Need an opinion on restoration.

[nebulaoperator]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this. Recently i have done a restoration if i can name it so(Surely on this site there is way more advanced retsorators then me) and would like to hear your opinion, criticism on what can be improved and etc.Digital image i was provided with was very small in size only 58kb.It was nearly a pixel work. Thank you. Nebula

[nebulaoperator]

Ups. here is the photo.

[nebulaoperator]

C'mon people 69 views and not a single opinion?

[4personnen]

I think you should point to a bigger file as we cannot see exactly how it has been done, particularly concerning the medals...At that point looks not that bad except that it can be sharpened a bit, it would enhance the masonic ribbon inscriptions and those tiny details. I also think the sepia could have been tone down a bit, in order to increase the red in this ribbon. I think you could have done better in drawing the "star" on his collar. But again, we don't know what the size of the original file, could help us understand where you have been through (as well as the software you're using). But You've done an overall good job on removing this texture and not making it too painted, which is , according to the original might have been a tough job. But, eh! just my 2 cents...!

[nebulaoperator]

All that was done on CS5. I had only jpeg file available and only 58KB.I could hardly blow the photo up without pixelating it .I have to agree medals look quiet poor.I had no idea how they look like. tried to get back any medal texture back but it was too hard.I did not want to saturate ribbon too much but that is only my opinion.(would stand out too much).
When to upload photo it says only 100kb sorry this file is nearly 100KB already.
What software do you use for retouching? Thank you. Nebula.

Originally Posted by 4personnen

I think you should point to a bigger file as we cannot see exactly how it has been done, particularly concerning the medals...At that point looks not that bad except that it can be sharpened a bit, it would enhance the masonic ribbon inscriptions and those tiny details. I also think the sepia could have been tone down a bit, in order to increase the red in this ribbon. I think you could have done better in drawing the "star" on his collar. But again, we don't know what the size of the original file, could help us understand where you have been through (as well as the software you're using). But You've done an overall good job on removing this texture and not making it too painted, which is , according to the original might have been a tough job. But, eh! just my 2 cents...!

[spotter]

its very blurry compared to the original on the left. You need to scan at a much higher resolution to begin with. 300ppi at least. Then there will be a lot more to work with. A lot of the people on here do use photoshop but some use gimp and some paintshop. I think most of your problems are your original scan being too low quality.

[jesterjeni]

a quick glance, not too shabby...I dont think I would have left it yellow but that is my own prefference..without a larger file to look at it coud use a little more clarity or sharpening

[4personnen]

for the medals, you can have a collection there

http://www.hrtyrergalleries.com/images/1207.jpg

and there : http://www.masonicmedals.net/


For the upload, you need to use sites such as imageshack or photobucket in order to post the file...the attachments to be considered as Thumbnails.

What was you method for removing the "bad" texture?

[nebulaoperator]

Thank you for medal link.
As far as i remember i made it B&W(udjustment layer on top) level and curves to bring whites and black up. then a couple of different noise reduction filters in little amounts and sharpening bit by bit. So far i am just a beginner doubt you'll find any tip in my method. If was to sharpen this image more it would loose that fine washed texture so i decided to live that like it is. Also i was trying to avoid that painting look like affect when people apply to much of the low frequency filter( i think they call blur by this definition). You probably suspecting what i am talking about i neither could sharpen or blur it more. Would you do it differently by using other tools?
Here is bigger photo :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37502447@N03/5361744830/

[4personnen]

I think, but I am not super proficient, that you loose the sharpening on the edges that we used to call "border effect" in the old days (increasing contrast on the edges in order to sharpen, basically with "high pass filter"). Your original has neat borders between the man and the background and you are loosing them, you are also loosing details, as said, in the medals and the embroidery. So you must sharpen with a mask and you must reduce noise with a mask. For the texture try to clean a nice good area and repair the rest using the patch filter (it's not always working). You can also use that area to apply that texture as a "fill" on a perfectly smooth repair. It's just ideas, as I said there are people more experts than me around.

It's alright for the link...This is something I always do, when I have to repair. Do a little search. Do a tiny bit of history. I find it helpful eg. for the fabrics, the fashion (in haircuts, in accessories) so it helps you with the overall understanding of the repairing. (if you know the ribbon is silk, it will not crease the same way as a lycra-disco outfit )

[Kraellin]

for what you started with, nice job. i'd finish around the signature and i'd also apply an unsharp mask filter to the whole to sharpen it up just a touch. i'd also reduce the yellowing. a simple hue/sat adjustment layer shld do it. just take the saturation down a touch. and, if i were doing this in paint shop pro, i'd try a 'fade correction' as this might bring out more detail. in photoshop, try a highlights/midtones/shadows treatment. i like that you found and brought out the detail on the shoulder strap thing.

[nebulaoperator]

Kraellin thank you for insight and advice. There should be easier way to correct that signature rather then paint bit by bit. It is too pixalated, size is too small. Do you know hot to extract that muddy paint around the signature by any chance?

[Kraellin]

i just use clone and push (heavy smudge in photoshop) with a very small brush and maybe a medium to light opacity. dont try to do it all in one swipe. just nibble at it and zoom way in to work on it.

[nebulaoperator]

Thank you Kraellin for your advice. It looks like solution is painstaking work

[Kraellin]

it sounds painstaking, but it's not very difficult nor even that time consuming. have fun with it