What was I thinking? I need lots of eyes on this one, please.

[glennab]

Hi all.  I'm going to post three images here: the original, the image I was able to pull up using LAB mode and some other tricks that I'm not sure I could duplicate if my life depended on it, and my work in progress.  I was going to try to get a little further before I posted, but I realize that there are so many things that I can't identify and can't remember how to do that I'd better get my experts on this before my mind either explodes or implodes. There are so many questions that I figured I would take a small break while fresh eyes go over this.

Here are my main issues: 

Other than the older lady, the faces are only discernible in the B&W version.  I can't remember how to colorize, so you're seeing the repaired young woman's face in B&W. I'd at least like to get feedback on my repair of her face. And I would appreciate it if someone would remind me how to get the color back. It totally eludes me.

At the left are several shapes, and I have no idea what they are.  Is this one of those "repair them and don't worry about what they are" scenarios, or can someone identify them?

Does anyone recognize the purple object on the older woman's lap?  There are also red splotches to her left (our right).  Do they look like damage, or something specific in the photo?

I couldn't see a tube going to her nose on our right, but I've never seen an oxygen supplier that only has one tube.  Should I try to add one to the other side?

The young woman's bolero has a bluish cast in places.  It almost looks diaphanous and I'm not sure if the blue is the color of her dress showing through or if it's a blue cast that I should eliminate.

I can't tell what the pendant looks like on the chain around her neck.  Suggestions?

Do you think the little girl's dress is multi-hued or one color that has been splotched by damage?

ORIGINAL


LAB "EXTRUSION"


WORK IN PROGRESS


I'll leave the questions at that for the moment, but I'd appreciate any observations, critique, whatever you want to throw at me to help me complete this bear.  If you see anything in the background of the LAB version, please let me know.  I see two rectangles that could be windows or framed objects of some sort.  Otherwise there's nothing in the background that I can identify other than the doorway that I've already re-created.

I know the WIP looks pretty flat.  Once it's completed I'll work on shading and add grain.

Thanks so much.

GK

[Candice]

My observation.... you're either nuts for taking it or brave!!   :loveit:

[Bambi]

Holy mackerel! You're right. There is something in the woman's lap and it looks like a Siamese kitten. I think the red spots are damage and the little girl is wearing an aqua T-shirt and beige pants. You're also right about the oxygen tube.

You are a brave soul to attempt this one. It's the most difficult one I've seen yet.

Bambi

[Candice]

Glenna wrote:  It appears that Flickr has instructions to embed html for your photo that will allow it to be shown on a page.  

INDEED YOU CAN NOW POST FROM FLICKR.  I use flickr all the time but didn't know this had changed.

Once uploaded, click on the picture you want to share.  When the photo opens up grab the : Grab the HTML/BBCode

Simple and sweet.  

[tmhayle]

hehe You are like me grabbing the crazy ones eh?
Good for you!
Ok, here I go. The grandmothers sweater/sweatshirt, with a white collared shirt underneath. I believe that is a Siamese cat on the front.
The young girls dress/shirt to me appears to me light blue color possibly solid.
The older girls sweater I think is just a thin off white that shows her dark dress underneath in some areas.

As far as where they are it looks to be a typical living room and the top of the shapes they are just framed art. The shapes are what seems to be damage.
Now the two colored walls are because it is an open floor plan design and the angle makes it appear as the same room however, they are at a corner wall in one area and the background differ color wall by the picture frames on the wall is further away is another room.
I hope that helps.

[Mhayes]

Well GK, I think this one will keep you off the streets and out of trouble for a long, long time.  ;) This is really going to take some time with all the damage. Yes, the older woman is on oxygen and it looks like the damage took away some of the detail. I would add tubing to the other side.

I think there is a Siamese on the lady's lap, but I not sure it if is a real one or part of her sweater. If you look close there looks like a design of a cat's face next to it. However, there is so little detail I would ignore it.

I think I would leave the necklace off as I can't see enough detail to even guess the design.

I would not colorize this photo, but rather work on healing little by little on their faces from the original. The green and red channel will give you some idea of the detail. Right now the older woman doesn't look the same and about 40 years younger with smooth skin, which is not true. Also, her eyes and the amount of white showing in yours isn't true either. I would color correct the original and work more with a version similar to Candice's. By going back this way you will be able to keep some of the textures in their skin and not have a painted look. The older woman has noticeable wrinkles on her skin and lips.

The background is a real challenge since parts of it will be guess work at best. What I would do is bring the wall all the way down on your left. On your right, do the door and trim and as you make your way to the left side I would increase the shadows and not try to add anything, because it will be guesswork.

For the little girl on your right, she is going to be the hardest---good luck!

Kudos for taking this one!

Margie

[glennab]

Thank you so much, everyone, for your great feedback.  I knew I'd have some re-working to do, but I wanted opinions first.  Candy, I can't believe how much more detail you got in Elements.  I tried all my tricks and couldn't get that much.  The reason I went with the LAB version was because the little girl looked very clownish, and I wanted to see if I could pull out something that looked like a face. LAB was the only way I could get anything but the fat lower lip. I'll have to use her and the older girl's faces as templates rather than actually repairing the B&W.  I know there's a way to colorize them, but I just can't remember how to do it.

As soon as you mentioned the cat, I could see it.  I suspect it's part of her sweater or sweatshirt - whatever she's wearing.  Even if I can just get the impression of the face and ears, the rest can just fade into the rest of the sweater. 

Candy, what is a cannula?

Margie, I had to re-do the older lady's hand for the same reason I'll have to do her face again.  It's really tough getting the damage out, still keeping the wrinkles. I knew going into to this that it'd be a monster and that I'd have to do several areas more than once before I was happy with them. I'm going to keep the background pretty simple - the frames and perhaps some very vague shapes if I see any as I work my way from left to right.

You've all given me great information with which to continue.  And yes, those of you who questioned the state of my sanity (Candy, Bambi, T) for taking this one - I love these tough ones. Even though I'm one of the first members of OPR, I've probably done fewer than anyone else, because these stinkers are my favorites, so they take a long, long time to finish.  I've even had to return several as unrestorable.  But I at least like to give them a try.

Once again, thanks all of you for taking the time to give me the information I need to push forward. It may be a while before you see the next iteration, but there should be much more progress.

I'll check once in a while to see if anyone else has more observations or comments.  (I believe my dearth of rational decision making has been established with my choice of this stinker!)

Cheers and hugs!

GK

[GP]

Wow, Glenna, what have you been thinking???

I have nothing to offer you here. I think this qualifies as a non-restore. The mess is on all the channels. The only thing I was able to figure out is, that the little girl is wearing a short sleeved sweater over her t-shirt. Same style as the young woman's white sweater. And it's definitely a Siamese cat on the old woman's sweater.
This is what I came up with:



I would not even worry about the background.

[glennab]

Gerlinde, thanks for trying to pull up more information for me. (The cat is really visible!) This could be a non-restorable, but I wanted to at least try.  I'm not ready to give up yet.  The little girl's face may be the maker or breaker, but there was just enough there to pique the "I can do this" moron part of my brain, so I'm going to keep at it for a while.  What's awesome about these really tough ones is that I learn so much while I'm sloughing through them.  Even the ones that in the end couldn't be restored are worth trying - I always think of the people for whom we're doing them.

[tmhayle]

Here are a few versions from me doing a simple playing around.
This 1st was with doing the levels on the red channel.


This is with me super imposing red guide lines over the young girls face based off of generic measurements to start with when I would draw a portrait by hand in art. It may or may not help and I thought could not hurt to at least show you. The outline behind her is what I see on the wall as art possibly hanging. The Siamese cat I believe is just a design on her sweatshirt btw. oh forgot to say I think the young girls face is warped from damage and she seems to be wearing a turquoise bolero over her light blue t-shirt. I wonder if the family remembers what she is wearing or any info on the room? Any possible other photos of her face that can help?


Here it is with making the image in a negative form. Sometimes it is interesting to see what shapes may show through this way.

[Mhayes]

GK, Gerlinde is right about this being close to a nonrestore, but as often happens it is a photo that holds a lot of meaning and in this case is the only one of a very special family member. The older woman pictured is the owner's great grandmother and the only one left of her. She is sitting in a wheel chair and she is on oxygen. There are no reference photos to help with this, but the owner was only concerned with the great grandmother. I told her about the girl on your right that is really beyond restoring. While I understand you desire to continue on her, I wouldn't and here is why. Her eyes, nose, and mouth have been so distorted her that anything you do will be a guess and never true to how she looked.

What we discussed next is to have the photo as a portrait on Granny only. There is no need to play with the walls and the doorway. This is a case where I am going to allow something that was not in the original to be used and that means a nice backdrop or a way to blur out the background without drawing attention to it. If you want to include the girl behind that is OK too, but the owner stressed that she is more interested in Granny only.

Hope that helps.

Margie

[Mhayes]

TMHAYLE,

You posted just before I did and that is why I didn't comment on your post. Yes, for the color correction on the first example.  I forgot to mention that yes, the Siamese cat is a design on the sweater. As to what the rest of them are wearing, it was too long ago for the owner to recall.

It's great all the help trying to uncovering what might give clues as to what the photos should look like, but in this case what the owner wants is a photo of her great grandmother.

Margie

[glennab]

Margie, that is a huge help.  Thanks for the information.  The little girl was my biggest concern.  The young woman is a possible to restore, and I've already done a lot of work on her, but I know for sure that I can get the great-grandmother.  I'll have to work a little on repairing her face without losing the elderly look, but that can be done.  Should I crop and enlarge to get the same dimensions (I have onOne's enlargement software, which does a great job (it was called Genuine Fractals at one time), but I'm not sure how well it would work on a damaged image like this one.  I'd be willing to try, to feature the older woman), so there isn't so much dead space.  If I do that and include the younger woman, it could be a vertical photo, rather than a horizontal.  Or I could just do the great-grandmother.  I'm okay with either. Please advise about the size and proportions. You just gave me a huge reprieve! I'll wait for your input.

[Mhayes]

GK, keep the same dimension--4 x 6--for now and QC can decide how they wanted it handled. I don't want to crop at the point and don't want to do an enlargement later because I want to keep what detail we have. This way by leaving as it, we can decide later.

Thanks,

Margie

[glennab]

Hi again Margie

I tried a couple of things before I read your last post, so I'm going to show you the three images I did just down and dirty - no clean up; just backgrounds and the people.  Even though you said you wanted the photo with no cropping, I'd already done a crop, so I wanted you to see how the detail is still there, and the photo is the same size: 4x6.  I'm not sure about a background.  Should it just be plain, or something with a little more interest to it?  Here are my attempts.







I'll await your final answer and then will proceed.  Thanks so much for taking time to give me some guidance on this one.

GK