Burns' baby

haleygd · November 30, 2009, 01:58:47 PM

Hi all, its been a while since I have worked on a restore but I am back. As always I am struggling with the color correction. I thought the coverall was going to be red and white, but it looks to be brown and white. and thoughts?

glennab · November 30, 2009, 02:32:34 PM

Hi Gary

It's great to see you back.

I'm at lunch at work, so I didn't do any fine tweaking (I think his face may need some separate color work). I used levels and moved each slider to the beginning of the color information and this is the image I got. I'd say the stripes are definitely red, the sandals are a cordovan brown, and his skin is more pink where the mat didn't cover it. I suspect there'll be some masking going on to compensate the areas of color disparity.

What I love is that his face is nice and clean, so you won't have to recreate any critical parts. Have fun!

Here's the down-and-dirty, don't have much time version:

GK

Hannie · November 30, 2009, 07:30:29 PM

Gary, you sure know how to pick'em, what a doozy!

Nice damage repair so far, the color may still be a little off. I noticed that the original has too much cyan in the neutrals and that gives the photo a weird color tone, even after levels adjustment.

I used a selective color adjustment layer with
greens: black all the way to the left
whites: yellow -32
neutrals: cyan -31(!)
yellow -9

When you look to the left you can still see some pinkish coloring on the baby rug, it may even be beige but I don't think it is yellow

Hannie

glennab · December 02, 2009, 12:14:56 AM

Doggone it, Hannie. You're makin' me look bad. I rush through an image at lunch and post something okay for a start since I don't have any of my references with me, then you follow with a masterpiece. You're a brute! I wuv U.

GK

haleygd · December 02, 2009, 08:46:35 AM

LOL, I love it when people fight over me... I made a bit more progress yesterday. Concentrated on fixing damage more than color correction (thought I did some of that too.) See what I can do today....

haleygd · December 02, 2009, 01:26:41 PM

What do you think of the baby's left arm and the upper part of the leg (pic right side)? I'm afraid I might have made it look too soft.

kiska · December 02, 2009, 03:25:10 PM

Gary, you're working hard. If you make the shadow under his left leg dark like the shadow under his right it will help define the leg. Also notice I set the levels to 'luminosity' rather than 'normal'. It helps reduce the reddish shift levels and curves can create.

lurch · December 02, 2009, 07:45:49 PM

What a great start you have on this one, Gary! About the baby's left arm and leg - if they're too soft it's only by a smidge (which is a proper, defined unit of measurement; just ask the engineers who used to work for me).

Couldn't resist doing a quickie color correction on your latest wip. Might even make life a little easier for you. Then again, maybe not. Here's the result.

Here are the layers I used to get there.

In the curves layer I set the bright point to R 244 G 244 B 244 (theorizing that the background color in the kid's coverall is pure white). Set the darkest point to R 16 G 16 B 16. Because the subject is a baby, I adjusted the skin point in the middle of his forehead to C 10 M 30 Y 30 K 0. This all is just channeling Dan Margulis' color correction by the numbers. The result was too saturated for my eye, so I added a hue/sat adjustment layer and desaturated the reds until I thought it looked right (in this case 38 percent - may have gone too far). Then I just sampled a color that looked right from the rug outside the frame line, where it was least likely to get discolored. Painted that over the whole rug in color mode on a color layer. Of course you'll want to even out the rug's luminosity before doing that for real. And the inside of his mouth should be redder, and . . . You know the drill for the rest of what's needed, and I'm sure everyone here will let you know if anything gets left out ::)

glennab · December 02, 2009, 09:54:33 PM

Hi Gary

I think I prefer the warmer colors that you have on the little guy. There needs to be a bit more balance between the red and blue and maybe a bit of desaturation, but I think lurch went too far in the opposite direction. Lurch, my theory is that nothing is completely white. So in your version the jumper white looks blown out, and he looks a tad pale. I'd love to see a combo of Gary's color combined with Hannie's, because the cool color in Hannie's version would, I think, help balance the over saturation of the warmth. The background is a toughie. My guess is a rust color. I'd go for the color (maybe a little darker) on Hannie's version, beside his eye on our right. I'm amazed at the disparity in the color balance we've each chosen. Gary, it'll be interesting to see what you decide looks the best. After all, we're playing with YOUR project!

GK

lurch · December 02, 2009, 10:33:36 PM

Once again we've collectively demonstrated that color correction is an exceedingly subjective matter, particularly when none of us has the foggiest about what the original colors were.

@GK - you're right that the baby looks a tad pale. I did overdo it on the red desaturation. About the whites in his jumper being blown out - they're not, really. Blown out would be R 255 G255 B255. They are bright but will hold detail, just barely.

@ Gary - just about any brownish/rusty color would work for the rug thing. It's your restoration and your call. Just remember that caucasian babies are pink, not orange, and tend to be pale, not bright. :halo:

And I think we all agree that the colored part of the jumper is red.

haleygd · December 17, 2009, 06:47:55 PM

Well here is my next iteration. I like the way the baby's right (our left) leg has turned out but I still have work to do on the other knee. It looks like it is made from rubber and bent in half, like the knee cap is missing. I also want to smooth out/get rid of the graininess (is that a word?) in the face. And of course I still have the carpet to even out...

haleygd · December 28, 2009, 12:16:21 PM

Ok, I think I am done... Let me know what you think.

Thanks, Gary

lurch · December 28, 2009, 02:41:03 PM

Flesh tones need more yellow, less blue. Otherwise great job.

Hannie · December 28, 2009, 04:22:26 PM

Hi Gary,

Apart from what Lurch mentioned there was one little thing that jumped out a bit when I look at your restore and that is the baby's eyes, it almost looks like they are a little too light now? Some of the original highlights on baby's skin disappeared during the restore.
Minor picks, you have done a great job!

:up2:

Hannie