Need Some Help/Opinions

[MikeG]

Here is a before and after. I wasn't able to do anything about the missing feet on two of the women.  Is it ok to crop in this case or should I give the image back and let someone with greater drawing/painting talent to create new feet and shoes.

[Hannie]

Hi Mike,

You have done a great job!  About the crop, it is best to ask your distributor if that is OK and if so make sure that the proportions and res stay the same (they are off in this crop)

One thing that jumps out when I compare your restore to the original is that there has been some loss of detail in the medium to dark areas of the photo.  The detail can be brought back without blowing out the rest of the image by creating a duplicated layer and then then add a Shadows/Highlights Adjustment to that layer (lower the default  amount to your linking)

Hannie

[MikeG]

Here is my latest version. There is some crop to remove the damage that covered the feet of two of the women in the photo.  The new image is the same size and resolution as the original.
If someone else can draw/paint new feet on the women then that would make for a better restoration.  I don't have that much drawing/painting talent. I've checked all channels and color spaces and there are simply no pixels to work with other than the damage.

[Earl53]

I don't know if this is possible but does the family have any other photos that might show their feet. People have a habit of taking the same stance. If so you could copy their feet and put them into this photo. Just an idea. I've done it with a photo of my nephew. I had a good photo of him but his eyes were shut and I had another photo of him with his eyes open so I took those eyes and put them on the good photo. No one can tell.

Even if the stance is the other way you could flip the layer horizontal and place them.

Paul