First job, be gentle with me.

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Ok here is my first work in progress. Not sure if it should be here? Still have a lot to do with desaturation etc and the back of the other person's head.

I need opinions on a couple of things. In the original the lady has what appears to be hair down the centre of the forehead? I couldn't tell on the high res and the mark did follow on from a stain. Hair or not?

Right down the bottom wherre I havent touched yet there is writing. The first word is obviously Louisianna but after that I'm guessing State University? The word underneath looks like summer but what year? Leave it out or try to put something in there?

[Ausimax]

Hi Tassie D,

Hard to tell with the hair, how does it look in the original, if it looks good enough to be hair I would leave it, otherwise give it the flick.

You are probably right about the writing, but the " Summer" seems to be set too far to the left to only have a year after it, I wonder if they have "Summer Schools" at their Uni's as some of ours do. Perhaps one of the locals will come to your aid here, it would be nice to be able to keep the writing if possible.

You are going great guns - keep on truckin! :up:

Max

[kiska]

Tassie, welcome.

I think the 'hair' in the middle of the forehead is damage. She probably also has on a mortar board. As for the print at the bottom; it probably is Louisiana State University. Summer 'of year', or 'year', or 'Quarter year'.

You might want to finish the 'Summer' part, maybe Louisiana State University, but the rest would be total conjecture.

It looks really good!

[glennab]

Good morning Tassie

Here's my 2 cents' worth.  I checked each channel for the strand of hair on the woman's forehead, and the depth of color in each matches the rest of her hair.  That would lead me to believe that it is actually a wisp falling onto her forehead.

As to the type at the bottom, I suspect it says Louisiana State University, Commencement and then the year.  Since it's impossible to see anything other than the obvious copy already showing, I wouldn't add anything else -- Unless there's some way to contact the owner and get the actual wording and an okay to complete it.  The type is Helvetica, so that's no problem to reset, but I'd be very hesitant without approval from the owner.

Have a wonderful day!

Glenna

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Thanks everyone. I might add the wisp of hair back as there are a couple of others to the side of it. I completely forgot about the mortar board, will fix that up today.
The writing is so frustrating. Wish I could ask the owner about it. The guy is wearing an Airforce Cadet uniform I think, so the bottom line could even refer to that? I'll leave it out anyway, the owner could have it added later.

[cmpentecost]

Could the writing be "Summa Cum Laude"????  Does anything show up in the various channels?  I've never seen anything pertaining to graduation as being a summer grad, but certainly "summa cum laude".  My thoughts are it would be better to leave it off, then give the guy a summa cum laude accoldade if that's not what he earned.  Perhaps Dave will know something more.

Christine

[Tess (Tassie D)]

After accidentally working on the small pic for an hour before I realised i was on the wrong one, I think its as close as I can get it?
Open to suggestions for improvement before I send it back. Now I need to get some lunch or it will be dinner time.

[Ausimax]

Hi Tassie D,

A really great job! Well done.

Really annoys you when you goof off like that doesn't it, I do it all the time, find I'm working on the wrong layer mostly anyway I can blame old age, I hope you have a reasonable excuse. :funny:

Max

[Tess (Tassie D)]

 Max I can blame school holidays here, my DD was pestering to go to the cinema. ??? I'm not happy with the background on it, seems to jump out a bit on my lcd. As for the bottom of the jacket and trousers, well I'm no artist. ::)

[Ausimax]

Tassie D, as I have a second look, there appears to be an area of his jacket just under and around their hands that needs a touch up, and with the trousers maybe toning down the dark outline a bit would draw the eye less.

Max

[glennab]

Hi Tassie

I can't get over what a wonderful job you're doing on this monster.  All I see is that you need some refinement of edges and folds below their hands.  I'd wager Chris is right.  Summa Cum Laude is a distinct possibility.  But moot, unfortunately, unless the owner can be contacted.  I think you did an especially awesome job on the gentleman's hair behind the main subjects.  I believe kudos are in order!

Have a wonderful day.

Glenna

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. Poor hubby gave up and went to bed, he says he's a photo widow. :)

Here's the final one I think. Will probably change my mind tomorrow. I darkened the background and lightened the lines on the jacket and trousers.
One question, the final is a lot smaller kb than the original file. How did that happen and can I fix it?
Tess

[schen]

One question, the final is a lot smaller kb than the original file. How did that happen and can I fix it?

The finished background with smooth-transition contains fewer bits and bytes as compared to the water damage of the original in a compressed file.  So you should expect the restored file be smaller.

On the other hand, change of resolution or compression ratio will have great impact on the file size.  I would suggest that you magnify a few critical areas such as the eyes, the teeth or the words on the diploma and do a side-by-side comparison of the original and the finished files to be sure that the finished file did not unintentionally get blurry or incur compression artifact on the fringe.

All in all, it was a great job. 

[kiska]

Tassie, did you make a copy of your work in progress BEFORE you posted it for us to see?? I make a copy, downsize it to 72 ppi for quicker posting. I keep the one I'm working on at 300 ppi. Maybe you ended up working on the downsized version???

[Ratz]

Tassie, great work!! It looks fantastic.