My first go at photo restoration - need feedback

[bossturbo]

This is my first photo I've tried. The photo is from my friend (I didn't scan it) and I showed her what I did and she was stoked with the results; however, that doesn't necessarily mean the job is good, haha.

The only thing I am not happy with is the colors and the blown highlights. There still appears to be a bit of a color cast/old looking colors. If I should fix this, can you suggest some specific steps? Or should I leave as is?

What about the highlights blownout in the diamond plate under his arm? If you were restoring this photo for a client, would you fix this area?

Also, is it general practice to straighten photos that are taken crooked in the first place?

Anything else I'm missing or that you would suggest?

[Ruzzez]

Ask the Client.

I would assume that they would want a finished product worthy of displaying. I try to improve the composition where I can.

[bossturbo]

Hi Ruzzez, does that mean you would rebuild the photo to the left of the guy (to help with the terrible composition)? Or were you referring to straightening the photo?

[Ruzzez]

Both, but I am not sure the photograph justifies the effort needed. I understand that it maybe the best of lot and there is no other choice.

Before you do any rebuilding, I would suggest that you crop to what is essential to keep.

Or you could keep the man and bench. Change out the background to imporve the composition.

[dataflow]

there is still some detail in those blown out areas.
use the "Shadow/Highlight" to bring the detail out.
after that you could also add "Shadow/Highlights" to the whole image (shadow setting set to 0)

[bossturbo]

thanks Ruzzez and Dataflow. I will leave the background as is, it's the guys' truck - he was a trucker and it has significance. I will try the shadow/highlight.

[Cupcake]

I used Raw in CS5.

[bossturbo]

Thanks cupcake. I think it's a bit dark, personally, but it's good to see the detail in the highlight areas. Here's what I ended up with. I did a minor shadow/highlight for the diamond plate area under his arm, but left the sign completely blownout, since there wasn't any data to recover there.