Wedding Portrait

[philbach]

Hi.  For me this photo has been vexing.  At any rate I thought I would post this for comments.  Thanks.

[Pat]

Phil you are doing a real nice job with this one so far. 

One thing that concerns me is the bride's flowers; brides can be very particular about the flowers in their bouquet.  While I can't determine what the flowers were in this particular bouquet they just don't strike me as being lilies.  We may never be able to get all the details of this bouquet but I wonder if we should make a call and ask what the predominate flowers were.

[G3User]

I have another of the same wedding so commiserations Phil. Still very much a WIP

I have come up with a completely different colour for the grooms suit and was reasonably confident with it as the leaves under the flower in his pocket came out a natural looking green. Also a green tie. If the owner can be contacted perhaps the suit, eye and brides hair colour could be asked.

Have no idea about the flowers the bride carries, I was about to ask when you posted Phil so would appreciate any advice. Perhaps we need to finish these as a joint project, there are three from the same wedding and I think two of the prints are from the same negative?

Athol

[philbach]

Well thanks both of you.  The color of the suit that I got initially was sort of a brown similar to your color.  I guessed that a more likely color for the groom would be black. So I changed it to black.  The bridal bouquet is pretty much of a mystery for me. 

[Mhayes]

Phil and Athol, I looked through the originals and I think you both have the same photo as far as the setting, but different variations of damage for the (3) 8 x 10s.  No sure on the groom's jacket, but will try to find out. I do think the bride is a brunette. On the flowers I would do away with all the ruffled area straight down from the bride's hand and to your left. Phil, it looks strange to add flowers that are so sharp that you can tell they came from another source. Instead I would do like Athol with a hint of what they were, but get rid of the ruffled area as I think that was tears and damage to the photo rather that part of the bouquet.

Margie

[Mhayes]

Phil and Athol, I talked to the owner and Phil is correct that the groom's jacket is black. I think maybe the ink contaminated the photos and prevented being able to color correct the normal way. Also, on Athol's I noticed it looked liked she had gloves on one hand and bare on the other. Phil has both bare and that is correct. However, her sleeves were long. Now we come to the hair, she said she had dark hair close to black, but not coal black. I also told the owner, that the bouquet was too far gone on part of the photo and that we would do what we could and for the really bad part, fill in with her dress.

One thing I found interesting was that if I took the original and changed in to B/W with the "Infrared" setting; I got a good view of the detail, especially the bride's face. After that I duplicated the layer and changed to "Multiply" mode and reduced the opacity.

Kudos to both of you for taking this restore on!

Margie

[philbach]

Thanks, Margie.  Very Helpful.  Right now I am out of town so I won't be able to upgrade for a few more days.  That is interesting about the b&w conversion using infra red.  Always something new to learn and try.

[Mhayes]

Phil you're welcome, however using the infra-red in the pull down menu for B/W is rarely my choice, but this time it worked out the best. Depending on the damage usually the choice is the red or blue filter. If I want to see what will give the best definition, I scroll down through the choices and look at the preview for each one.

Margie

[G3User]

Thanks Margie, I have had another go at it and have the suit and hair sorted out. Next her dress as you suggested

Infrared as part of the B/W conversion sounds different, beginning to think that a CC upgrade might be worthwhile

Athol

[Hannie]

Athol, you don't need CC, make a B/W Adjustment Layer then in the Preset pull down menu you will find Infrared.

Hannie

[Mhayes]

Athol, Hannie is right and I should have been more specific about the B/W Adjustment Layer. I am on CS5 and like Hannie pointed out there is a pull down menu within which gives you many choices for the B/W.

Margie

[philbach]

Well I did away with the flowers and slightly lowered the saturation on this latest version

[Mhayes]

Phil, this is a tough one, especially her bridal bouquet. I'm not sure what you have on your right of the flowers is flowers, ribbons, etc.  I still think it could be damage or tears in the photos. The way it is now looks doesn't look right. Also, the flowers are now taller and come up to her other hand where before they were below. I know, unless one of the other shots, has a better view that it will be close to impossible to come up with original. I would be tempted to use the flowers from Athol restore, but only the right half. I would replace the other half with her dress. This isn't great but the eye knows they are flowers, but not to the point they draw too much attention. Otherwise, much improved.



Margie

[philbach]

Thanks, Margie. 

[G3User]

Back after a couple of weeks school holidays and lots of time with the grandkids.
There are three restores that look like one camera shot. If you compare where the diagonal shadow crosses the door in the background you can see they are all different even though the poses are almost identical.
I am working on the widest image, 6.75ins and Phil appears to have the 6.5ins wide version. No idea why they have all been cropped to different widths.
I have attached my current WIP, there are lots of layers so edges are a bit rough, I have to finish the brides face and veil and do a final adjustment of levels and colour. Appreciate any input as always


Athol