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[Dave]

Hey everyone,

After reading about OPR in the newspaper I work for, a local man brought a photo into me hoping I could restore it. I tried to explain to him what OPR was all about, but he really didn't grasp the concept. He thought I had opened a restoration business. Long story short, he's paying me to do the restoration for him.

Now, I'm stuck. There was grit all over the original that wouldn't come off and I'm at a loss on how to remove it. So, I'm turning to the gurus of OPR for advice. I've included a small sample of the image to give you a better idea of what I'm up against.

Thanks in advance.
Dave

[Ziaphra]

That's quite small so I can't really see what's going on too much...the way I restore photos is clone, copy and paste areas that need building up and smudging...then adding a bit of noise if necessary. Good luck!

Here is a small example of what I am currently working on:

[Dave]

So how did you get from point A to point B on that? Your original has the same kind of mess I'm dealing with.

[Ziaphra]

I clone all the bad bits from the surrounding areas...taking care to follow the original shadowing, skin tones etc. Then I copy and paste any parts that need building up, ie, buttons, collars, hair etc. Then I use the smudge brush at about 50% opacity (actually it varies between 47 - 57% depending on how hard I want to push the pixels) with a largish brush, I quickly give the areas a once over (following the shadows etc) then I use varying smaller brushes to finish it off to a smooth finish. Harder edged brush for the edges of clothing, faces etc and softer for the rest. Use the smudge brush in small round strokes...this will give a more natural finish and will make it easier to follow the original shading. For hair I normally use a big brush to smudge the highlights and darklights so they look natural then use a small brush at about 80% opacity to pull out strands and muss it up a bit. It can be tedious but the results are worthwhile.

There...my secret's out the bag!

[Ziaphra]

I forgot to add I also dodge and burn where needed too.

[mschonher]

Hi Dave,
There is a wonderful tutorial by Vikki Hansen, who is one of the most talented people at retouching and restoration that I've ever seen. This is a magazine article made available on line at:www.pbase.com/magazine  If you are pressed for time I would be happy to work on the faces for you while I wait for my photos from Mike..you could email me the photo.....Mary