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Long-ago portrait 'washed out'

Started by Jo Ann Snover, May 14, 2019, 08:17:24 PM

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Jo Ann Snover

I'm never sure which is the right forum - perhaps this isn't "difficult" but it certainly took a while to fix this lovely woman up :)

Original



Restored



It's from the same family as the homestead, but I'm guessing this was from the 1950s? Although there's a lot of texture on the damaged original where her sweater was, after trying to find any coherent design (and I looked a lot of old knitting pattern images from the 1940s and 50s) I concluded that a lot of the things I saw were transferred damage rather than details of the original clothing. Drawing outlines of the visible fragments of things that could have been a neckline or contrasting colors, nothing joined up to make a garment!
Jo Ann

Lynnya

Lovely Jo Ann.. her right ear looks a little flat.. like no ridge around it like the original and the left side of her lip looks just a tad too pronouced to me.. I would say this is pretty difficult  :wnw:
never giving up......learning from others as I go...

Jo Ann Snover

Both good catches. The lip was a stupid mistake as I was trying to smooth the transition between lip and skin - rushing at the end is never a good plan :) See what you think of this version:



Jo Ann

philbach

Well its coming along fine.  I think her right nostril could be adjusted some and there seems to be a lot of noise in this rendering.
phil

Shadow

Wow, you've come so far. Think the catch lights in her left eye (looking at the screen) are in a different position and maybe lighten the shading under the right side of her mouth?

Jo Ann Snover

More good catches (bad pun - sorry!). See what you think about this version



Regarding noise, I contemplated smoothing things out a bit, but decided that the film grain I think is visible in the original is part of the look, and that when printed, it'd be better for this not to have the texture of a modern digital image. I'll let Tess (the distributor for this) guide me on that.
Jo Ann

Lynnya

Lookin good Jo... I played with it a bit. added a screen layer just to lighten her skin a bit.. I thought maybe she was a bit dark.. dunno.. I think it looks really good but her ear still looks odd to me.. not real, a little heavy and straight..  just somthing that my eye keeps going to..

You've taught me to be really picky Jo Ann  :cool:
never giving up......learning from others as I go...

Jo Ann Snover

Quote from: Lynnya on May 15, 2019, 11:59:21 AM
Lookin good Jo... I played with it a bit. added a screen layer just to lighten her skin a bit.. I thought maybe she was a bit dark.. dunno.. I think it looks really good but her ear still looks odd to me.. not real, a little heavy and straight..  just somthing that my eye keeps going to..

You've taught me to be really picky Jo Ann  :cool:

Let me play with the shading on the ear a bit more. I don't think ear edges are tubular :)

Picky is good - I can always just bypass anything if I want to (should the madness creep too close...). Thanks
Jo Ann

Jo Ann Snover

I think I'm going to send this version to Tess and see what she thinks - I know it's better than the first version I posted :)

Thanks all for the feedback


Jo Ann

Lynnya

never giving up......learning from others as I go...

Jo Ann Snover

Cracking it without cracking up will be my goal for today :)
Jo Ann

Jo Ann Snover

Just to follow up and say thanks again for the feedback, Tess OK'd the image and did not find the noise/grain to be too much.
Jo Ann

Mhayes

Jo Ann, I would call it difficult. Nice job and not sure you are done yet, but I would soften the skin so it doesn't look blotchy.



"carpe diem"

Margie Hayes
OPR President
[email protected]

Lynnya

#13
I could'nt help play with it too a little.. don't know if it's improved or not lol added a 50% grey layer.. soft light, added a lot of noise, blur about 1 px.. embossed for skin texture.. added a sepia color layer .. blurred the lips and teeth a bit..
It's a fun image to play with..



never giving up......learning from others as I go...

Hannie

#14
It almost seems like the original is lighter?  The lower part of her ear can use less shading next to the "tube".  I would go for smoothing to but more on her skin than her hair etc.


Hannie Scheltema
Distribution Coordinator
[email protected]