My first Work in Progress

phischer · July 02, 2007, 02:03:59 AM

Hi, I'm new to OPR and would like to show my work so far for a little feedback. I chose this one thinking it wouldn't be too bad. That was one of the worst judgement errors I have ever made in my life. :D
Here's the original:

By phischer at 2007-07-01
Here's my work so far:

By phischer at 2007-07-01
Here's a detail closeup on the face:

By phischer at 2007-07-01
I think the face has come out pretty good so far. My concern is with the fact that this one was originally an 11 X 14. I don't know that I will ever be able to restore this to a state where they will be able to make a decent print of it that size. I think it would look ok at half that size maybe. Does anyone know a way that I can smooth out the face a little? Any suggestions for recreating the left hand/arm and foot? What is she sitting on? Thanks in advance.

Phil

Ausimax · July 02, 2007, 05:28:06 AM

Hi Phil,

Really giving yourself a baptism of fire aren't you. This is a bit I did on your face, it was all done with the healing brush tool on a separate layer with the tool set to sample all layers, all the work was done with the brush indexed to the spot with the cross on the forehead, work following natural contours as much as possible, using a small brush (about half the size of his eye) at 100% hardness.

When working near other colours use a very small brush and you can get very close then you have to use the clone to avoid colour bleeding. you may have to work an area several times to blend in the colours working from good to bad, you can always improve you colours when you have the damage repaired, by creating another layer and setting the mode to colour then painting with various sampled skin tones.

I think you need to move the right eye a little more to the right, he looks very cross-eyed at present

Hope this is of some use to you.

Max

kiska · July 02, 2007, 07:24:59 AM

Maybe his left cheek is too square?

kiska · July 02, 2007, 08:19:36 AM

This might help with the 'healing'.

Here's how to make a texture pattern:

http://www.oprworkshop.org/forum/index.php?topic=712.msg6174;topicseen#new

http://upload.pbase.com/image/81529202

phischer · July 02, 2007, 11:57:07 AM

Thanks for your replies.
You've both referred to this child as a boy. Am I missing something? I thought it was a girl, for sure.
Max: I can appreciate the cross eyed comment...I was up late working on those eyes last night and I just couldn't get something that looked correct. Each eye looked fine if you cover up the other eye, but when I look at the pair I knew something was off. When you say her right eye needs to move to the right I'm assuming you mean the right as we look at it, correct?

Kiska: Can you explain your layers a little clearer for me? I've made that texture you've sent the link to. (Thanks for that!) Now I use the healing tool set to pattern (with that new pattern) and then I can just brush along the contours of the face? What is the second layer you have there. I'm a little confused. Or did you clean up one little area with the pattern and then sample that area and use it to clean other parts of the face?

Thanks again.

Phil

kiska · July 02, 2007, 12:07:22 PM

Phil,
the texture pattern will smear along the edges between different tonal ranges, just like the regular healing brush. It is a good tool to get some texture started when the damage doesn't show any. I first used the healing brush set to pattern to get a small area of texture (layer 1). I then set the heal to 'sample' and sampled from that pattern texture area (layer 2).

The texture pattern is really useful for totally botched backgrounds.

Don't know if the kid is a boy or girl. They all look the same to me. :funny:

Let me know if you have questions. Good luck!

phischer · July 02, 2007, 03:30:21 PM

Here's where I am at now. Am I proceeding in the right direction?
What should I do about the hair?

phischer · July 05, 2007, 02:28:10 PM

Ok, so I'm operating on the assumption that most of you opted for "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!" ; )
I hear you loud and clear and I've started over. I worked on the legs and was able to get a nicer skin texture from them and apply it to the face. I've been working it over and over again, and here is what I have now. Please let me know how I am doing here. I am trying my best and am starting to think that maybe this is out of my range of ability. (Although I can't stress enough that I do not want to give up!) I actually think that what I have here is good. Should I continue with the rest of the photo or give up now and get something that may be a little easier?

By phischer at 2007-07-05

Also, is that damage or a little tuft of hair sticking out of the top of her head? Any suggestions on doing the hair here?
Thanks a bunch. You guys are awesome and I can only hope to be a little part of your admirable community.

kstruve · July 05, 2007, 03:35:08 PM

Phil,

Would you mind posting a high-resolution crop of the baby's head from the original file? I would like to see if I can find any more details hiding in there. Thanks!

Kurt

phischer · July 05, 2007, 04:09:46 PM

Quote from: kstruve on July 05, 2007, 03:35:08 PM

Phil,

Would you mind posting a high-resolution crop of the baby's head from the original file? I would like to see if I can find any more details hiding in there. Thanks!

Kurt

No problem. Thanks for looking.

kstruve · July 05, 2007, 06:42:44 PM

Phil,

This is what I've been able to find hiding in the channels:

We can much more clearly make out her eyes and other features. I think that her face would be a good candidate for color replacement since most of it has been either destroyed or yellowed. But there's enough of her skin tones on her mouth, chin and forehead to sample and use on a separate "Color" layer.

Take a look at these for tutorials on how to do this.
http://www.oprworkshop.org/forum/index.php?topic=434.msg3712#msg3712
http://www.oprworkshop.org/forum/index.php?topic=415.msg3277#msg3277

I hope this helps!

Kurt

John · July 05, 2007, 06:55:22 PM

Now that's what I call teamwork!

No matter how many of these I look at I'm amazed at the detail that can be 'discovered' via different techniques.

:up:

kstruve · July 05, 2007, 07:05:13 PM

Sorry, I should have explained how I got this detail out of the photo. It's a composite of the Blue Channel and of the Yellow channel. I took the best parts of the two and combined them, then I did some dodging and burning to smooth out the blotches a little bit and to add in some shading where it didn't look quite right.

Kurt

P.S. Phil, please feel free to copy this image and paste it into your Photoshop file if you'd like.

sanbie · July 05, 2007, 07:41:36 PM

Wow thats amazing..I will have to keep that tip!!

Sanbie

glennab · July 05, 2007, 08:05:10 PM

Hi Phil --

Please don't assume that if you don't get responses from people that you're not doing a good job. I tried over and over to find something that could help you and couldn't come up with a thing. So it's not a matter of "if you can't say anything nice..." It's more, if you can't help, get the heck out of the way and make room for someone who can. Kurt is one of our resident "eagle eyes" and gurus, so he's someone who can usually jump in when the rest of us are scratching our heads. He's been busy getting married, so he's not been around until this week to keep us on our toes. It's great that he was able to get more detail for you. This is among the worst of the damaged photos I've seen, so take pride in the fact that you've kept at it when the rest of us were baffled!

Glenna