before I start

[Niksmum]

Ok before I start does anyone have any ideas as to the original color. Is it a black and white? sepia?

Irene

[Mhayes]

Irene,

I would go with black and white.

Margie

[Niksmum]

next question is whats at the bottom?????

[Mhayes]

My thoughts are that it is damage and his hand is just positioned that way. It's starting to look really nice. The only thing that catches my eye is the boy's mouth. Right now his lips look shorter and gives the impression of his puckering his mouth. Other than that and the hand--very nice job!  :up:

Margie

[Tess (Tassie D)]

I think his hand is supporting his elbow? So the fingers would probably curl up the side of the arm.

[Niksmum]

Thanks guys. Would it be ok if I just fade out the bottom part of the photo below the hand?
I just cannot see anything there.
I will work on the mouth, thanks for your input

Irene

[glennab]

Hi Irene

I don't have time to post an image this morning, but may I make a suggestion?  Go back to your original image, duplicate the layer twice and set those duped layers' blending mode to multiply.  Adjust the opacity on the 2 top layers and desaturate the whole thing (I suppose that could be done first, but I wanted to see what happened with the channels).  The damage will be amplified, but you'll be able to pull out more detail, especially around his eyes and hair.  You can also see a better outline of his mouth. I found that playing with the opacity allowed me to downplay the damage and still keep more detail.

Have a great day!

GK

[glennab]

Hi again Irene

This is pathetic and proves that I'm totally addicted to OPR, but I worked on your image through lunch and came up with a pretty good likeness of our little guy:



I used calculations with the red and green channels (the blue channel is just about useless) set to multiply, made an alpha channel from that image, copied the channel and pasted it into a layer above the multiplied image, which I'd merged into a single layer.  I set the channel layer to soft light, flattened the image and then cleaned up a little with the patch tool.  While it's impossible to be certain, I think he's cupping his elbow in his hand. This is really down-and-dirty, but I was pleased with how much his eyes popped out of the original.

You can also see his mouth shape even though there's little detail.

Also, I'd recommend that you strip the information out of your images.  Go under file-file info and delete the owner's data from there.

For what it's worth...

GK

[Niksmum]

Here is second attempt



thanks for all your help, even though because I am self taught I have no idea what all the technical terms are. Most of the time what you guys talk about goes right over my head. but I try and work it out in my own little  way and sometimes it all works out ok. I am hoping this is one of those times.  ;D

Irene

[Johnboy]

Irene,

I understand where you are coming from. I too am self taught, and have had some difficulties at times understanding some of the explanations. To me it sounded like you might like some help. So since you didn't ask, I will attempt to help or just dig a deeper hole. I first assume that you are using Photoshop because Glenna's and my explanation are based on PS.

Go back to your original image, duplicate the layer twice and set those duped layers' blending mode to multiply.  Adjust the opacity on the 2 top layers and desaturate the whole thing

Glenna was saying to duplicate the Background layer twice. Then set the blend mode on each layer to Multiply. (It took me a while to understand Blend modes.) The blend mode can be found on the Layers palette in the upper right as a pull down list. The opacity is the slider just to the right of the Blend list. Click on the layer you want to change and move the slider. As you do you will see the image density change. Adjust it so you can see the layer under it. You can go back and adjust it more if needed.

I used calculations with the red and green channels (the blue channel is just about useless) set to multiply, made an alpha channel from that image, copied the channel and pasted it into a layer above the multiplied image, which I'd merged into a single layer.  I set the channel layer to soft light, flattened the image and then cleaned up a little with the patch tool.

Calculations is a way of combining two channels to create a new channel. I would suggest that you click on the Help menu and go to Photoshop help. In there click on the Index and make your way to Calculations in the list and follow the help. The alpha channel is just another channel that is added to the Channels palette. Once it is created you can see it by clicking on Channels. She then clicked on the new Alpha channel and did a Select All followed by a Copy. Then went back to the Layers palette and Pasted in the copied channel above the layers that you copied first. She changed the Blend mode to Softlight on this pasted in layer. She next did and Image>Merge Down all the layers in to a single layer. Then she went to Image>Flatten Image. Then used the Patch tool to start the clean up. If you haven't used the Patch tool you can find in in the list with the Healing Brush. It is a matter of working on the background layer, click and circle the damaged portion and dragging the damaged area to good information and let go. Note on the Patch tool. The cursor will change shape when held over the selected area. Once is has changed shape you can then do the drag operation.

Irene, I don't know if this helps you but it sure helped me figure out what she did. At any time you want to try something you may want to save your latest version as a separate file. That way if it doesn't work you haven't lost everything.

Johnboy

[Niksmum]

Thank you Johnboy.
I am sorry for being so dumb but when I went to school we were still dipping our pens into inkpots :wow: :wow: :wow:
I have printed out your instuctions and will give it a go.

Irene

I think I am in way over my head here  :-[

[glennab]

JB, thanks for amplifying my too-abbreviated explanation.

Because I've spent the past 3 years working on the worst of the worst (no brains!), I've come up with some preliminary exercises to glean as much information about the image as possible. "Channel surfing" is essential, because often there's much to be seen in one channel that doesn't show when all channels are on (i.e. if there's yellow debris, many times much of the image will be held in the blue channel with more detail than one would expect.)  Calculations is my second attempt, if one channel doesn't bring out enough detail.

The layer blending modes are especially effective when trying to bring out a "ghost," as Irene has here.  More and more detail will appear as you duplicate a layer and set it, especially, to multiply.  In the gallery I have a restoration called "A Lovely Bouquet."  The background was quite vivid, but the lady and her flowers were faint.  I duped and multiplied layers until she was as saturated as the original background and then masked the darkened background so that the two layers were close to each other in saturation.

JB, as with you, I'm mostly self- and OPR- taught.  I read like a maniac, and I try to follow all the threads on the forum as volunteers slog through the muck and create their miracles.  The wealth of knowledge on this forum is astounding.

Irene, I'm sorry about my Klingon tutorial.  I knew what I meant!  Thank goodness JB jumped in and made it more clear.

Cheers,

GK

P.S.  Irene, you were posting as I was going on and on.  I'm so old that I go back to when we were carving type out of stones!  I don't think you're in over your head.  Attacking a bear like this one is a great way to learn more and more about how to pull the images out of the debris.  I've been known to spend hours "playing" with techniques I've learned from other volunteers when I download an especially difficult restoration.  The learning process is as awesome to me as is completing a restoration that I wasn't sure I could pull off. 

If one of us gets into a technique with which you're not familiar or comfortable, ask questions.  That's how I got through many of my first attempts.  Restoration 101, through the OPR forum.  Doesn't get any better than that!

[Johnboy]

Irene,

No need to be apologetic about what you don't know. I am glad I second guessed your plight. Hope what I offered will help. If there is something you are not sure how do to ask and somebody(s) on the forum will have an answer for you. I understood where Glenna was headed, but also when she said she did what she did during lunch, I knew she didn't have time for a long explanation. I'll be anxious to see how well GK and I did.

I mentioned about saving files before you try something new. I will at times duplicated the background layer as I work on it for the same reason that if something doesn't work out then you can fall back on the previous layer. Snapshots in the History palette can be helpful at times. Just another tip to put in your arsenal.

You may want to look for a copy of Katrin Eismann's book Photoshop Restoration and Retouching. She explains quite a bit about Photoshop and offers tutorial pics you can work on with the book. I got a copy for my birthday last fall and have been slowly working through it reading and doing. So you may want to treat yourself or make it a great gift from your family.

Irene, we must have been in school about the same time. I too remember dipping an ink pen into an ink well. No I didn't dunk any pigtails into the ink bottle. It was fourth grade and I thought I was something getting to use ink. At least the teacher kind of made it that way. But that teacher is another story beyond this one.

Johnboy