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Not Much To Go On

Students with Family

how do you do

[Ausimax]

Hi,

I'm back, with my latest trials and tribulations.  This the first, has been reasonably easy except for my usual bugbear, the hair, made it using Russel Brown's hair brushes, still doesn't look right to me - any suggestions?








Max

[Ausimax]

 
My next challenge is this little charmer. There is enough detail in the blue channel to get a rough outline of the right leg, for the left leg I just had to wing it, there is no detail at all of the hands, Baby hands and feet are not my forte I am afraid.

The peripheral damage to the background was a trial trying to make some sense of it, at this point I don't know how to proceed, my chances of building realistic hands is about nil, could clone in a pillow or something to cover the hands, but then we are not supposed to put in anything that wasn't there.  Help!!!









Max

[ReactionStudios]

Max-

Heck of a job on what you had to work with! Can we do creative cropping? If this were my baby's pic I would use the "rule of thirds" and crop like this...



It the same ratio and should scale up nicely.

|shawn|

[Ausimax]

Hi Shawn,

Thanks for your comments, I tend to think cropping is the way to go, we are allowed to crop if damage is severe and there is a usable section in the middle, and I think this fits that category, I can not realistically restore the feet and hands so a crop seem the only option.

Max

[Dave]

That crop makes the photo really successful as a restoration.

Good job Max and nice collaboration Shawn.

Dave

[glennab]

Hi Max

You did a wonderful job on the baby.  I think the cropping is perfect.  So much of the background in many photos is superfluous. The one thing you might do is soften the edges around his/her legs.  The transition between the legs and the blanket seem a bit harsh.  And maybe soften the shadow on the top leg just a bit.

As for the two young men, I think both their heads seem too shortened, giving them a bit of a Neanderthal look.  The fellow on the right isn't bad -- I think if you gave him more hair above what you've already created, he'd be fine.

The guy on the left needs more on the top as well, and less on the sides, and I think you need to sample different colors from the original hair and build up strands with a fine brush in different shades and then blend it all with the smudge tool at appx. 2 px and 70-80% opacity or less.   I've studied photos of hair, and each color is comprised of many shades.  I'd build the strands going away from his face more and smudge them the same way.  That would appear more like the original, I think.

Hair is tricky.  I've downloaded Russell's brushes but haven't used them yet.  Do you get enough control over the strands, both color and shape?

I don't envy you this challenge!  Being the stalwart you are, you'll pull it off!

Best wishes

GG

[ReactionStudios]

Hey Max-

I agree with Glennab about the two men at the top of this post. You could modify one of Russell’s brushes in it's color dynamics so that you get random color between two colors. Set your foreground and background colors and based on the setting in dynamics, you will get a random effect to simulate hair nicely. Set your fore and back colors with slight color shift, you don't want too much contrast in the colors. You can do back with the same brush, and no dynamics, to add highlights manually. I would even create my own brush based off of each of the guys natural hairs for a more seamless effect.

They do need more forehead too. Nice job!

EDIT: I am sorry, I am assuming you are using Photoshop. You can do similar custom brushes in Corel Painter. I am not sure about other image editing apps. FYI...

Cheers-
|shawn|

[Ausimax]

Hi everybody,

Dave, thanks for your input, glad you approve the crop idea, saves a lot of angst.

Glenna, thanks for your thoughts, yes the baby still needs a lot of trimming work yet, it is only at the rough out stage, I posted it seeking seeking suggestions.
The two men? I think the one on the right ( our left) is a woman, her/his hair follows the outline available in the channels, there is that much hair on the sides, I may have got it a bit low in the front, when the hair line was higher it looked like a beret. Will have another go at the hair anyway, I need the practise (Don't it show). the other fellow, I don't know, if you look at the original it look like his hair line goes just above his eyebrow on his right side, it could be a shadow, what from I don't know.

Shawn, yes I am using PS CS2, Russel Browns brushes are designed to use with a tablet and variable pressure and I only have a mouse and I find getting the precise control needed to draw shape and curve difficult, beyond that you have lost me, I have enough trouble using the brushes, let alone modifying them - could you explain further please?

Thank you all for your help, I need it.

Max

[ReactionStudios]

Hey Max-

Every brush in PS can be adjusted under the Brush Pallet (F5). You can change every aspect of the brush you can imagine. You could turn all of Russell's brushes into non-pressure sensitive. Replace that with a fade so as to simulate a real brush stroke while using a mouse. The possibilities are endless when adjusting brushes. The best was is to open a new document and just start experimenting with brushes and what changing each setting can do.

Have fun!
|shawn|

[glennab]

Hi Shawn --

You're obviously one of our honest-to-goodness no-doubt-about-it genuine gurus.  Since I haven't seen many posts from you, I'm assuming you're new to the forum.  Welcome!  I can't wait to find out what other wonderful tips and tricks you have for us.  I can assure you that I'll be needing help, especially with my next restoration.  The one I'm working on right now is nearly done thanks to the rest of the forum's geniuses.  I'm glad we have another one aboard!

GG

[Ausimax]

Hi,

Shawn, thanks for your explanation on how to modify brushes, hadn't quite found that yet, as you have probably guessed by now I am Photoshop challenged.

Tried doing the hair again using modified brushes and it certainly makes doing hair better, though you can't see it in this image, the main problem is that at the resolution of images like this everything you do like this seems overdone, the hair in the image, as you can see by the 100% crop is an illusion created by shading, and I'm damned if I can replicate it.

Any other suggestions would be welcome, though I think I have gone about as far as I can take this one.






Max

[Ausimax]

Hi,

I think this little fellow is about ready to go home to Mum, what do you think?

Tidied up the edges and other bits and pieces and softened it a little to remove some of the blotches.




Max

[glennab]

Hello Max

I think your little guy still needs a little softness around the areas where his legs meet the blanket.  Not much, but the edges still seem a bit harsh.  Also, I didn't notice this before, but do you think you should clone out the white spot on his thigh and the ones on the blanket right above his bottom?  I can't tell if that's damage or part of the photo.

Another great effort.  You're the best!  G'night!

GG

[Kenny]

Hey Max.


If you look at his head, the edges are slightly blurred.Try using the blur tool set on 50% strength and use a soft brush so it just covers the edges of his legs and blur the edges somewhat. I tried it with the image you posted and it helped soften the edges quite nicely.


Kenny

*Edit...

I forgot to say you can do this all on a separate layer. Just create a new layer above the others and be sure to check "use all layers" at the top. The blurring will be on it's own layer then.

[Ausimax]

Hi,

This any better?



Max