Tried and Tried

[sage150]

This photo was damaged by salt water.I have tried to restore
it on a number of tries but it always winds up looking like a
cartoon.I have tried using the clone tool in Photoshop on it
but I can't seem to get the right blend in and it loses it's
anatomy in the facial area.Would anyone have any idea's of
how I should approach this picture?

I should state that I am very new to this and haven't a real
clue on many of the techniques most of you are using.I have done
some restoration on my old black and white photo's and I enjoy
colorizing photo's a great deal.

As you can see by my statement's I am new to this forum.
I have read and looked at much of the work being done on here
and I must state that you are all very talented.

Thank You.
sage150

[winwintoo]

Hi Sage, I started working on this last night and didn't finish and don't think I'll have time today so thought I'd post my progress so you'd have an idea what I did.

I duplicated the background layer a coupld of times. Then I blurred the middle layer until most of the gunk disappeared.

Next, I put a blank layer at the top of the stack, made it the active layer and using the clone stamp set to "use all layer", cloned over the mess on her chest and dress. I also did a bit of airbrush over her hair.

I selected everything on the cloning layer and added some noise and then blured to give the skin some texture.

When I look now, I realize I should have put the dress cloning on a different layer than the skin cloning so that I could give the dress a different texture than the skin.

I also selected the woman and removed the background since it didn't seem to hold any significant information and if I was to finish this project, I would create a new backdrop.

Here's my effort, hope it helps, Margaret

[sage150]

Thanks Margaret, I will print your advice out right now.
The picture certainly looks much clearer and sharper.
I really like what you were able to accomplish with
it.
Have a great day.

Joseph

[roger_ele]

Sage,

Here is my try. This is hard to explain because it is more of a painting mindset, I hope you like it. I didn't get the teeth right yet and I guessed on the shape of parts of her face...

Rough overview of steps;

-duplicated background, turned off and on layer I worked on to check the integrity of the shapes
-painted over background
-painted over the worst of the damaged areas with the approximate brightness, then used patch tool bring in texture and the clone tool to blend
-added a little light painting to eyes and built up what I thought they would look like (copied pupil to other eye), clone tool on teeth and lips, painted a little.
-smudge tool on skin once the obvious damage was mostly removed to average skin brightness being carefull to paint with the smudge tool following the lines and contures.
-added noise, then blurred noise slightly.

Hope this helps,
Roger

[sage150]

Hi Roger,

If I can learn to restore 1/10 of what you can do I'll be
very happy.Unbelievable how you brought that picture back
to life.I've been trying to work with it all day.All I could
accomplish was a real mess.My picture is all out of definition
and began to look like a cartoon again.Not even a nice
looking cartoon.
Thank you so much for what you have accomplished with it.
Unlike other photo's that I have tried to restore this one was
very different because I seem to be having a difficult time
trying to put the definition of the face in as you have done.
This couldn't have been an easy task because I've been trying
for quite a long time to restore it to somewhat of a photo.
Except for just a very slight part of the look this came out
exceptional.You are so right when you mentioned the teeth.
That's probably where it is.

Thank You Again and Again,

Joseph

[roger_ele]

sage

Thanks, as I look at it again I think I might have the nose a little bright also. It was too dark and then I fixed it ...

I forgot to mention that I also added a color fill layer set to color blending mode to remove the distraction of the different colors.

A couple of thoughts;

-on detail areas, (earring in ear, pupils, eyelashes, etc.); use a light touch with little dots placed where you think the shape should be, then fill in with little dots and build up the shape gradually. I often do this with the clone tool with 'use all layers' and 'aligned' both turned off.

-on areas that need shading to brinmg shape out in clothing and skin. It is easiest to think of that not as drawing but as lightening and darkening (even though you can also use the clone tool to add the lighter and darker areas from similar cloned from spots)

-instead of looking at the object you are restoring as a whole concentrate on the shapes of the highlights (the lightest areas that reflect the light source) and especially concentrate on the shapes that the areas of shadow make. These two things put together will create the shape for you.

Next on my list is learning how teeth should look
Roger

[sage150]

Thanks again, Roger,

I've copied and pasted your notes for further reference.
As far as teeth go you did a wonderful overall job of the picture
and the teeth were alright the way they look.The overall
photo captured her persona.Considering that you never saw
any other photos of the subject,you were extremely close to
the mark.I must keep practicing to try to get that same overall
effect ; if that's possible.

Thank you kindly for the tips.

Joseph

[Flora]

Hi Joseph,

beside the excellent tips you got from Margaret and Roger, if you work with Photoshop 7, here is another way which I used trying to restore your picture .... the new Healing with Pattern technique from Katrin Eisman's book (Second Edition).

Please, let me know if you'd like a detailed explanation of the steps I took to get to this result ....

[winwintoo]

Flora, that is beautiful!!

Makes me wish I had PS 7 - and even more, I wish I had half your talent.

Margaret

[sage150]

Hello Flora,

You have done a very beautiful restoration of the photograph, I especially love the shading in it.You are
all so very talented.If I could come close to what you
have accomplished I'll be very happy.
I feel like a beginning swimmer, swimming with Champions.

If it wouldn't be too tedious on your part to explain the how
you accomplished the picture I would be very pleased.
I never dreamed I could get such beautiful renderings of the
photograph.Try and try as I would, I found it very difficult.
I put in so many hours trying to restore it.

[sage150]

Flora somehow the above got posted before I could say,

Thank You so much for the restoration.

Joseph

[Flora]

Margaret, Joseph,

Thank you so much for your great comments ....

....Margaret, I've seen your work ... and admired your great talent

Joseph, sorry I haven't had time for the description yet .... but I'll post it as soon as possible .....

[roger_ele]

Flora,

Thanks for the teeth!

When I was working on the photo I thought that the nose was wider because of the nostril shapes and the width of the flare of the nostril area. But maybe a person with a wider nose would have the top of the nose (from the bridge to the tip) closer to the face...? I am curious if you guessed that shape because it was pretty & classical & there were no clues to it's real shape or if there were any physical charachteristics that you used as a guide.

I might be inclined not to say anything since we all have our own subjective vision, but I see this difference in interpretation as a real opportunity for me to learn (even though it might well show off how much I don't know). Yours is a beautiful job and I really don't know if my assesment of the shape of her nose being wider is right or not ... what do you think?

Thanks,
Roger

[sage150]

Hi Roger,

Actually when I look at both pictures as a whole both of
them are extremely truthful to the look of the person.
I would assume if you knew the person there might be
some very,very minor changes.But as far as the restoration
of that particular photo, both renditions are true.
They are both excellent.

I know some people that must listen to music through
certain speakers and audio systems as a whole in order to
enjoy their music.They will tweak their music systems so they
can hear certain sounds from the instrument's,the bass,etc.
I've never understood that because when I listen to music
I can enjoy it coming out of any type of audio system,
including a transistor radio.
If I look at the picture of someone I know I see that person
whether or not they are in their best clothes or jeans.

I guess what I mean is that when I look at either of the pictures
you or Flora restored, I see that person in that picture.

I see I have quite away to go before I can achieve that
type of restoration.I've sure been practicing and reading.

Joseph

[sage150]

Example of Disaster

To give you an example where I was going.This is the
disaster I was creating.I figured I'd put this here
because I see by a later thread it is expected to see
how far the person who is asking for assistance got
with his photo.

Joseph