Do most of you start a restoration by tackling the hardest part first and then going to
the easy stuff or the other way around?
Thanks.
Mary
I do levels and curves first. Then go to background and work "forward".
Same as Kiska.
When I do damage repair part of the subjects I often start with the easiest parts first, then the difficult part.
When I'm done I zoom in about 200% or more and check out the whole image for any leftover damage, cloning marks etc.
Hannie
Ditto for me! Color correction is always first and then I think it depends on the photo as to what you want to tackle next, or if you want to take 2 aspirins and go back to bed. ;)
Hi Mary
Great question! If I need to try to define obliterated areas, I do my channel surfing and channels manipulating first. Color correction is next. Then I look at the overall mess and decided whether there are areas that can quickly be cleaned. I usually do those first and then work my way into the more damaged parts. I save the "impossible" parts for last, just in case while I'm working on the rest I come up with some "genius" idea to clean up the worst of the worst. Sometimes works, sometimes not. Often at that point I get frustrated and scribble. Then I lose an evening's work and have to go back and be more civilized toward my task the next day. But that's almost always the order in which I do my restorations.
Cheers!
GK
Are you asking the newbies? I usually start with the most difficult part, the color correction comes last. Am i doing it backwards?
I usually start with color correction. Sometimes that lessens the restoration needed in some areas, and sometimes not. Then I try to get rid of the spots with the healing brush and or the patch tool. Sometimes there is an area that really bugs me and I'll jump to that, but overall I try to work from the easier tasks to the more difficult.
Johnboy
MB, doing color correction last is a bad idea. Color differences, cloning marks, damage spots will appear that you could not see before the color correction.
When you look on your left on this page there is the Official OPR Handbook. When you click on it you will find valuable illustrated information how to go about color correction.
Hannie
I start with color/tone adjustments then start on the center of the focus. For portraits, I start with face and do background last.
I am not sure there is a right way or wrong way to start. My work flow might have been influenced by Chinese ink painting, the only art training I had. Chinese ink sticks to rice paper or silk and does not wash off, therefore, Chinese painting traditionally started with the main subject and developed into the background. It is the opposite of European water color.
I usually start by trolling the channels to see what info is available there, then I colour correct the image - what I do next depends on each image, if there is a lot of vague detail I will work on the cleanest part first - I find that the more you look/work on an image the more detail tends to resolve out of the mess.
I have often found that something I at first thought was something particular, later resolves to be something entirely different once you really start to read the image.
That said I often start with the background and work my way into the image, other times if the main subject looks real difficult I will start with that, I figure there is little use in spending a heap of time on the "easy" stuff to then find I can't get the hard bit done.
I don't think it makes any difference how you work as long as you achieve the desired result in the end.
Max
Max, where did your nice cat avatar go?
Hannie
Hannie,
The photo hosting site where my avatar resides has apparently been having some problems and it must have become disassociated, I renewed the link and it's back. :up2:
Max
Max,
I thought maybe your cat was like in Harry Potter where the figures in the pictures on the wall take leave for awhile.
Margie
Maybe Max's cat is the famous "Walkabout Cat" (http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/pets/2009/09/16/2009-09-16_australian_cat_named_clyde_roams_3_years_covers_2400_miles_over_land_and_water_t.html)! :)
Hannie