I'm never sure which is the right forum - perhaps this isn't "difficult" but it certainly took a while to fix this lovely woman up :)
Original
(https://i.postimg.cc/NLrqQyPK/Caldwell-M-14-13-9-5x7-5.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/NLrqQyPK)
Restored
(https://i.postimg.cc/HJPRgHw0/Caldwell-M-14-13-9-5x7-5-edited.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/HJPRgHw0)
It's from the same family as the homestead, but I'm guessing this was from the 1950s? Although there's a lot of texture on the damaged original where her sweater was, after trying to find any coherent design (and I looked a lot of old knitting pattern images from the 1940s and 50s) I concluded that a lot of the things I saw were transferred damage rather than details of the original clothing. Drawing outlines of the visible fragments of things that could have been a neckline or contrasting colors, nothing joined up to make a garment!
Lovely Jo Ann.. her right ear looks a little flat.. like no ridge around it like the original and the left side of her lip looks just a tad too pronouced to me.. I would say this is pretty difficult :wnw:
Both good catches. The lip was a stupid mistake as I was trying to smooth the transition between lip and skin - rushing at the end is never a good plan :) See what you think of this version:
(https://i.postimg.cc/R30cr3Qh/Caldwell-M-14-13-9-5x7-5-edited-2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/R30cr3Qh)
Well its coming along fine. I think her right nostril could be adjusted some and there seems to be a lot of noise in this rendering.
Wow, you've come so far. Think the catch lights in her left eye (looking at the screen) are in a different position and maybe lighten the shading under the right side of her mouth?
More good catches (bad pun - sorry!). See what you think about this version
(https://i.postimg.cc/DSHmy5t9/Caldwell-M-14-13-9-5x7-5-edited-2-1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/DSHmy5t9)
Regarding noise, I contemplated smoothing things out a bit, but decided that the film grain I think is visible in the original is part of the look, and that when printed, it'd be better for this not to have the texture of a modern digital image. I'll let Tess (the distributor for this) guide me on that.
Lookin good Jo... I played with it a bit. added a screen layer just to lighten her skin a bit.. I thought maybe she was a bit dark.. dunno.. I think it looks really good but her ear still looks odd to me.. not real, a little heavy and straight.. just somthing that my eye keeps going to..
You've taught me to be really picky Jo Ann :cool:
Quote from: Lynnya on May 15, 2019, 11:59:21 AM
Lookin good Jo... I played with it a bit. added a screen layer just to lighten her skin a bit.. I thought maybe she was a bit dark.. dunno.. I think it looks really good but her ear still looks odd to me.. not real, a little heavy and straight.. just somthing that my eye keeps going to..
You've taught me to be really picky Jo Ann :cool:
Let me play with the shading on the ear a bit more. I don't think ear edges are tubular :)
Picky is good - I can always just bypass anything if I want to (should the madness creep too close...). Thanks
I think I'm going to send this version to Tess and see what she thinks - I know it's better than the first version I posted :)
Thanks all for the feedback
(https://i.postimg.cc/67VzNH30/Caldwell-M-14-13-9-5x7-5-edited-2-2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/67VzNH30)
You cracked it :up:
Cracking it without cracking up will be my goal for today :)
Just to follow up and say thanks again for the feedback, Tess OK'd the image and did not find the noise/grain to be too much.
Jo Ann, I would call it difficult. Nice job and not sure you are done yet, but I would soften the skin so it doesn't look blotchy.
(https://i.postimg.cc/47rVZK6m/Caldwell-M-14-13-9-5x7-5-edited-2-2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/47rVZK6m)
I could'nt help play with it too a little.. don't know if it's improved or not lol added a 50% grey layer.. soft light, added a lot of noise, blur about 1 px.. embossed for skin texture.. added a sepia color layer .. blurred the lips and teeth a bit..
It's a fun image to play with..
(https://i.postimg.cc/LgYT5H1b/joannsimage.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/LgYT5H1b)
It almost seems like the original is lighter? The lower part of her ear can use less shading next to the "tube". I would go for smoothing to but more on her skin than her hair etc.
(https://i.postimg.cc/N9PmbnF0/joAnn2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/N9PmbnF0)
Thanks again for more feedback. I'm going to ask Tess to take a look at these suggestions and let me know what she'd like me to do.
Yesterday she said not to smooth out the skin (I specifically asked) so I don't want to do more work that isn't in line with the direction she provided.
Those of you on staff perhaps can confer with Tess about the approach?
Tess asked me to do a smoothed version so QC could decide whether smoothed vs. not smoothed. I still don't like the smoothed version, but it's a frequency separation technique, masked and reduced opacity (Tess' request to tone down the smoothing)
Version 3 and 3-smoothed:
(https://i.postimg.cc/JDH8MwCk/Caldwell-M-14-13-9-5x7-5-edited-3.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/JDH8MwCk)
(https://i.postimg.cc/tn0jgr9m/Caldwell-M-14-13-9-5x7-5-edited-3-smoothed.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/tn0jgr9m)