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What to do with the background?

Started by Toni, March 05, 2011, 11:18:14 PM

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Toni

I haven't posted images to the forum before so I hope this is the correct way.  I'm very uncertain as to what to do with the background on this pic.  It is not identifiable in any way, at least not to me.  Also, it appears that there is a large pillow behind the left couch but because it is smeared down onto the front of the couch it makes me wonder if this is just photo damage.  Should I convert the background to a solid dark color or is there a way to retrieve any image info from the photo?





This is the most recent version - darkening the background.
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Hannie

Hi Toni,

Great repairs in this very difficult restore!  The background is really hard to figure out.  It isn't completely dark, where I drew the red dotted line there is a dark area below and a lighter area above it. 
Yes, it looks like a pillow in the background and behind it part of what looks like a window sill?
You can probably leave the background quite dark but solid dark may give an unrealistic finish?
I posted the blue channel, it gives nice detail of the shape of the couch on our left.

Hannie



Hannie Scheltema
Distribution Coordinator
[email protected]

Toni

Thanks for your suggestion Hannie. I see that using the blue channel is very helpful to locate the borders of the couch on the left.

It's possible that the dark and lighter area on the right behind the couch is a window, the lighter area being an old fashioned window shade pulled down but not all the way. I'm old enough to remember those!  If it was night when the photo was taken, the outside would be dark.  Can't be sure though.  I'll clean up the background but leave it dark and very much to the imagination! 

Toni

#3


The original, the work in progress in the first post and the most current here. 
I took some liberties with the background since it was quite damaged. I wish there had been some other photos for reference.  I removed the large pillow from behind the couch (that may not pass quality control) but I did stay true to the foreground.  Having said that, are there any glaring or not so glaring tweaks needed? After working on this for a long stretch I'm blind to flaws.  Thanks for your input. 

Mhayes

Hi Toni,

It would be better if you kept your progress on your original post of "What to do with the background," so that we can see the before and after. I see that you are using PhotoBucket which is great, but I'm not sure why it is not showing the image on the post. If I click on the red x it will take me to PhotoBucket, but you want to show in the body of the post, not as a link. Here is a link on the forum that show which code you want on PhotoBucket--4th down as IMG Code: http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/index.php/topic,2002.0.html

Another thing that will help is when you have a small photo like yours at 4 x 4 @ 300 dpi resolution--upload at that size. You have a photo that is now  .533 x .533 @ 300 dpi, but it is so small that I can't tell if it looks good or not. When I have a larger photo I want to post; I will do a "Save As" and then go up to "Image>Image Size and change the resolution to 72 or 120 dpi. That will make it easier to load. On the smaller ones like what you have, better to have them at the original size and dpi.

Margie
"carpe diem"

Margie Hayes
OPR President
[email protected]

Hannie

I merged Toni's follow up topic with her first topic on the same restore.

Toni. could you repair the dead links to your images in your first post?

Thanks,

Hannie
Hannie Scheltema
Distribution Coordinator
[email protected]

Tess (Tassie D)

I took the liberty of repairing the links Toni. Its easiest to just copy the [IMG] one to post on the forum.
Tess Cameron
Distribution Coordinator
[email protected]