Color or Black&White?

[GP]

I started with this portrait and I'm already stuck. All my attempts to correct the color did not go anywhere. Now, I'm wondering if it is a black&white?

I would really appreciate some expert advice on this. Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance....

     

[Ausimax]

GP, Try adjusting the individual channels in levels, thats all I did in this and it doesn't look too bad, one thing I noticed, when I downloaded the image it had no embeded colout profile, I set it to RGB, don't know if that makes a difference.




Max

[GP]

Hi Max  :)

thanks for your opinion. I saved the picture for web, that stripped it off the profile. The original is in RGB mode. Did you notice the spot between her chin and the dress, that gave me the idea it might not be in color.
I will try your suggestion and see where it gets me.

Thank a lot for your help!  :up2:

[Hannie]

Hi Gerlinde,

After you do the levels that Max suggested you could add a color balance layer and slide the yellow towards the blue (+30)
The whites are missing in this photo it seems, I did a selective color adjustment layer and in the whites I moved yellow all the way to the left.  I did another one of those with yellow to the left at only -72%.

How brave you are to work this doozy!  If the color adjustments don't work you can always make it black and white like you suggested.

Hannie

[GP]

Thank you Hannie, I will give your method a try too. So the dominant color  seems to be pink, which makes sense, she is a little girl after all.
Should she have a left arm?

Thanks for your help!

Gerlinde

[Mhayes]

Hi GP,

I agree with Hannie that you are very brave attempting this one. I did an Auto Curves and came out similar to Max's, but  more of a lighter shade of yellow on the dress and less green. I like what Hannie has done on changing the dress color, but I'm really not sure what the original color would have been.

As to the missing left arm; I would use the right for just a hint of it. Since the photo doesn't show it in front, I assume it was behind her dress which seems odd being a studio photo. Then I had this horrible thought that perhaps she literally didn't have a left arm. I check other photos of the family and it looks like there were 2 girls and a boy. The other photos shows her older and both arms are visible.

Max, so great to see you posting again. We missed you!

Margie

[GP]

Hi Margie,

that's great info! Is there anything in those other photos, that might be of assistance for this studio portrait? I also have a 8 x10 portrait of the boy and his hair is mostly missing.  :huh:

Gerlinde

[glennab]

Hi Gerlinde

I did a quick, down-and-dirty color correction using curves, and my version came up with a yellow dress. I didn't do any other correcting, but I thought this might be good for reference.  Amazing the differences in all of our versions.  Good luck!



Hugs

GK

[GP]

Thank you Glenna, that looks nice too. I'm not too much worried about the color of the dress, that can easily be changed to any color.

My main concern is her skin color, yours looks great. But there is still a pinkish color cast, that I would like to get rid off. Your version will give me a great start for that.

I think I can see now also the outline of her missing left arm!  :wow:


gp

[glennab]

Gerlinde, I think the key word here is MASKS! Color correction is going to be difficult without masking off different areas. The balance on her face is way off.  Some too yellow; some too red. What a bear!  I think there's just the tiniest bit of her left arm showing.

Have fun!

GK

[Mhayes]

GP,

Sorry but the other photos are snapshots of the kids as they were older. Not sure about your 2nd picture, so will check again or maybe Hannie will know.

How's that for being helpful?

Margie

[GP]

Margie, I was just grasping for straws. I will be fine, I made good progress with the girls face. As for the boy's portrait, I worry about it when I get to the point of actually starting the restoration.

But thank you for checking.

gp

[Hannie]

Gerlinde, there is not other photo of boy,  It must have been a childhood photo of one of the adults in the family. 

Good luck with your restore,

Hannie