Question

[Anthony]

Now that I have finished cleaning this very dirty image, I would like your opinion. I really don't want to colorize the image more than sepia, but the childs gown is so white, it looks more like a hospital gown. Keeping the image as close as possible to the original, I could use an opinion. Should I just darken it or leave it alone? Please feel free to critique the cleanup also. Thanks for you help.

[rondon]

Hi I'm sure you'll get better advice... but for a quick fix I took the brush set on multiply at 20% opacity ... and after sampling the original color with the eye dropper just ran over it a few times...
I think you did well on the photo.
RonDon

[Jakaleena]

Anthony,

You've done a great job on this one. If you decide to try and darken the shirt, here's the method I used...

1. Duplicated layer

2. Selected the shirt with the Magic Wand, switched to Quick Mask and erased the selected parts that I didn't want to include and blurred slightly

3. Left quick mask mode, selected inverse, and cut everything except the shirt.

4. Adjusted levels on the shirt and switched the layer to Color Burn

[Ed_L]

Anthony,

I think you've done an excellent job on the repair. Should you darken the shirt? I think that's a personal preference, but in my opinion, it isn't necessary, although the darker versions are also very nice. Undoubtedly, my post was a big help.

Ed

[Anthony]

Thank you for your comments and help. I darkened it just a bit. Maybe I'm the only one that thinks it looks like a hospital gown.

[Flora]

Hi Anthony!

You seem to have solved your 'problem' already.... and, as Ed said, ""that's a personal preference""

In my opinion, it also ""looks like a hospital gown"" and it has a light halo around the baby's shoulders.... so, here is what I did:

1) I loosely selected around the torso area, (halo included), and slightly feathered the selection.

2) Tweaked the 'Curves' a bit...

[Anthony]

Thank you Flora. I took your advice and this is what it looks like now. As far as the hospital gown look - I have a feeling there is a lace collar we are not seeing. If you look closely on either side of the neck there are raised pieces of fabric, but I'm not sure I can get that back or if it would make that much of a difference.

[Flora]

Anthony,

...glad I could help ...and your restoration is brilliant!

I had another look at your picture and...yes...I can also see the "raised pieces of fabric"....but, for the life of me, I couldn't make out if it is lace or just a 'plain collar'.... the image resolution is not enough to see this kind of details...