Original
(http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/4645/easleyk118x10smallnp1.jpg)
Candy, great job on a really difficult photo! The background, sailor's outfit, and skin tones look right. The only thing that I notice is the eyes and the mouth. In the original, you are minus the information for the eye on your right, but the other eye appears more like he is gazing over your right shoulder rather than straight on. I would also make his eyes have some shading of brown with the black more for the pupils. The nose looks pretty good until you get to the end and the shading makes it appear that his nose is bent to the left. This is just a guess on my part, but I think I would not show the bottom of his teeth, because it makes him look like he has buck teeth. You may also want some dark browns in the hair. You did a really great job of bringing this one back. :up:
Margie
Candy, you sure can pick the tough ones. I decided to play around with the image a little and pulled up more of his left side (our right). I duped the layer 3 times and set it to multiply, then I duped it once more with no layer effects, flipped it horizontally, rotated it slightly to the right and masked off the obliterated side of his face. If you bring down the opacity of that layer, you can compare his mirrored visage with what you can see on the multiplied layer below it. This is really down-and-dirty, but I thought I'd try it. It gives you a better idea of his entire visage, which is quite different from your reconstruction. His face wouldn't really be as symmetrical as my experiment, but you could move the features around a bit to make them more realistic.
For what it's worth:
(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n222/glennab-fla/ForCandy.jpg)
G
Yeah, I know I don't play fair! I like what you did and the suggestions.
Candy, that is a goodlooking sailor! I like what Glenna did and wonder if there would be enough detail left to work from there?
:loveit:
Hannie
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb18/marijtje2/OPR/sailor.jpg)
Hi Candy,
I think Glenna's and Hannie's versions are right on target.
I've done a little playing around with his eyes and made a composite using Glenna's nose and mouth.
(http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/4120/easleysampleyk0.th.jpg) (http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=easleysampleyk0.jpg)
Lorraine, I think that Hanna and Glenna's versions give me ideas to think about but no ones face is symmetrical and so I can't leave it that way nor use that method to create what isn't. I will however, take all thoughts into the "creative" bank and work with things as they come up. Each suggestion is a bit more information to glean from.
Candice
Candice,
I am no expert in some of this but I notice that his right eye (our left) looks larger than the left eye (our right) in your restoration. It seemed more obvious to me when I compared what you did to the original. Does anyone else see this or is it my astigmatic eyeballs?
I like what Glenna did as his eyes look more balanced.
The white piping on the uniform should be even width throughout. I notice in the damaged original the piping on his left looks uneven. I wonder if that is from damage. You also may want to look for a hint of a neckerchief coming out from under the bib. (We are still mourning the death of Lord Nelson.) It would be black against the navy blue. (Could be real hard to see.) It may be just a wide line on each side of the V neck as it would be tied with a square knot at the bottom of the V which is out of the picture.
Johnboy
Johnboy, thank you for your observations. I know about the piping and the scarf. In answer to your question - there isn't one that in apparent in CMYK or RGB. I've not tried lab nor have I inverted the picture. May see it then. Also, this is not the final picture just steps along the way and since I'm not Glenna, I'm not going to replicate her work. I will continue to work on this picture and know that as time moves forward that things will work themselves out.
I was asked (which normally I volunteer for the military) to work on this and I've had worse, so things will work out. Thanks for your input - all of you.
It's been a very long day here in Oklahoma City and I'm exhausted. Back to the drawing board in the morning.
Hugs all,
Candy
(http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k88/mschonher/ForCandice.jpg)
Hi Candy,
This is down and dirty but I've tried to help out a little. Last night I worked on Glenna's rendition, loving the way it looked but not even looking at the original. This morning I did look at the original and worked on that one. I've sent both just because there might be something for you in either one.
I first made a small levels adjustment to this photo just so I could see the features a little clearer. I don't like to do too much levels and curves until the white areas are corrected.
I've done most of the work with the healing brush most of the time set to normal and some of the time to replace then blended using the circular technique.
Some areas I needed to paint in a little, one those I zoomed in very close and used a very small, very soft brush about 3 to 5 pixels in size. I was careful to sample the colors in the specific areas no matter how weird they might appear. I blended on a new layer using the above mentioned technique.
I also built out the sides of the face by making a selection then adjusting the levels as needed to make it lighter or darker. I also used a color adjustment on some areas that were to red, on those I just added a little green to neutralize the red.
Hope this helps you out a bit. Hugs. Mary
I forgot to mention that I think there is a good possibility you could use the good eye on the bad side of this photo. Don't mirror any of the features but do each one seperately starting with the eye. Make a selection of the eye, flip it horizontally then rotate it until it looks "normal". Erase the iris before you merge layers and then select the good iris and place into the empty eye. You will probably have to move it to the right somewhat. This assures that both of the iris's are the same. Sometimes one eye is a little lighter because of lighting. For the mouth and nose you could do the same procedure but filling in the middle areas.
There is usually one eye's distance between the eye placement. The outside of the nose area usually corresponds with the inner corner of the eyes. The mouth usually lines up with the middle of the iris. Of course everyones face is different but these are good guidelines. You probably already knew this.
Hugs, Mary :hug:
Thanks Mary for reminding me of the hint with the nose lining up with the eyes. As for the eyes, that's what I actually did in the first picture, with the exception of reworking the iris. Good lesson !!
Hugs,
C
:hug:
Excuse me Candice while I hijack your thread. In Mary's reply she said
QuoteI've done most of the work with the healing brush most of the time set to normal and some of the time to replace then blended using the circular technique.
Mary could you give a quick tutorial on this. I had not heard of the "circular technique" of blending.
Thanks Mary. Thanks Candice.
Johnboy
(http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/7914/easleyk118x10smallon8.jpg)
He still has a ways to go and the last overlay is obvious, but I thought I'd post before going to bed and let you see the progress. :D
Hi Candy,
I love how your sailor is coming along! The eyes look really good. I noticed you also worked on the white stripes already, what a difference! I like Mary's tips on facial dimensions, great tips.
I think our sailor has a little bit bigger chin and even the jaw line seems to me like it should be a little larger. Almost like his face would be a little chubbier. I better post an image of what I mean, that will make better sense!
(love the hair!)
:loveit:
Hannie
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb18/marijtje2/OPR/sailorB.jpg)
Hannie, I like your jawline and that you lightened up smile lines around the nose and mouth. Being so young they would be much less prominent. I think the ears are a tad to small and the nose could be a bit wider.
Mary
Back to the drawing board. Thanks
:up:
Johnboy, here is a tut on the method I spoke of earlier in this thread. I hope this helps you and anyone else who is struggling with faces. I've rewritten this 3 times but I'm sure I've left something out. LOL, even though I tried not to.
This technique comes from my experimentation with the badly damaged photos of OPR, but also from the perspective of an oil painter. So here goes.
PREPARATION:
I'm assuming you're using a graphic tablet and pen.
If your photo has an odd color cast fix that first. There is no need to keep repeating that bad color.
If you need to see the features more clearly do a layers adjustment to make things easier for you.
Set the healing brush to 57% hardness and the spacing to 40%.
Double the size of your photo, I usually go from 300 pixels to 600, so I can see more detail. I also use the full screen mode with tool bar and zoom in and out quite frequently to make sure I'm not loosing any information especially in the dark and medium areas. Otherwise the face will appear flat.
I always do the background first. This sets the tone of the finished photograph for me. I'm sure this is from my oil painting background, but it makes perfect sense to me. Doing the background first will also help you get a feel for the technique and it is good practice before you tackle the face. I stop the background work as I near the face, head and clothing so that I don't get the awful healing brush blur, which by the way we use to our advantage later on.
FILLING:
When stealing or sampling colors, take them from the nearby clean areas using the "replace" mode of the healing brush.
Take into consideration the shape of the damage. If it is roundish in shape then sample from all around the damage, working your way into the damaged area to erase it. If the damage is vertical or horizontal then sample from either side of the damage.
Don't get stuck on just one color, keep the cursor moving around. The more colors and tones the better. If a color looks strange to you, zoom out and take a good look at the photo. Grayish green, blues and purples are very common colors for shading flesh tones. It will all blend together later.
For filling in with a paint brush, use the softest setting which would be 0 and use a good strong opacity, I usually use 65% and up for this. Again you will be sampling colors as mentioned above.
BLENDING:
Never blend on an area that you've painted on. It will look awful. I merge the layers and start a new one for the blend.
Using the healing brush set to "normal", I place my cursor right up to the filled area and using small circular motions with the pen I begin to blend the filled areas. This can take some time so be patient with yourself. You might see tracks and that's normal, but you have to work them out a little at a time. Keep zooming in and out to check yourself. keep the cursor small.
Once that area is fixed you will need to blend it into the surrounding areas. You will be striving for a smooth transition from one area to another. By placing your cursor into a medium toned area and working in a circular motion into a lighter area the colors should blend beautifully. Sometimes you have to play around with the placement of the cursor. It might work better in some instances if you placed the cursor in the medium area and blended into either the dark or light areas. You have to experiment a little to get the effect you want. Are you good and confused? It really is easier than it sounds. You will always be blending the tones together, lights into the middle tones, the middle tones into the light, the middle tones into the dark and the dark tones into the middle tones. Working back a forth until it's beautiful.
If any of you have questions, feel free to ask away, I don't mind at all. I sincerely hope this helps someone. I hope I was clear.
Mary :hug:
Mary,
Thanks for the tut. I have done a lot in past restorations with the healing brush. Even trying to smooth out areas by selecting larger areas. A lot of the time I go back & forth in History to see what the effect is. If I like it I keep it. If not, I go back to a previous point and start over. Unfortunately I don't have a graphics tablet and pen. Probably need to look into that in the future. I will save the tut though for future use. Thanks again.
Johnboy
Well there you go Johnboy, you're already ahead of the game. I had a wacom graphire for the longest time and it still works great. I bet you can get a good deal at Amazon.com.
Mary
:)
Sorry about that Candy, I must not have been clear. What part do you not understand?
Mary
(http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/4880/experiment2copysmallax1.jpg)
Thanks for the extra note Mary. I believe I've got it.
Heading to bed but this is as it stands.
Hi Candy,
I ruined your beautiful restoration trying to change his mouth. In the process I completely blackened his teeth as well ::)
I was trying to give his mouth that is a little fuller, almost like a young Tony Curtis, not quite like Elvis or Ricky Nelson. But it didn't work. I do think his mouth is fuller though!
I like how you changed the background, looks really good!
:loveit:
Hannie
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb18/marijtje2/OPR/revisited.jpg)
I know that you have access to the original so with that being said, look at it and overlay the one I posted this last time. I'm posting the lips and I've used a multiply and overlay just to bring them out. I appreciate your work. This guy has been a step by step process. The background was made by using the suggestion that Mary posted as well as the face.
Today is grandson day, so I'll check off and on for what you have to say.
Candy, I think you make your own improvements just fine!
Your multiply image really shows the shape of the mouth well, it is a puzzle to me, it looks the same size but when I look at the full image it seems bigger.
I see what you mean with the ears but I think you are right about the size. The right ear just looks bigger because it is a little closer to the camera, his right shoulder leans forward some.
Have a fun day with your grandson!
:hug:
Hannie
(http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k88/mschonher/revisited.jpg)
Hi Candy,
Hannie is right, you can do it yourself. You have done an amazing job on a very difficult photo. I don't ever want to discourage you from doing it yourself but I also know you are hungry to learn and that is why I get involved. We all struggle with faces.
Ears are so difficult because you have to tie them in to the face and hairline. I always do them last because I hate doing them at all. I've tried to show you on the right ear how the shape should go, but you could steal the left ear and tweek it with the warp tool to fit it in there. BTW, you have done a super job on the inside of that left ear.
I also duped the image and changed the mode to multiply, set the opacity to 30%, I purposely made it dark so you could see where some of the shading would go. You could strengthen any area you wanted to with this method and it gives you lots of control.
Keep going girlfriend, you are just about there. Just needs a little fine tuning.
Hi Candy and everyone working on this photo. I was hoping to get an email from the sailor's son, but unfortunately he has been out of town since Thursday. I did reach him by phone this evening and he said while staying at the hotel, he had a chance to go on line and look at the progress. There were a couple that he thought looked close, but he doesn't remember which ones and won't be home until Monday. He also offered another reference that was 5 years older, but he said his father looked a little different in it because of injuries he suffered. I would put this on the backburner until we hear more from him. He did say that his father had noticeable wavy hair. Thanks as this has not been an easy photo to restore, but it is very much appreciated by his family.
Margie
Hi!
I have a couple of comments on this project. Candy, you've taken our advice and observations with your usual grace, and I have to say again how awesome it is that you take so much care in your restorations of our beloved military people. This is such a dedicated team effort that it reinforces my pride in being part of OPR. I'm excited that we have contact with the gentleman's son, so we can truly do him justice. It's painful to learn that he was injured after this photo was taken.
Mary, your blending tutorial is a gem! I have it stashed away with the rest of the "helpful hints" in my OPR treasures folder. I'm remembering a discussion we had a while back about your reasons for not being a regular on the forum. Now that you've changed your mind, you've given us such a wealth of information from your art perspective. And obviously you're making good use of your new Mac, because you've mastered tools that I've barely touched. I certainly appreciate the wisdom you share!
Have a wonderful Sunday! Hugs
G
Glenna,
Thank you so much for you kind words, it means so much to me. It makes me so happy to know that someone got something out of that tut. Believe it or not It took me an entire day to write it and I'm still not very happy with the way it turned out. I'm better at showing someone how to do something than writing about it.
You are so right on about Candy, the tender loving care she puts into her photos comes shining through. I love what she is doing for the military families, we all owe them so much.
I'm thrilled that Margie made contact with the family! I can't wait to see the reference photo.
Hugs back at ya...............Mary :loveit:
(http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/3734/easleykrefsmalloe9.th.jpg) (http://img503.imageshack.us/my.php?image=easleykrefsmalloe9.jpg)
Reference for facial features.
So much for my "fuller lips", I think you got his mouth exactly as it should be!
Great job!
:loveit:
Hannie
It certainly is a hard one Candy. He looks so different in the second photo. You're doing a wonderful job on it.
Who knows where it will end up, but this morning I incorporated the picture that Margie sent along with the colorized. I took it down to B/W and then colorized it in CMYK mode.
There are things that need to still be worked on. I have a little more time however.
C
Candy, you have done a beautiful job! Hopefully I will hear something Monday from the son and we can go from there. Thanks for all your hard work on this one.
Margie
Still working.
Hi Everyone,
I thought you would enjoy the email that I received tonight.
QuoteMargie,
Sorry our conversation was cut short, but I was in the middle of a stadium in Beaumont, Texas watching my daughter play softball, so it was a little hard to understand what you were trying to tell me. Before I go on, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the work of all the OPR representatives. Please pass my thanks on to them. I showed this photo to several local photographers before I found out about OPR and they flat out refused to even try, so I know what a difficult project this is. Most of the damage to the photo occurred when the wet photo was pulled away from the glass in the frame. I learned later that it would have been better to leave the photo behind the glass and have a professional take a "photo of the photo", but at the time no one in my area knew how to handle flood damaged photos. My comments follow. I don't mean to be critical. I am only trying to help.
The imaging "trick" used by glennab in one of the earliest posts actually looks a lot like the undamaged original to the best of my memory.
mschonher's comments are excellent and most of them are "right on the money"
My father's hair was wavy so there is no way that it would appear straight in any photograph.
I agree that the left eye is too small in some of the earlier versions. I realize that it is just a starting point.
My father never showed the bottoms of his upper teeth when he smiled, so that comment was very accurate.
Some of the versions tend to make him look too young. This is probably because the shading and shadow effects have not been added, yet.
The left ear and hair are starting to look pretty good in Candice's reply # 31.
I have attached a later photo of my father that my sister recently found in my grandmother's attic. He is approximately 25 years old in the photo. He was approx. 19 years old in the damaged photo. I am still unable to locate any other photos of my father at the age of nineteen. Hope the attached photo helps. Please don't feel obligated to use it, if you think that it will confuse the issue. Call me anytime, if you need more information.
Thanks again,
Kelley
(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z10/hayesbucket/Easley2-1.jpg)
Candy, you've done a really great job on this photo! It is obvious you've poured tons of hours into him. It looks like he has a bit of a cleft chin, so my only suggestion would be to add a bit of shadowing for the cleft chin. It's great to see how excited and pleased the family is with all you've done!
Chris
(http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/5475/easleyk118x10smallua0.jpg)
There are a lot of things that aren't complete, but this is where he stands. I thought I'd share since he's been a joint topic. :cool:
OMG Candy, that looks incredible!
The shading you placed in his face brought this photo right back to life and he is really starting to look a lot like the boy in the photos.
Great job! (I love this project!)
:loveit:
Hannie
Candy, I'm with Hannie--this looks incredible! I wanted to compare it to #31, but guess you got tired of storing so many versions. I know at times this most have seemed like too many cooks in the kitchen, but you did a great job! :up:
Margie
Candy,
He looks great, you did a fantastic job with just one half of a photo! Congrats.
Mary
He's looking great Candy. :up: A lot of hard work on a hard photo.
(http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/2297/easleyk118x10small2if8.jpg)
I'm giving it up for the night. It's 10:55PM...
He's getting closer. I used the information that you sent to me for the ears and shading, Mary and also for the Artsie folk,
when you describe to me something - shading or coloration, be specific in telling me where, if any, changes need to be.
Same with coloration. Personally, I feel like there needs to be a bit more gold/yellow in his face. Maybe a light green, too.
I read something about that somewhere, only goodness know when... I know we're a mixture of those just now sure
where to place them.
Tomorrow will come and along with that new eyes.
Night night :wow: :hug:
Hi Candy,
It is coming along great! I think you are right about some more green and yellow in the skin tone. Maybe you add a color layer and use the color picker and take samples from different parts of the face and neck of the original photo.
:loveit:
Hannie
Wow! :up:
Chris
(http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/2297/easleyk118x10small2if8.jpg)(http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/2815/easleyk118x10small3yw3.jpg)
Updated: Went down to B/W. Changed into CMYK. Recolorized.
Better balance?
Candice
Candice,
WOW!! He is looking good. You might darken down the highlights on this forehead and down his nose. It looks like his nose if flattened into his cheeks. To me there is more "feel" in the skintone in the top version over the bottom version. I am assuming the bottom one is the newly colorized version. If I am wrong leave forget what I just said.
Johnboy
P.S. The strips on his uniform look great too.
(http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/4430/easleyk118x10small4lw4.jpg)
Somewhere in betwixt and between?
I think he looks M A R V E L E O U S!
Margie
You're just saying that! Probably because you're tired of seeing it! LOL
Now you know why I stay to B/W's
How could you doubt my sincerity! :mad:
OK, just kidding, but you know he looks good! Let me see what I can find for you next. >:D
Margie
Candy, you are so brave for taking these hard ones and putting up with a bunch of pitbulls (like me).
Your restoration turned out so beautiful, well done! :up:
:hug:
Hannie
Candy, he looks great. I like the more vibrant colorization, it gives the photo more OOMPH so to speak. He also looks younger than the paler version. I think you deserve a vacation after this one is done.
Mary :hug:
You know, Mary, with this picture I've tried to take everyones thoughts and suggestions. You really have no idea how many variations I have of this guy and right now, I don't know where to go with it. Pitbulls, chihuahuas and more....
Everyone here has their own likes, preferences, and skills. If I look at this picture tomorrow I'LL probably see yet one more thing to change but that will never bring him to a close. It's like painting the interior of a house. How many cards of color before finally settling on one that you like the best....... THAT little project took me 6 months. Since I'm in the house most of the day, I had to like and feel comfortable with the colors.
I'm not comfortable with this young man but that's because, for the first time in a long time (since Chris gave me 2 little boys to work on) I'm very frustrated with a picture. Gads, not even General Patton gave me this much grief.
So, short story long..... where to next with this guy?
Hi Candy,
I can feel your frustration right through this forum. I know you've been getting a lot of feedback and opinions and I think that adds to your confusion. This is the one drawback to posting. This is such a difficult photo for anyone to restore not just you. As you said early on, no ones face is perfectly symmetrical so that makes matters even more sticky. Also I think the reference photos are a little confusing because he's a grown man in those photos but still a boy in the original. It has been my personal experience that the male face is more difficult to work on because in general their faces are more angular than a female face and body. It's hard to recreate those angles with shading and highlights if you've not had a little experience in actually drawing the face. All this being said Candy my friend, you have captured a likeness for this guy and that is an amazing feat in itself. At this point I advise you to put this young man on the back burner for a few days and then come back to it when you feel refreshed and not so confused. Take a look back at some of your great successes from other photo restoration to give yourself a boost.
Mary :hug:
Quote from: Candice on July 26, 2008, 12:01:28 PM
So, short story long..... where to next with this guy?
Send him home Candy!
:loveit:
Hannie
Thank you Mary. I've posted so much about the frustrations, because very seldom to people really voice it. Even is it is frustrating, it's also rewarding when it does finally come together. AND isn't it good know that if we've stuggled with one then we've stuggled together to grow. I'm not the only one that has felt this, but I'm dang well near to the only one that is as verbose about it! LOL
And Hannie, I can't send him home. Not yet. There is something that I'm trying to get from him and he's talking to me, I just have to listen a bit more. The son remembers him as a man... I see the youthful side of him before time caught up to his face. The other references give me ears, chin, mouth and eyes but the did not show what I see here.
Do you remember this one? From this: (http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/3110/2168456997d03ec45c40gy7.jpg)I saw this: (http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/2306/2169248126d6d7006e1fly4.jpg)
I worked a very long time on him because he kept talking to me. I think I'll keep him for a while longer. Don't think I don't love ya'll for the words and help. I do........... but first I have to see if he came come to the place I envision. :loveit:
Say no more Candy!
(I do remember that little miracle..)
:hug:
Hannie
Candice,
Yes, I like the latest rendition. It gives his face a little more definition. I vote for sending him home when you are ready.
Johnboy