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How would you do it?

Started by SlideConverter, December 13, 2008, 04:47:52 PM

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SlideConverter

Hi Group,

I just completed the restoration of the image below, which - could it be any different? - took longer than expected.

I am very curious to find out how others would tackle the same project.  Let me tell you how I worked on it (referring to left and right is always from the view of the boy):

1.   I converted it to a psd file

2.   Then did the 1st pass on the color correction in Levels

3.   I then checked to see which channel has most information underneath the defect areas (blue channel in this case).  I therefore made the blue channel another layer, blended it with luminosity, and gave it a "hide all" layer mask.  I made several copies of the blue channel with layer mask and always reveal the area that I am working on so that the rest of the image (especially regarding color) will not be affected. Then I merge it down to paint from the RGB layer (is there a simpler way? I can't find a way to paint from the RGB layer over the blue channel when they are blended together).

4.   I then started to look at the left part of his face and started to recreate the lines along his face (the tools I use most often are clone stamp tool, then spot healing brush, then healing brush).  I also used the patch tool.  I used parts of his right eye on his left side by flipping it and pulling the handles while in Free Transform.

5.   Then I cleaned up the left background and worked my way around his head over to his right side.

6.   His right side was tough – I did pixel by pixel on his right face to get larger areas that were clean and then used the eyedropper and painted larger areas with the skin colors under the defect area. I then used the smudge tool to paint the different patches of color together to recreate the right side of his face where the big yellow blotches were.

7.   I used the left side of the lip and flipped it and replaced the right side with it.  I then used the Liquify filter to pull the right side up a little bit higher to match the original a little bit better.

8.   Then came the cardigan - I wished they would have put a plain cardigan on that boy.  Many of the easy areas were again fixed with the clone stamp tool and the healing brushes.  The blue channel gave me a good view of what is laying underneath the big stain on his left side on the cardigan.  The one "somewhat" clean area of the cardigan is the patch on his right chest – I placed it onto its on layer and then moved it to the left, used Free Transform to flip it and make it fit.  I did the same thing underneath the right "good" patch and on the left side under the replaced patch.

9.   His right sleeve is a copy of some good pieces on his right side.

10.   I then set the smudge tool to a small brush size and gave the left side of his cardigan a natural look by pulling it out into the background (like fuss).  I did the same with his hair.

11.   I added noise (1.5 pixels, Gaussian) to make it look more natural.

12.   I finished by going back to Levels and adjusting it a little bit.

13.   I looked over it a few more 1,000 times tweaking it over and over again until my wife ordered me to finally come to bed.

I use the Polygonal Lasso tool quite a bit to make quick painting in restricted areas (such as along the black strips on his cardigan) and for selecting parts and pieces (like his eye, lips, cardigan patch).

Now I am curious about how others would do it.  Are there other tools that you use a lot more (filters, blending modes, etc.)?  I have read quite a few of the postings here and am absolutely impressed with the talent that you folks have and how you are able to fix something that I would have no clue to fix.

Your input is therefore highly appreciated.

Oh, one suggestion from my side, I think it would benefit to scan the images at a higher resolution.  This will help with noise and will provide more detail to work with – just a thought.

Thanks

Richard


glennab

Hi SC

Your techniques seem reasonable to me.  We all have different ways of approaching these challenges, and while someone else may have shortcuts I know nothing about, I'd probably handle it in a similar manner.  I think he looks really good, but you need a few more small tweaks.  The eye to our left looks unfinished to me, as if part of the outer corner were missing.  I'd give him a hint of eyebrows, and I'd use a very low opacity brush on a separate layer, sample the areas of transition (the face contours), and smooth them so there's not such an abrupt change in color. (That can also be accomplished with the smudge tool, but I tend to be a bit heavy handed, so I prefer the brush.)

The only other thing that pops out at me us the blotchiness of the background closest to the boy's sweater on the right.  You have relatively smooth bands at the top, and I'd recommend continuing that technique further down.

Nice work on a tough one!

GK

What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal. ~Albert Pine

(Photoshop CS5 /Mac Pro)

Hannie

Hi Richard,

I also work in a very similar way that you do.  (By the way, what a great cleanup!)
When I'm done and especially if there was any painting done I place the original photo over my restore and change the blending mode to luminosity and as a temporary guide for adding back shade/highlights or anything that got changed during damage repair.

Hannie

Hannie Scheltema
Distribution Coordinator
[email protected]

Niksmum

Hi there,
I am not very techie minded and am infact self taught but this is how I did the face. I use the clone tool brush size 100 and opacity set at 4 %. I then just spritz the imagelightly to blend it all in. I lightened the cheeks a bit with the dodge tool then used the burn tool very lightly, about 3% under the eye.

Niksmum