Require help with face ..please

[battleaxe]

This may be a non-restore.  Biggest challenge is the Face.  Thought some of our artists could help on this one, so am posting it.

I did change the print on the shirt using another shirt from the internet...most likely a no-no.  Did the crest on the shirt using one from the internet...so is a little different from the original maybe.

Can not get the face/head right.   Here is what I have so far.




Thanks for you help   :hug:

[battleaxe]

Thanks Tori!  Will retry.   Guess I am not being patient enough.  Was using Content aware and healing brush,  also tried cloning.  Did try repairing channels but as I said guess I am not patient enough.  Never think of the patch tool though.  Will separate areas using the clone tool and try it.  Again thanks :hug:

[philbach]

This looks to me like a good candidate to use frequency separation.  Which separates the color from the texture.  Lurch helped me a lot with a difficult problem I had.  Here is a post from a ways back.

http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/index.php/topic,2879.msg26433.html#msg26433

I tried the technique on your photo and the results were pretty good.    There are several online references and videos out there to get you started.  You do not need to use a b&w adjustment layer incidentally like lurch recommended in my specific case.

[Bambi]

I don't know if it will help, but if you find that the Patch Tool set to Content Aware is causing blurry patches or if it copies part of the damage around it, change the setting to Normal and click the Destination button. Select and drag an undamaged area over the damage, instead of the other way around. It seems to be a little less destructive on the texture than Content-Aware.

Bambi

[philbach]

Well I set up a frequency separation sequence and worked on the texture (High Pass Layer) using the Patch tool and the healing brush tool for a couple of minutes and this is what I got. 

[bjtx]

well, I sure do understand why the image is labeled as 'possible nonrestore'
Good luck with this tough restore, BA. You've already accomplished a lot!  Good job!

betty

[battleaxe]

Here is my latest using, replace colour, patch tool and clone.  Can't get the  shape and glee in his face down.
Still have damage to repair. Have to fix the nose as well.

Thanks again for all your help   :hug:

[Jonas.Wendorf]

Incredible job so far!
Maybe a little dodge & burn and reference images could help with the shapes?

[Tori803]

Great job! They're going to love getting this photo back!

[Mhayes]

Enjoy seeing the different ways to approach doing this photo. BA, this is coming along nicely. One thing I would change is on the baby's left side, but on your right, and that is the shading for the nose. I would make it more like the other side where you only have shading from the bottom of the nose and under the cheek to the mouth. I think with a baby you will have a pug nose and don't want to have the shading that you would in an adult.

Big improvement and great ideas!

Margie

[battleaxe]

I don't have the patience to take out all the little white spots.  Got rid of most of them though.  Think I have to redo the football.  Could not find an image of one that looks like it. But have to put some texture and detail to it.  Looks too blurred.

Jonas this came from your gallery, did not see another photo of this baby in it. ( Hennington family)
Any suggestions welcome  :hug:

Now that I posted it I notice his face is still too round, I added too much highlight to his forehead.   The lips are too red but that should be a easy fix.

[battleaxe]

Is his face better?

[Mhayes]

BA, Yes it is better and really great compared to what it was originally. What you need to do now is work more on your right side of the boy's face. Under the cheek close to his nose is too dark and then as you continue right across it looks too orange. There will be some variation of shading but it needs to be lighter. One other thing I noticed is the boy's hand that is raised needs to have the black taken out and more skin tone. Also, the wicker could  be lightened up some too as right now the black streaks extend from the boy's hand into the wicker. I think this is where the ink has migrated.

You are getting really close and have done a great job so far.

Margie

[battleaxe]

Okay....here is the latest version.  I t recoloured his face , added curves to lighten it. Cloned the black under the raised hand

[Mhayes]

BA, you are getting really close. While the baby will have fair skin, you might want to darken a little in areas to give the face more definition. I think easier than dodging and burning is to add another layer set to softlight or overlay and checking the box for 50% gray. The paint on that layer, started with your soft brush set to a low opacity, foreground white for lighter and the opposite to darken.

The next thing I would do is to smooth out the splotches on the baby's face and the transition between baby's head and background. I would duplicate your layer, go up to filter and chose Gaussian Blur and watch your preview box and do a low blur. Then on that layer, do a layer mask to conceal all (hold the alt key and while selecting layer mask icon)--you will no longer see your entire photo blurred. Go up and pick a soft brush and set the opacity low to around 30% or lower (experiment to see what looks good) and paint on the face (change foreground to white) and around his head--don't go to far outside his head but enough to blur the transition. Do not paint on eyes or any area you want sharp. You want the skin to look smooth, but not to the point it looks painted. I would also work on the lips so they don't look so splotchy. Otherwise, great job on a very difficult restore!

Margie