a lot of specking in the red channel after applying the fft rgb, so i cloned it more smoothly. lol. trust me, it was VERY non-standard, but i did get some better effects.

i also tried using the median filter, the salt and pepper, the edge smoothing filter and the texture smoothing, all with some small results, but this was somewhat disappointing as you tend to lose too much detail for what you have to apply to get rid of the unwanted bits.

i also tried the polaroid dust and scratch fitler with some small results and the digital camera noise removal tool, also with some results, but on both of these, again the application has to be so heavy that you lose more than you gain.

small applications of combinations seemed to work the best with a bit of smudging and painting to help out.

i've not really got a totally satisfying result yet, so not posting anything, but thought i'd pass along some of what might work.

[Tony W]

Originally Posted by Jannz

The original is black and white and I scanned as a B&W at 1200dpi. Would I have been better to scan in colour?

I believe that a colour scan can potentially contain more useful information than a scan in B&W. My preference is to turn off all the scanner auto features to get a basic (RAW?) image which can then be worked on in PS.
Obviously cannot guarantee that there would be an improvement in this image - but it may just help.

For more info on scanning there is some very useful info from OlBaldy and MisterMonday
Click here Link 1
Click here Link 2

[byRo]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

....the clothing is amazing, Ro, but why leave the face?

No, I haven't left it altogether - I was just leaving for later, but I didn't have any more time yesterday, it was getting late.

This is a W.I.P. Hope to finish it off tonight and post the result.

Rô

[byRo]

Originally Posted by Tony W

I believe that a colour scan can potentially contain more useful information than a scan in B&W.

Agreed!
Especially with an image like this - you need ALL the help you can get!

Rô

[Tony W]

Ro, understand your comments ..."information that you need for a full restoration just isn't there. Do you leave it out, or make it up?" As you say it depends on the client but I think that to stand any chance of getting a "pretty picture" as you state you need to dive in with an "artistic impression" - I just need to develop that skill

Agree with Craig the work you have done on the clothing is fantastic. Really looking forward to seeing your finished work on this.

[byRo]

This was quite a challenge!

Maybe I should have picked out some reference faces, or made a 3D render - in the end I just slogged on until it was, at least, presentable.

Could have spent another couple of hours, but it's time for bed now!

3 images:

1) Healing brush on the bad spots, D&B to even things up a bit
2) First smudge

Then repeat: D&B + Smudge a few times
Levels, Sharpening and

3) Final result

(Yes, I did cheat and hide the eyes in a bit more shadow )

Rô

[Kraellin]

for an extremely difficult image you did remarkably well, Ro!

[Kraellin]

here's what i mean about using the fft filter. i used it in a very non standard way, at least for what we usally do here on RP. i applied fft rgb to the background image as normal, but then i just did some cloning on that result to get rid of the noise in the middle. that seemed to be where the most mottling and cracking seemed to reside.

this is not great, but i did get a bit of improvement without losing too much detail. this was entirely experimental. oh, and before doing any of this i multiplied the image by 300%. more experimenting would be good. we might well be able to employ the fft filter for more than just removing a pattern.

[Tony W]

Originally Posted by byRo

...Could have spent another couple of hours, but it's time for bed now!...

(Yes, I did cheat and hide the eyes in a bit more shadow )

Nice job Ro. Got to know when to quit - sleep is important
Cheating is good too

Craig, use of the filter interesting - initially tried this myself but did not get anywhere so gave up. I still wonder if a full colour scan would enable more improvement

[Kraellin]

tony, i had to do a lot of fumbling around to get any decent results, but i did get a little. more experimentation would be needed.

[Kraellin]

ok, i broke down and just did it the old fashioned way, by hand. this is 90% smudge/push with a smidgen of airbrush and erase. i only did the face because, one, it's a lot of work, and two, byRo did such a good job on the rest of it.

[Tony W]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

ok, i broke down and just did it the old fashioned way, by hand....

Shame on you Craig I was looking forward to seeing further results of your experimentation with FFT.

Still, a very nice job the old fashioned way

[oolfanska]

It's an interesting photo, but kind of a shame to spend much effort on such a low-res scan. I've been playing with it myself but there's not much to work with. Any chance of getting a 1) much higher-res one, and 2) better yet, in color?

[Kraellin]

hehe, tony. sorry. it is a very powerful tool and not fully explored as far as i can tell. maybe someday i or someone will unlock all its secrets.

[drphotohap]

Originally Posted by byRo

Here's a way of getting started...

1) Copy the layer and apply High Pass radius 1. Use Levels to make this a Black image with white marks where the cracks are. Apply some Gaussian blur (radius 1) to tone down the edges.
2) With another copy of the original apply the Median filter until the cracks disappear (most of the image will too!). I used radius 7.
3) Make a Levels adjustment layer above the Median layer and Group these two together.
4) Use the HP layer as a mask for the group, and adjust the Levels layer to taste.

This is what I got...

Rô

What is the process to apply a layer as a mask to another layer (or group) as you suggest in step 4. I've tried selecting the group layer & then dragging the HP layer to the Add Layer Mask Icon but that just creates a regular mask.

[jesterjeni]

I think I agree with flora...
instead of trying to smooth or overfilter it ...I think I would try to keep it antique-like to perserve the remaining details in her face maybe playing with the contrast or shadows

[drphotohap]

Originally Posted by drphotohap

What is the process to apply a layer as a mask to another layer (or group) as you suggest in step 4. I've tried selecting the group layer & then dragging the HP layer to the Add Layer Mask Icon but that just creates a regular mask.

I've found a way through Calculations. Apply the layer to itself, blend normal, create new channel, load channel, select group layer, apply mask. Whew hew!