Cute Ginger Girl

[rsvadnie]

Hey everyone! New Year, new restore. :) I'm in the middle of working on this cute girl's school pic and have a question.

Here's the starting image:



I did a global color correction first. Then I used a series of blue channel masks to isolate different color damage. I created a new layer set to color and painted over with a contrasting color (orange for the purple, etc.). There was enough to clone the missing hair and the background; the rest was just a lot of grit/dirt.

The snag is her shirt. :( It's a distinctive fabric and there's very little to work with on the sides. This is my work so far (the left shoulder needs to be dropped, and I need to fix the green panel...). The pink panel is already starting to look fake. Any suggestions?

[Mhayes]

Great job rsvadnie! There is very little of her blouse to work with, but that's a good thing. I took what there was and piece by piece and layer mask by layer mask did this quickie. On her left parts needed to blend better. I also darken it to take away the attention to it. The one thing I left was the green ribbon (?) on your left--would have thought a ribbon in her hair, but doesn't look like she has one. I assumed what I saw of the green/white on blouse is what was left after the water washed away the ink. I also added a layer, changed to "Soft Light" and checked the 50% gray. Then with a brush and foreground white and opacity down to around 30% or lower (forgot exact #) I painted back more color in her face as the highlights look a little blown out in places and also to keep more of her freckles.

Love the background that you have kept with what a studio photo would look like.



(click for larger view)

Margie

[kiska]

I'm wondering if that's the wall and she's sorta leaning toward the camera???

[Mhayes]

Kiska, that sounds reasonable and don't think it will be missed if taken out. On the original there wasn't as much of it.

Margie

[Hannie]

In Margie's version I like that the girls face is not blown out and has more shading.

[rsvadnie]

There definitely needs to be more contrast in her face. She looks washed out as is.

The green spot is a shirt patch area I'm working on. I didn't finish it completely because the further I got in the patching process the more I realized that I needed to get y'alls thoughts on how to move forward. I'll go back in and work on the image some more with this feedback.

Thank you all—I'll post an update soon!

[Shadow]

Look forward to your final!

[rsvadnie]

Hey y'all! Here is the final image submitted. I tried Margie's suggestion and just worked at the shirt pattern little by little. It took some patience but it was worth it. :)

[Lynnya]

Looks beautiful Rsv  :up: :up:

[Shadow]

Beautiful!

[Mhayes]

Rsv, she looks beautiful and great job in getting her blouse restored. The only pic I have is the small round spot by her nose on your left. It may have been on the previous ones, but because they were lighter it didn't show up as much.

Margie

[Candice]

 :loveit:  :up: