Pretty in blue

[Shadow]

Hi Gang. Here with a new one. Silly me! Thought this one would be easier.  :D  So ... checking in with all the gurus here before heading too far down the rabbit hole. Think I'm going to learn a bunch more on this one  ::)  Below are my steps. Is either one on the right track or scrap both and do something different? ALL suggestions and feedback welcome!

Original


Set the gray point (not a perfect gray point) with a Levels layer /clicked with the gray dropper. Then added a Curves Layer and set White to 244 and Black to 15. The skin on the chin seems about right.


Background seemed off so channeling K E I selected the girl with a large feather and did an Auto Curves. Then inverted the mask for the background and ran a second Auto Curves. Shocking difference on the background.

[Lynnya]

Looks good Lyn.. only thing I did was to bump up the brightness and contrast a bit.. she's a bit flat (not your fault) the photo is old and faded some.. the colors look good to me..

[Shadow]

Thanks Lynn. Here's the WIP. The face color is so different than the legs/arms.  Does it look off to you guys? Is this a painted photo? And last but certainly not least ... suggestions on how to approach the background? Thanks all!

[Mhayes]

Shadow, thinking it may have been painted by looking at her rosy cheeks. That is why it is hard doing color correction. I think the face is darker because of the background ink running over onto her face. Long time ago, and worthless now thanks to Photobucket, we had a good tutorial on how to restore the background to the original.

Margie

[Shadow]

Thanks for the feedback Margie. Spent last night looking ... was this what you were referring to?
http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/index.php/topic,1761.msg18285.html?PHPSESSID=K,YdLhZGBJw5SQYaoaCz02#msg18285

[Shadow]

Hi Gang. Using Mary's tips (from link above) I came up with this for the bkgd. Did one with colors from original and in case that is mostly reddish damage, added one with a Hue/Sat to take the bkgd to the blues. Thoughts? Suggestions?

[Hannie]

Shadow, I like the one on the bottom the best with the slight blueish tint in the background.  (great tip from Mary)

In the dress I still see a little of dark staining, or perhaps it is just that some areas are too light due to damage.  However I would even it out a little more?

[Lynnya]

Beautiful job Lyn... lovely skin tones and great background! Not an "easy" one for sure lol :up:

[Shadow]

Thanks girls! The dress does need more attention. Thanks for the feedback.  ;)

[Shadow]

This might be the final. See anything in need of tweaking Gang?

[Lynnya]

Not a thing... looks perfect to me Lyn... beautiful job  :up: :up: :up:

[Hannie]

Shadow, some shading on right side of baby's head/ear are gone.

[Shadow]

Thanks Lynn!
Good eye Hannie! Thought it might be damage. Here they are side by side.