Wedding Reception WIP

[jaytrumpet]

This is one of the bigger challenges I have taken on here at OPR. My skills are pretty basic and the amount of reconstruction that this photo needs really tests my abilities. Looking for advice and suggestions:

[Mhayes]

Hi Jay,

I think you are off to a good start and I would recommend when you have one with so much damage to work on certain areas and get those fixed first---take a break, and then start on the next. There is so much damage to clean up, the bride's dress, the paneling, and band instruments. On the band instrument my eye is drawn to two areas: the man on your left holding what looks like a chello and the drum in front that is now gray.

For the paneling I would suggest lassoing a good section, use the shortcut key "Ctrl J or Cmd J" that will copy what you have lassoed and put it on it own layer. Then hit the "V" to move your selection into place. You may need to do a Transform under the Edit menu on top first to help scale or rotate. I would then hold the "Alt" key and click on a layer mask in your layer's menu at the bottom to do a "conceal all." Then with a soft paintbrush with your foreground showing white, paint back in what you want. If you bring something in you don't want, reverse your foreground to black and cover it back up.

Good luck and post your progress!

Margie

[jaytrumpet]

Thanks Margie, I went back and did more work on it. I worked on improving the paneling but it was a challenge finding areas that looked good enough to clone! I also worked on her dress and veil as well as the bass player at the upper left. I also worked on softening the look of the drum head. This one is coming along and I am having fun, it's a challenge for me!

[Mhayes]

Jay, this is improving. I would suggest on the paneling to go back to the original (color corrected version) and start over on the paneling only. I would not use the clone tool on this, because you are going to want to have nice straight edges coming down and not wavy ones. Also on your work in progress you can see where it  been cloned as it looks the same--notice the two dots that repeat. With the originals you really have a lot of good panels--you will have to build it up by duplicating sections, combining, and then moving them in place. The thing I like about how I do it is that I can also control the tone--I may have a duplicate layer, change the mode to multiply and then lower the opacity. When I do that, I will then combine the layer. By using Layer Masks you can fine tune or if it doesn't work--throw it away. Another helpful tool in keeping nice straight edges where needed is to use the Patch Tool.


You're getting there!

Margie

[kiska]

The blue channel nicely shows what the best man(?) is holding in his hands.

[jaytrumpet]

Did more work on it, tried to fix the paneling, used some darkening blend modes as you suggested Margie.

Kiska, I went into the blue channel and was able to view the information there, but it is beyond me. Couldn't get it to look real (photographic). For my skills its better to  just eliminate it.

[Mhayes]

Jay, it is coming along, but don't give up. That means getting some help to bring back what is really in the photo rather than eliminating it.

Margie

[Mhayes]

Jay, here is a link that might help you with using the blue channel:

http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/index.php/topic,2666.msg24995.html#msg24995

Margie

[jaytrumpet]

Thanks Margie,

I understand the mechanics of duplicating a channel to a layer, I have used the technique before with some success. Unfortunately in this case the information I was able to extract from the blue channel was insufficient for me to produce a credible rendition of his hands and whatever he was holding; a plate, a book, who knows? If you zoom in close on the channel you will see that the hands are also a total mess. I tried "drawing" that information in, but my skills at "digital painting" are insufficient to create realistic looking objects.

I guess could try to search for an image on line that shows hands holding an object (book or plate?) and use that. But I am still unsure of what exactly he is holding and thought it was better to just leave it all out.

Are there other photos of the scene to use as reference?

[2ndAbi]

I'm not sure if I am doing this correctly, but I'll give it a shot.

a) I like the work you have done so far. Dealing with water stains/marks isn't too easy. I used Portrait Professional 11 Studio to turn the water marks on my graduate's face into light blotches - easily covered with "make up").

b) It looks to me like you have changed the groom's eyes - they are now looking to our right instead of straight ahead.

c) Regardless of what the Best Man is holding, he looks armless if his hands are visible.

I have to figure out how to get my WIPs here for comment and help.

len