Small Wallet Photos

[eegee]

I have three photos that I have scanned. The original photos are small so there is some distortion in the larger scanned versions. The photos have also been kept in a wallet inside a plastic sleeve for some time, so this adds to the anomalies in the image.

I have worked on the first photo. I would like to hear some comments on the final product as to whether it still looks realistic. I am an amateur in photo restoration and this is my second attempt.

I would like to ask for some assistance with the other two photos. I will try work on the second one tomorrow if I have time. I have found that it can be quite time consuming restoring photos.

I hope it is all right to post the links to the photos in a ".txt"? I know it is a bit cumbersome to get the links to the photos that way, but at least I get to post a larger image and I also get a little privacy from the web spiders.

[Florin]

Hi. Cannot see your pics there. Try to upload in mediafire.com, it's fine for free 30 days storage.

[mistermonday]

Florin, the links are provided as text in a simple text document. If you right click and Save As to your PC when you double click it, it should open in Notepad or any text editor you have. You will then need to copy and paste the links into your browser.
Regards, Murray

[eegee]

Originally Posted by Florin

Hi. Cannot see your pics there. Try to upload in mediafire.com, it's fine for free 30 days storage.

Have you come right Florin? Murray is absolutely correct with regards to needing to open the file in any text editor and copying the links into your browser. I hope that solves your problem, unless it is the image hosting site I chose?

[eegee]

I have have finished working on the other two photos and made some slight changes to the first photo. I would really appreciate any comments.

[Florin]

K, now I have deen the pics, thanks Murray. When I copied/pasted the links from the .txt the browser indicated "blocked account"

0k, you've been using only plgins? Any other technique?

[eegee]

Ah, that account blocked message happens when you are not logged into ImageShack. It is something new they introduced recently. I have now uploaded the pictures to MediaFire as you suggested.

scan.jpg
1.jpg
2.jpg
3.jpg

I am not sure what you mean by only using plugins. I used the spot-healing tool and clone tool in Photoshop.

[Florin]

K. First of all, NEVER scan the pictures together because you are supposed to work each of them individually. Then, they are very small size and a lot of damages. This means that you (or someone else) will need to zoom in a lot. Healing tool is great but in this size (purple chick is 2.8x3.5 cm) will not help too much. If you'll zoom to 100%, you'll see no textures at all, mean no hair, skin, clothes texture, neither the paper texture, just some flat colors and shapes. We need these textures, my friend, they are part of the show That's why I asked if you've been using some plugin, seems to me that some blur filter was applied.
K, now, you'll need to scan again them, one by one at least 1200 dpi. Do it in the manual mode and be sure that your hardware (scanner) does not apply any kind of mask or plugin. I'm saying that because my old Acer does have different modes, natural, magazine, newspaper, sharpened/unsharpened etc. Leave all controls as default. I'd like to help you with some advices about techniques and workflow but with a better original image. Thank you

[eegee]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately my uncle has gone away for the weekend. When I am able to get a hold of the photos, I will scan them like you requested.

[eegee]

Hi Florin. I have scanned the photos in 9600dpi but I resized them to 1920 width since they were too big for me to upload. I hope the images better now.

http://www.mediafire.com/?b0f1bxe7cnzmldr
http://www.mediafire.com/?38js4hlk9ukcioz
http://www.mediafire.com/?03w3vaf3uxy4s67

[Florin]

Hi. Ok, this is different, helps a lot the work. I'm downloading them and have a look. Thank you for your time

[Florin]

Well, there is a lot of work here, the pictures are so damaged. Unfortunately they need an advanced level of skilness and enough working time. I doubt the plugins could help a lot here.
I made the #3 scan eyes, nose and face retouch, this one is the less complicated. You could go on with this start. I only used the curves to enhance and the clone tool, dodge and burn brushes for the retouch.
Here is your file:
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?01gg12b4g8650uj
Sorry to do so little but I have 3 jobs to deliver for this week and not too much time.
Regards,
Florin

[darield]

Florin your work is beautiful. I am posting an attempt I made on the first wallet. I worked on just a small area on the left side. I worked on the first photo because it was so damaged and I wanted a chance to learn from this. I noticed in my attempt, that my hair line became muddled and blurred, so on this type of restoration, how does one keep the hair looking more realistic? Also to start, I found a small area above the eye where I could use a 3 pxl size brush and continue making a larger area so I could increase the brush size. On the first photo, is there a better place to start? For me, making that decision is one of the hardest decisions.

If someone else wants to chime in, that would be great. Florin, since you posted a small sample, that's why this post is directed at you. Since you are so busy this week, if you have time next week, I would love to learn from this sample also.

Thanks.

[Florin]

Dariel, hi. I always insist on the high resolution inportance whenever you'll start the work. This is so logical, try to draw or write anything over a small piece of paper, 3x4 cm. Then, take a full letter size paper and do the same. You'll enjoy whaterver you're doing, working confortably and with all the required details. This is the first step.
The second one is duplicate the background, save the file as .psd, hide (the "eye") the superior layer and begin to retouch the background image. This way you'll be able to compare in any moment if you are going wright or wrong. The bad araes are so difficult to retouch and it's so easy to make some mistake. I have another habit too, I'm saving snapshots and marking history points when I'm doing something fine so, if I screw something later I'm able to redo it quickly.
The most difficult part of this #3 sample will be the hair, it will take much more time and must be retouched with slim brushes, cloning or painting the hair's dark or clear lines.
Our friend eegee have upload some new high resolution scans. I put mine to 1cm wide because 0.53cm was too small and worked fine. Do the same with yours one.
If I'll have some little time I'll try to help with the eyes of your sample. You are right, always start with the eyes. Clean a little around and begin to retouch them, one by one.
I must go to school now, I'll be back this night.
Regards, F

[eegee]

Florin, I just got back from a long day. I took a quick look at your upload and it looks amazing so far. I hope I get a chance tomorrow to read your posts in detail and comment on them.

darield, thanks for also helping. Likewise, I will read your post tomorrow and provide a better comment.