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OPR Workshops => Difficult => Topic started by: rsvadnie on October 21, 2017, 10:06:22 AM

Title: WIP: The Bride
Post by: rsvadnie on October 21, 2017, 10:06:22 AM
Hi guys! I wanted to share my work so far on my first official restore. :)

Original
(https://s20.postimg.cc/e2wbzh419/Delahoussaye_J_20_16_8_X102x-lr-original.png) (https://postimg.cc/image/8eq18kzop/)

It's hard to see here but there's a lot of crackling on the face and the veil as well.

WIP
(https://s20.postimg.cc/ya9rrs98d/Delahoussaye_J_20_16_8_X102x-lr.png) (https://postimg.cc/image/9h07r4q7t/)


So, Photoshop ATE my first file with two weeks worth of work. I've never had Photoshop completely corrupt a file like that. >:( So after giving the program an exorcism, I started a new file and ran a dust and scratches filter; that took care of the easier bits. Then I used a series of median filters with layer masks made from different channels to fill some of the smaller cracks and white spots, as well as eat away at the edges of some of the larger damage. For the damage that remained I created a series of masks from a flattened copy of the repair work done so far and used that with the spot heal brush on different settings to tackle as much as I could.

Now I'm working on reconstructing the areas that I can't otherwise repair: Rebuilding the lips, the left side of her hair, lower parts of her dress sleeve, parts of the veil. I've been making patches from other parts of the image as much as I can. I created a patch for the lips based on a stock model and used the puppet warp function to fine tune the angle.

There is some fine color damage that I've got to tackle as well. Then I'll probably fine tune the lighting and contrast from my global repair layers.

So I've got my venti iced coffee with an extra shot and the people at this Starbucks know me well, so I can camp out of a while and do some more work chipping away at the big gaps. :)
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Lynnya on October 21, 2017, 10:40:07 AM
Hey welcome to the party rsva :up: :up: congratulations on your first reatore and THANK YOU for posting your work in progress.. we love to see other people's work and share tips and ideas.  Your bride is looking good so far - little bit of a green color cast on my screen. Sorry about photoshop eating your work.. that's NASTY... two weeks is a lotta work...

There is a lot less damage showing in the blue channel on her hair... maybe you can use that. Looking forward to seeing you around the cooler with the rest of the gang.

Lynn
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Shadow on October 21, 2017, 11:33:17 AM
We're with Lynn ... great to see you posting your work. We learn so much from each other.  :(  Curse that misbehaving PS! After that happened to me I began keeping a separate copy of my WIPs in a backup folder. It has saved my bacon a couple of times.
Two things that jumped out at me ... in PS, your image opens up with untagged RGB for the color space. They usually come with sRGB for the color space. Every once in a while one will slip by and be something else but it's important to verify that. Maybe check with your distributor if you have a question about it.
Like Lynn, I see a greenish color cast on my screen. Doing your color correction first before any repairs will save you lots of headaches down the road. There are some good work flow suggestions in the Techniques Handbook.
Enjoy your coffee. Look forward to your next WIP!
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: rsvadnie on October 23, 2017, 12:16:49 PM
Yikes—thanks for the note about the untagged RGB! I'll go back into my PS and see what's going on with the colorspace settings. And yep, there is a greenish cast on the posted image; I had one of my universal layers turned off like a genius. :P I'll recheck my initial color correction layers again and make sure everything is okay.

Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Shadow on October 23, 2017, 12:20:05 PM
Good morning. Always helps to have another set of eyes check things out. Don't you love when it's an easy fix like turning a layer back on!
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Mhayes on October 24, 2017, 12:24:12 AM
Welcome to the party rsvadnie. I'm going to wait till you have a chance to get your color mode corrected and post your progress. You have pick a really difficult one, but this will be fun to work through. I'm sure you are thinking: "Yeah, right!" I know because my first restore was a real mess, to the point of being a non-restore. We will help and it is great to have advice from those who are used to this kind of damage. Not sure, but you may also want to ask your distributor if there are any other photos of the bride you can use for reference.

Margie
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Hannie on October 24, 2017, 03:47:56 AM
Hi rsvadnie, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your first OPR restore!
This photo has several areas of staining and that will throw off the color correction some.  You will probably end up having to correct twice, once to concentrate on the the good parts of the face and dress and then after stain removal another one.

This is what I got after a simple Levels adjustments in R, G and be separately and a Curves gray point in a fold of the curtain.

(https://s1.postimg.cc/6vyrgjxbh7/levels_curves.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/6vyrgjxbh7/)
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: rsvadnie on October 26, 2017, 03:45:23 PM
Thanks again for all the feedback! Hannie, you're right. There's quite a bit of color variation underneath the initial damage (there's some very fine reddish/orange damage that I haven't tackled yet) so it will take two passes. My distributor mentioned that the color might not be recoverable, so black and white will be fine, but I really want to try.

I've been working on filling in the cracks and reconstructing areas like her hair and dress. It's not done yet—I need to blend the patched areas and bring back some of the textures/detail from the original once the core work is finished—but I'm still working. :)  It's a challenge, but it is fun to try and find a way to make it work!

Latest iteration...

(https://s1.postimg.cc/1sr6oe9bxn/Delahoussaye_J_20_16_8_X10_WORKING.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/1sr6oe9bxn/)

Also, I checked the settings in Photoshop and everything is on sRGB; I hope it translated to the posted image! *crossing fingers*
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Bambi on October 26, 2017, 03:54:05 PM
I agree with Hannie about color correction. When I have a photograph that badly discolored, I repair the damage, then color correct. This is a tricky restoration. And you're making great progress on it. Welcome.
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Mhayes on October 27, 2017, 12:24:16 AM
We each have our way of working a photo and what ever work best for you. Personally I do the color correction first. On this photo I would hate working with original as it is. My thoughts are that if you do the color correction first--at least the initial one, then you can tweak and not have strange results if you wait till the last to color correct.

The other option would be to turn this into a B/W (still in sRGB mode) and work out the damage and then colorize. I find this harder, but sometimes it works out really good.

Margie
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: rsvadnie on October 27, 2017, 10:11:56 AM
Hi Margie!

Yep—color correction is always my first step! I did a first round of color correction on this image.

(https://s20.postimg.cc/kfz005izd/2017-10-27_08_43_24-_Delahoussaye_J_20_16_8_X102x.psd_16.3_Glob.png) (https://postimg.cc/image/kfz005izd/)

This is with the globals and repairs together.

(https://s20.postimg.cc/d19o7p4sp/2017-10-27_08_56_14-_Delahoussaye_J_20_16_8_X102x.psd_19.5_Larg.png) (https://postimg.cc/image/d19o7p4sp/)

The highlights on the curtains need to be pulled back. As I started working, subtle color shifts emerged that I found as I started working on the curtains. The highlights on the dress and curtains have always seemed hot in the initial pass. I tried a couple of different methods—I found a lot of great techniques in the handbook and forum posts that gave me some other options to try—and the basic levels adjust gave me the best result to start.

Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Hannie on October 27, 2017, 12:57:50 PM
Starting to look great rsvadnie!
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Mhayes on October 29, 2017, 12:30:24 PM
Rsvadnie,  :up2:  :up2:  You picked a tough one and great progress.

Margie
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Shadow on November 01, 2017, 06:35:11 PM
Looking good so far Rscadnie. Have you surpassed your usual iced coffee intake?  ;) Look forward to your next WIP or final!
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Candice on November 01, 2017, 07:01:00 PM
The bride will be blushing once more.
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: rsvadnie on November 11, 2017, 09:44:50 AM
Hey y'all! I'm still working away!

After hitting wall after wall trying to reconstruct with the color version, I've added an RGB B/W adjustment layer (recommended by my distributor in the original download if the color correction didn't work). This made the repairs A LOT easier since I could concentrate on just the structure of a particular repair instead of the structure and color. What I think I might do is what Margie suggested and try colorizing the B/W when the physical repair work is finished.

(https://s20.postimg.cc/ciom73lft/Delahoussaye_J_20_16_8_X10_bw.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/ciom73lft/)

One thing I need to toss out to everyone for thoughts—there is a dark band at her hair line near the veil. It doesn't appear to be part of the surface damage but when I look at it in the different channels, it looks like there is hair texture underneath? I don't want to "correct" something that is supposed to be there.

This is a snipping from the red channel... you can see a very distinct, sharp line that makes me think it is damage.

(https://s20.postimg.cc/tuoysnhix/red_channel.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/tuoysnhix/)

P.S. I'm graduating to chocolate covered espresso beans. ;)
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Lynnya on November 11, 2017, 10:04:41 AM
Glad to see you are still around.. and jumping by now on those beans... good luck rsv.. look forward to seeing your next wip and thanks for posting.. all helps with our learning curves :up: :up:
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Hannie on November 11, 2017, 01:07:25 PM
rsvadnie, I think the dark band is just hair with a little shading on it?
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Shadow on November 11, 2017, 04:36:49 PM
Chocolate covered espresso beans ... oh my! Sounds tastefully stimulating!  :funny:    Agree with Hannie about the dark area. Look forward to watching you work your magic rsvadnie.
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: rsvadnie on November 28, 2017, 11:12:48 AM
I'm still here and working away. ;)

Wanted to share the latest progress. I've rebuilt most of her hair and the sleeve. There are still some details with the hair to finish, and I'm going to bring back the original contrast levels.

(https://s7.postimg.cc/ghmxgeel3/Delahoussaye_J_20_16_8_X10_bw2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/ghmxgeel3/)

Here's the original again for comparison.

(https://s7.postimg.cc/6kbwnlerr/Delahoussaye_J_20_16_8_X10.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/6kbwnlerr/)

Reconstructing the missing hair has been the toughest part. There wasn't a whole lot of info to work with to fill the gap. I filled in as much as I could with her own hair and restored some texture with a stock swatch of natural hair and softened it to blend in with the rest of the hair.

I'm almost home
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: rsvadnie on November 28, 2017, 11:19:08 AM
I accidentally double posted. Is that the Web version of dropping your coffee on the floor? XD
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Lynnya on November 28, 2017, 01:23:58 PM
Too many coffee beans rsv  :funny: It's lookin mighty nice.. lovely hair..look forward to your next wip :up:
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Mhayes on November 28, 2017, 09:40:08 PM
Yep, too much coffee. Looking really good!

Margie
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Hannie on November 29, 2017, 06:15:45 AM
No coffee dropping please!   ;D
I know you still are working this one, I noticed the top of the curtains have black area that makes the levels adjustment a little out of whack.
I lightened it some (too much I noticed  :)) and then did a levels.

(https://s8.postimg.cc/7cj9njgb5/bridal.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/7cj9njgb5/)
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Shadow on November 29, 2017, 10:01:59 AM
Good to see you. Coming along nicely!  :up2:
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: rsvadnie on December 01, 2017, 10:08:57 AM
Quote from: Hannie on November 29, 2017, 06:15:45 AM
No coffee dropping please!   ;D
I know you still are working this one, I noticed the top of the curtains have black area that makes the levels adjustment a little out of whack.
I lightened it some (too much I noticed  :)) and then did a levels.

(https://s8.postimg.org/7cj9njgb5/bridal.jpg) (https://postimg.org/image/7cj9njgb5/)

Thank you so much for pointing that out! I'll make sure to adjust that. :)
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: rsvadnie on December 18, 2017, 08:03:54 AM
I don't want to jinx myself, but... I think I'm done? You guys have been invaluable during this restoration and I wanted to see if I could get the eagle eyes once more?


(https://s7.postimg.cc/aixti273b/Delahoussaye_J_20_16_8_X10_CURRENT-_BACKUP.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/aixti273b/)

Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Hannie on December 18, 2017, 08:12:18 AM
Very beautiful job rsvadnie!
The levels need a tiny bit of adjustment and she is good to go.

:up2:
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Candice on December 18, 2017, 11:43:08 AM
She's lovely.
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Shadow on December 18, 2017, 12:08:54 PM
 :up2:
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Lynnya on December 18, 2017, 12:54:54 PM
Loverly  :up: :up: now you can ease up on the coffee beans  :funny:
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Mhayes on December 18, 2017, 02:25:57 PM
Great job! Now you can relax. One surprised and delighted family coming up!

Margie
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: rsvadnie on December 18, 2017, 02:42:25 PM
Woo hoo!  I'll tweak the levels a hair and upload. :)

Celebratory coffee? 8D
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Hannie on December 19, 2017, 09:40:04 AM
(https://data.whicdn.com/images/94338819/large.jpg)
Title: Re: WIP: The Bride
Post by: Shadow on December 19, 2017, 09:41:44 PM
Now that's a good looking cup of coffee!  ;)