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Baby Restoration

Lady & dog

OPR Biloxi Trip

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

[glennab]

Help me Gurus!

I have a difficult photo of a couple whose faces are so covered with small brown and large black blotches that I'm having to clone very small areas to get skin color.  What I'm achieving in doing this is a very flat, "Paint by Number" look.  There's not enough skin showing to be able to use the healing brush or patch tool. I'd appreciate any feedback on how I can avoid this contrived look.  Thanx!

Glenna (aka GG)

[Mark Wilson]

Hi GG,

It would be helpful to see your image. Are you able to post it?

-Mark.

[glennab]

Hi Mark --

Third try -- my poor old G3 is very cranky about my trying to preview this message to determine whether I actually was able to attach the photo.  This time I'm just going to post without previewing and hope you'll be able to view the photo.  At any rate, this is the original.  I lightened it with levels and got great color, but also got the horrendous blobs on their faces.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

GG

[Mark Wilson]

GG, there's a fair bit of skin around the blobs that you really want to leave as it is. So, you could try sampling the skin colour and using a brush set to Lighten to remove the black blobs without touching the OK skin. Use a soft edged brush and resample the skin colour as you move.

Let me know if this helps at all.

-Mark.

[vhansen]

Agree with Mark.  It looks as though you have plenty of "good" skin to work with.  Cleaning the rest up will be tedious, as it means working on each spot, however, doing it that way will give you much better results in the end.

[glennab]

Mark & whansen:

Thanks so much for the feedback.  I'll try the method you suggested.  Do you think it would work better on the darkened version?  I chose this photo because it wasn't apparent how drastic and close together the flaws are until I got rid of the dark cast.  It's going to be daunting, I realize, but I want to do the very best I can to make this look realstic.  I've done photo restoration before, but never on a photo so covered with debris.  Wish me luck.  I'm pretty Photoshop savvy, but I certainly appreciate your guidance.

Best wishes, Gurus!

GG

[Mark Wilson]

I've done photo restoration before, but never on a photo so covered with debris.

It's quite a shock when you see the level of damage on some of these photos for the first time, isn't it? But at the same time, there are some really awesome restorations being done by OPR volunteers on these images.

-Mark.

[glennab]

Mark:

Yes, I was quite taken aback by the destruction on these images.  But then, that's why we're doing what we're doing!  I have a feeling that I'll learn more and more each time I tackle one of these challenging photos and they'll get easier as time goes on. Just pray that you won't be working on some of mine one day, because I live at the southern tip of St. Petersburg, FL -- and I know our day is coming!

Thanks again for all your help.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Am at work right now, so I need to get back to business.

'Bye!

GG

[glennab]

My Photoshop Tutors:

Just an update.  Mark & whansen, your technique is working extremely well.  I actually have some skin-looking skin.  Now I feel as if I'm making progress.  Thanks again for your input!

GG

[rcarey2]

I use a similar technique for light spots. I use the Clone tool set to either Lighten (to remove the dark spots) or Darken (to remove the light spots).
paz y luz
ron

[Quoin]

I am interested to try the clone tool set to lighten or darken, as I have not tried this tool on any other setting. Could someone succintly explain when & why you would choose to use lighten or choose to use darken with the clone tool? Thanks! (I'm still learning!! Have just finished my 3rd restoration)

[RussellF]

This doesn't work for all images of course, but I've been using Eye Candy's HSB Noise filter for years to add film grain back into images.  Usually for places that I have to totally reconstruct, and am left with flat or smooth areas.  As far as I know, this is the best film grain emulator out there, and really works wonders in my opinion.  I'd love to hear any other suggestions though.

[rcarey2]

I use the clone tool set to darken when there are white spots (or lighter spots) in an area where cloning a direct section would look... cloned.
Example: in one picture two people were sitting on a boat, lots of rippling water in the background. The ripples grew smaller in the distance (perspective). I didn't want to lose that perspective (clone water from the far background to the near background) and I didn't want a cloned pattern of water. To maintain that organic/natural feeling I used the clone tool set to darken to get rid of the white splotches. This process made it blend better than straight cloning (had a better edge and seemed more natural.)
I've done this in places where there is a texture I want to maintain but do not want an EXACT clone of it.
paz y luz
ron

[Quoin]

Thankyou Ron - I am hoping that if needed I can try this technique out - So much to Photoshop, not sure if I'll ever catch-up with all it can do! Cheers...

[cmpentecost]

I have the book How to Wow Photoshop for Photography, which is an excellent book.  In the book, on page 96, the authors recommend using an oval brush for the healing brush.  To quote, "click on the brush preview on the options bar, set hardness to 85%, angle to 60, and roundness to 60.  That brush will produce an irregular edge, which will help blend the retouching into the image".  I have been using this method, along with changing the blending between darken and lighten (depending on the area of damage), and it's been working great.  I feel I have much better control of the healing brush by using this method.

Christine