My first attempt!!

[mediaase]

This is my very first attempt at restoring a photo. It was a graduation picture of my Papaw (yes, in the south we say Papaw )

I converted it to B&W which removed a lot of noise and the yellowed tape. Then just adjusted levels followed by MAJOR stamp tool work. All done in Photoshop on a Mac. I am really pleased with the outcome and it wouldn't have been so easy without the Photoshop Restoration and Retouching book. That book is GREAT!

http://members.home.net/mediaase/photo/gallery/pics/fullsize/papaw.jpg

Now I am fooling around with giving it a sepia or duotone look....adding a little color into it....heck, I may get frisky and just colorize it! BTW, this is my first post here....GLAD to have found this place!!!

[Ed_L]

Welcome to RetouchPro! I think you've done an excellent job for the first attempt at restoration. You are indeed a fast learner. Lookiing forward to seeing more of your work.

Ed

[DJ Dubovsky]

Oh no, it's another one who played around with Photoshop and now is forever hooked.
I can tell by your excitement that you had a great time with your first restoration and I can see why. You did a fantastic job on it. Papaw is a handsome guy. You definately will make a great restorer because the talent is definately there and best of all, you think it's fun. Some of my best ones came about because I was just having fun.
Welcome and look forward to hearing more from you.
DJ

[thomasgeorge]

Very nice job, especially on the hair and hi-light areas. A duotone look would be interesting as well as sepia--have a look over in the software section and check out two reviews-Melancholytron filter and Old Movie filter--I am not sure if they are avaliable for Mac platform but they might give you some ideas. Tom

[jeaniesa]

Welcome to RetouchPro and congrats on your first restoration! You've done a great job! Isn't it fun to see a picture come back to life?

I have only one minor comment. It looks like there's a lighter area in the skin below the left corner of the mouth. I know myself how difficult it is to correct areas of skin without it looking blotchy and I haven't figured out any great ways myself to correct it. The only thing I can think of is perhaps the burn tool at a very low opacity (like 5%). Might not work, but it's something I would probably try. Again, this is a minor point and I don't think it detracts from the restored photo.

Thanks for sharing your work with us! -Jeanie

[mediaase]

Thank you all for the comments and encouragement! I notice that area too now that I am at work.....my Sony monitor died last week so I have been tinkering with this photo on an OLD Compaq 15" monitor....YUCK......I'll fix that when I get home though.

Thanks again!