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OPR Workshops => Difficult => Topic started by: philbach on February 21, 2012, 11:15:06 AM

Title: Before and After
Post by: philbach on February 21, 2012, 11:15:06 AM
The subject in the photo appears to be tense with a near horizontal lip line.  In addition, many of the normal skin creases in this elderly gentleman don't seem to be present.  And finally does he have a mustache or not?  At any rate, here is a before and "after."  I would appreciate some suggestions.  Thanks  :loveit:

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k270/philbach/Original.jpg)

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k270/philbach/Current.jpg)
Title: Re: Before and After
Post by: Pat on February 21, 2012, 12:11:09 PM
Hi Phil,

What horrific damage to this wonderful photo and you've done a marvelous job on it so far.  Mike and I copied this photo at Joplin and I remember the lady who brought it in.  It was the only photo she brought in and the prospect of getting it restored was emotionally overwhelming to her. 

Fortunately the ear was one area of the photo that suffered the least amount of damage.  It looks to me like the gentleman was blessed with generous earlobes and he is also wearing a hearing aid.  Except for the color correction the ear area probably requires not much more than a bit of work with the spot healing brush.  I would agree with you that he does have a mustache.

Original:
(http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/PatsPhotos1/WilliamsB_1_1_5x7_PhilHelp.jpg)

Pat
Title: Re: Before and After
Post by: Mhayes on February 21, 2012, 01:48:25 PM
Hi Phil,

Great cleanup up on a really badly damaged photo. Yes, he does have a mustache. There are two things that stand out and that is the color correction. If I do a color correction of the original my colors are different from yours. His skin is paler like you would expect of an older person, His suit I show as being blue and not green.

We used to shoot volunteers who added a vignette to their photos, now we simply charge a $500 fine. OK, seriously I know your background was trashed and you were trying to give it some depth. To do vignette right, you do not want to have it jump out at you and be able to see a clear image of where it is starts. It should fade out so seamlessly as to not be noticed. You don't want to have it look like a spotlight on him.

Margie
Title: Re: Before and After
Post by: lurch on February 21, 2012, 08:07:33 PM
Boy, am I glad you're doing this restore and not me! You've done an amazing job. I have a few picks, none of which negate what you've done so far.

The suit is not green. I don't think it's blue either (sorry, Margie). My color-corrected version makes it gray.
Your current version:
(http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb314/lurch_album/Current1.jpg)
My color-corrected original:
(http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb314/lurch_album/Original1.jpg)

The outline of his face is unrealistic. I've outlined the area on a copy of your current version, and traced what I see as the face shape on my color-corrected copy of the original. I think Pat is right about the long ear and hearing aid. The jowly nature of his face needs more definition. Current face is too smooth - even though its really hard to see where the wrinkles are through the munge, they are there (I think). Maybe some whiskers would help.



Title: Re: Before and After
Post by: Tess (Tassie D) on February 21, 2012, 08:11:25 PM
Great job Phil. I get a blue/grey on the suit too, probably more grey than what this is showing. I wonder if the background could be done with a bit of cloud effect with a very faint, dark vignette around the edges to give it some depth?

(http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c5/tassie_devil/OPR/noble2.jpg)
Title: Re: Before and After
Post by: Mhayes on February 21, 2012, 09:04:04 PM
Phil, once again great job on a really difficult photo! I like what Tess has done with the background as it looks more natural. Lurch, I agree about the gray up to a point, because when I color correct while it is in the gray area it is also having some blue mixed in.

(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z10/hayesbucket/Williams_suit.jpg)

Margie
Title: Re: Before and After
Post by: schen on February 21, 2012, 09:05:10 PM
Wow!  That is a wonderful job you did Phil.  My be the face can get a little more contrast.

Shujen
Title: Re: Before and After
Post by: philbach on February 22, 2012, 07:14:05 AM
Thanks everyone.  After working with this I sort of got far down the path and got lost.  The hearing aid laughs at me now.  On my suit color correction, initially,  I got three different color splotches.  Green, Blue and gray.  Lots of noise.  But I will select a different sport coat color on the next rendering.
Lurches, comment about wrinkles have been the most problematic. On the initial post I had added lots of texture which mistakenly darkened the skin tones.  

At any rate.  Thanks so much for your comments, and look for a revised version soon.

Title: Re: Before and After
Post by: philbach on February 24, 2012, 08:10:32 AM
Well I've made many of the suggested changes.  I am concerned about his face at present and stuck I might add.  I did lower the general saturation and applied creases and things but the current result is not very good.  Just wondering what to do to approach this problem and improve it.

(http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k270/philbach/Feb_241.jpg)
Title: Re: Before and After
Post by: kiska on February 25, 2012, 07:08:32 AM
Awful damage to try to fix. Just worked on the skin tones. Took your latest, overlayed a cmyk copy of the original (after levels and curves). Tried to lighten the dark smudges with the cmyk copy with curves. Used some good texture from the bg off his right cheek to start smoothing his skin.

(http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm81/kiskaopr/Picture1-38.png)
Title: Re: Before and After
Post by: G3User on February 25, 2012, 07:22:13 AM
Phil,

A quick Google search for portraits of older men brought up a number which might give you some suggestions for adding "character"

Athol
Title: Re: Before and After
Post by: philbach on February 25, 2012, 09:31:40 AM
Well in my latest rendering I "lightened' up the face and decreased the saturation, since the original photo of this gentleman after initial color corrections was fairly pale.  I did use a google image search of elderly male potraits which brought up several interesting photos.  I think that my major problem is, is that I am not an artist.  In this case the subject I believe was tense as well.