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[paulus]

Again been working on this for two months ish and this is where I'm at.





What do people think?

Cheers
Paul

[Tori803]

What a tough restore! I don't know how much is possible to save. I think the background needs some texture so the baby doesn't pop out so much. Also,  there is a little bit of detail on the vest. It looks (maybe) like an argyle pattern, and there are two buttons that might be saved. Otherwise, it looks like a lot of painting (not my strong suit I'm afraid).
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4470378435_074241ac6d_o.jpg

Best wishes on this one.

Tori

[glennab]

Hi Paul

I'm with Tori in that I think you should leave him in his background and just even out the cracked areas - blend everything into a more uniform texture with the healing or patch tool.  And keep him as soft as possible.  This is one that the more you bring out detail by darkening it, the more detail will be evidence of damage.  Very tough one, and you deserve a lot of credit for taking it on.  I'll look forward to seeing where you end up with him.

Cheers!

GK

[Hannie]

Hi Paul,

You have picked a doozy and you are a hero for even trying to restore this one! 

I agree with Tori and Glenna that it is probably better to leave the background in and go for a really high key result.  (less damage visible then)

The eyes of the baby you can emphasize and for the rest clean up as much as possible leaving it very light.

Just as an example to show you what I mean, I could have cleaned up some more of the damage but I would not remove all of the noise that is in the original, just enough to make the result passable.

Hannie

[Mhayes]

Hi Paul,

I think Hannie has done a great job on this and high key is works great in getting rid of the dark areas of damage. While we can't reclaim the original, this has a charming artistic look.

Margie

[Marydh]

Hannie and Margie,
What do you mean by "high key"?
Thanks,
Mary

[Hannie]

Hi Mary,

The best way to show you is by looking at these high key images .

and here are low key images.

Hannie

[Marydh]

Thanks Hannie,
I did a search online as well (which I probably should have done in the first place).
Very interesting technique.  As you can tell, I'm not a photographer.
Mary

[paulus]

My High key ish attempt


Not sharp enough do you think? - I've left in the white background for the moment

Cheers
Paul

[paulus]

Next version - with slight background and different eyes


Any better?

Cheers
Paul

[Tori803]

The mouth on the next to last one looks a little better. The background on the last one looks slightly purple to me -am I seeing things? For the background maybe just patch the big scratches and blur the rest a little? I hate to say anything since I wouldn't be the first to volunteer for this one!

Tori

[glennab]

Paul, of all the iterations of this little one, I'd say that Hannie's very soft version is the direction I'd choose.  All the others look too harsh.  If I were going to restore this baby, I'd try to get somewhere near where Hannie took the image and then clean up the spots and cracks - and as Hannie did, not even try to get a true definition of the right side of his/her head as we look at the image.  There isn't enough there to get a true portrait, but there is enough to have a gentle impression of the baby's features, body and limbs, and I think that would be the more true restoration. IMHO.

Cheers

GK