Car Man

[jaytrumpet]

Would love some suggestions on this one. I had to reconstruct his face, is it OK? What should I do with the discoloration on the left of the car (wheel well) above the bumper? It looks to be the back of the car but the tire is almost white, should I recolor it to be black? Should I introduce some color into the car? If so, what shade?

[Mhayes]

Jay, yes color the car black and maybe research to see if the bumper was silver. The sky with all the sand color is most likely damage and needs to be taken out.

Neat photo!

Margie

[kiska]

Jay, this is a toughie.
First it's best to do levels (go into each channel) and curves adjustment layers.
Then I merged all layers into a new layer with a mask. Set to multiply, lower opacity. I painted out, somewhat, the lower face, shirt and hands.
On this one it might be best to correct in bw and come back to colorize.
The eyes are in deep shadow. They should be suggested not so pronounced.
I would imagine the car and tire are black...but might be damaged or overexposed.

[jaytrumpet]

Thanks for the comments, I don't think this is going in the right direction but here goes.

[Bambi]

Wow, Jay. You've done a remarkable job in a very short time. I agree with Kiska that you should work on this one in black and white. I know how hard it is to start over after putting this much time and effort into it, but you will be able to use this file when you start putting the color back in.

Create a new file and use a Hue/Sat adjustment layer with the saturation set to 0. That way it stays in RGB mode, not Greyscale. And like Kiska said, don't open the shadows on his face and the car. His face can remain in shadow.

Post on Forum when you have the B/W done and we can help you with the color. This will be more fun than you imagined when you selected it from the gallery!

[Mhayes]

I agree on the B/W and the suggestions that followed. If you have CS5 or later I know that you can do an adjustment layer set to B/W, but the pull down will let you pick the channel and the degree, but yet still be in sRGB. I you were to do gray scale and colorize, you would then need to convert back to a sRGB file before uploading.

Margie

[jaytrumpet]

OK, I went back and created a black and white image with most of the major blemishes removed. I think the splotch on the rear, left side of the car above the fender might be the mans shadow. Don't know what to do with it.

[Mhayes]

Jay, I think this looks great and I think you are right about the shadow. You might want to darken just a little more the shadows over his eyes since they can not be recovered. I wondering if the original photo was hand painted over the original. Personally I'm liking the B/W the best. When you upload this version, make sure to change it back over to sRGB even though it is a B/W.

:up:

Margie

[jaytrumpet]

OK Margie,

Is this too much blackening of the eyes?

That is an interesting idea about the photograph being hand painted. It makes a lot of sense and would explain a lot about the odd color in the photo.

[Mhayes]

Jay, I think it now looks like the brim of his hat. Make it darker and then come out lighter. What you don't want is a hard edge. Look at the original and see where the shadows are the deepest.

Margie

[kiska]

Maybe something like this. Also, the sky is very blotchy, needs to be smoothed out. The dark area on the fender is the shadow of his jacket.

[jaytrumpet]

Ok, Take a look at this. I worked more on the area underneath his cap, darkened his suit slightly and smoothed out the sky. Is it enough?

[Mhayes]

Jay, I think this looks great. It maybe that the B/W will be the sent off, but for fun you could experiment with coloring it and upload both versions. Make sure to change the B/W mode to sRGB (even though it is not in color) when you upload. Doing it as a B/W looks really classy.

Margie

[jaytrumpet]

Margie,

I went ahead and colorized it, but I think I like it better in Black and White. I am especially unhappy with the bumper, how does one simulate chrome?

Here is what I came up with.



Since all the colors are on separate adjustment layers it is easy to change any one if you don't like them.

I think I like this partial coloring the best, though the suit probably should be brought back a bit, so it only has a hint of color.

[kiska]

Jay, I don't think they had green suits back in the day. Maybe stick with gray/black? And the tie appears to be light blue in the original.