skin problems persist

[sjm]

I'm trying to restore this photo for a friend of my husband. It is the ONLY photo he has of his wife as a young woman and thought it was impossible to restore it. I offered to give it my best shot, but I am still having skin problems. I've tried several techniques from this site, but she still looks blotchy and un-alive.

any suggestions?

I plan to find a blouse from another photo to replace the one in the photo.


BYW...the original is TINY and I'd like to be able to make at least a wallet size.

TIA!

[KenB]

It looked to me, that all you needed was a little blur and maybe some healing on the facial area. That's what I tried. I only tried it on the far right image.

Ken

[roger_ele]

Hi!

I first looked at the channels and LAB, I liked the lightness channel in LAB the best, although maybe I should have tried blending a little of the blue channel into it since that had the best detail - oh well - next time.

Anyway I used the Lightness channel, then used the patch tool in little spots of damage, until I had lost all obvious damage, then I used the clone tool with a soft brush on a low opacity and went back and forth in small areas to blend the edges where a light section meets each dark section until the transition is blended to a natural gradation.

This is not finished - just far enough to see the effect. From here one could do the more cloning until you are satisfied, or add texture, or blur and add texture, or smudge and add texture, or mix skin texture with blurred skin ... depending on what look you like and how much patience you have!

Good Luck, Roger

[ArtistColumbus]

SJM,

Here is my version of the photo. I enlarged it up to a wallet size for you.

I started over from the original photo and duplicate the background layer. (Always keep the original layer as a back up.) Use the clone tool to patch up all the the missing elements of the photo. Next, I used the quick mack to mask out the larger, less detailed areas of her skin. Copy the selected areas to a new layer and used Gaussian Blur to smooth out the overall tone. You may need to use the clone tool to further blend skin tones.

Basically, you have to work it a while to get it just right. So that the photo doesn't look to blurry, I duplicated the overall image again and went to >Filter >Texturizer with a Sandstone texture and blended it to the previous layer at 20-30% opacity. I also darkened the background and was able to pull some shading detail in the blouse.

I hope this helps you a little. It's hard to remember to write down what I do as I go along. Good luck!

[Jakaleena]

Here's what I did to it:

1. Dust & Scratches with the history brush twice

2. Gaussian blur with noise and the history brush twice

3. Some strategic burning/dodging

4. Curves adjustment layer, erased where the blouse is

[sjm]

WOW! You guys are phenomenal! Thanks for all the input. The lady's husband thought it would be impossible to restore his only photo of his bride. He'll be so happy to see the results.

Thanks again.

I'll post my final version when I complete it.

[Jakaleena]

Glad you found it all helpful, SJM. Can't wait to see your finished version.

Oh, btw...

It's really getting to be a small world around here, Jennifer - I drove through Centerburg twice today on my way to and from a meeting in Columbus. Went Rt. 3 from Mt. Vernon to Polaris Pkwy. and back...

[ArtistColumbus]

OH WOW! I'm surprised that you didn't miss it when you blinked! You practically went past our home; it's just off of Rt. 3. I've been up in Millersburg a few times, but I don't think I've been there since last summer. I love that whole area. It's so beautiful.

SJM, glad we could help. Can't wait to see your final results!