Stuck on my first photo! :(

DavieBoyDave · July 30, 2008, 04:16:30 PM

Hi all,

First post and first photo and I just want to say what you guys are doing is amazing - technically and emotionally. The site really moved me after seeing a link and realising what it actually was. I couldn't wait to join in and help!!! :)

Right - below is my first photo - and i don't understand the rules around cropping and vignettes as yet.

I have had to move the curtain on the left along to hide some background that was beyond recognition. The legs on the frame have been extended, again in hope of being saved by a vignette.

Now for the table and the blinds or the right/lower right - I just can't see a way of rescuing them. Desaturation and a nice soft vignette would work I think? - Apart from the guy and his lovely cat, the rest appears to be general.

But what do you guys think? What would you do?

Any ideas/feedback/suggestions/questions are welcomed :)

Keep up this great work guys
Dave (And his cat Zak!)

Hannie · July 30, 2008, 07:04:25 PM

Hi Dave, welcome to the forum and thanks for joining OPR. You picked a difficult one for your first restoration, very brave!
Wow, it it looks good already, you've cleaned it up a lot.
A vignette would solve the missing table and window detail but if at all possible should be avoided. Maybe you can find hidden detail that you can use in one of the channels?

Great job,

Hannie

Tess (Tassie D) · July 30, 2008, 08:14:22 PM

Hi Dave, great job so far on a very hard photo. :up: I'd desaturate the rainbow colours out and just generally clean up the table area. It doesn't have to be spot on, areas that are unidentifiable can be just cleaned and blurred.
Same with the blinds if you can find a pattern to mimic them you can just clean the area and put a hint of the pattern there to suggest blinds.

Mhayes · July 30, 2008, 08:30:31 PM

Hi Dave,

Welcome to the forum! We are so happy to have you with us!and it is nice to see you start right off posting with your first photo. Looks like you decided to start out by jumping in the deep end with one. Could you tell us what the dimension are for it? My first thought is to (normally you don't) crop this photo in tight to cut out the left side with the curtain and also a good part of the window as well. If this is a very small photo, than that option won't work. I tried desaturated the window and then doing a blur, but that seemed to caused the eye to immediately be drawn to the window. As to the vignette-- :police:--We really discourage it, because it would open the floodgates to overuse.

I agree with what Hannie and Tassie D have said about desaturating the rainbow colors. Like Tassie D said, it doesn't have to be spot on.

Say hi to your cat Zak. At first I thought you knew what the cat's name was in the photo. ;D

Margie

Tess (Tassie D) · July 30, 2008, 08:43:08 PM

Margie, it's a 6x4 so you could crop it a bit.

glennab · July 30, 2008, 09:14:53 PM

Hi Dave

Welcome to OPR! What a brave soul to grab such a challenge right at the start! Your clean-up is looking good.

My method with partially obliterated portions of an image is to clean up as best I can what's recognizable, and just make a blurry facsimile of anything vague.

As for the blinds, I'd take one slat, dupe the cleanest area until I have a length comparable to what's showing, merge all the pieces and give it whatever perspective it needs to match the lines of the photo. Then that slat could be duped until you fill the window, shadow added as necessary. Even if it's not perfect, our intent is to keep as much of the image intact as we can.

Now, as for Zak... Please post a photo of him in our pets gallery. I'd love to see all of him. He looks gorgeous.

I'm a total cat freak. I live with 12 rescued monsters, all of whom but one are shown in the gallery. I just realized that once I get a good shot of Midge, this will be the only place except at home with no one here but hubby and me and bowls of tuna or milk everywhere that my cats can all be seen at one time. You guys are SO lucky!

I'm glad you're with us, and I will warn you that these restorations are addictive. And you'll find yourself feeling as if the people in the photos are family. Be prepared for teasing and silliness. We have a bunch of real characters on the forum, and it's great fun as well as very educational. We've all taught each other a lot, and it's always great to have newbies to love and abuse! I'm glad you're with us.

Cheers

GK (aka Garrulous Kraken, thanks to my beloved friends AussieMax and Hannie)

DavieBoyDave · July 31, 2008, 06:18:26 AM

Hi guys - thanks for your feedback... I'll keep going.

MarCat - 1800 x 1236 so "some" room for cropping I guess?

GK - have added one to the gallery! Another one is here:

One of my fav photos due to the DOF - only his little paw is in focus!!! :) He is a little poser!

Thanks for such a warm welcome - I will continue with my little project now...
Dave.

Tess (Tassie D) · July 31, 2008, 06:27:59 AM

He is an absolutely adorable cat. :) I can almost see him thinking, a little closer so I can sharpen my claws. >:D

Hannie · July 31, 2008, 06:35:50 AM

Great looking cat with a wonderful expression on his face!

DavieBoyDave · July 31, 2008, 07:15:28 AM

Ok, so after taking on board some of the comments I have now got to here - thoughts/suggestions?

I did check the channels and there was very little there on both the blinds and the table - so had to pretty much recreate them...

A little "burning" later and seem to have hidden alot of the obvious edits... but still open to suggestions :)

Dave.

Hannie · July 31, 2008, 08:06:13 AM

Good heavens Dave, this photo looks like new!
What a great job!

:loveit:

Hannie

PS mayby some of the red spots on his apron can be toned down a little, it looks like he just slaughtered a cow! (then again, maybe he did! ;D)

DavieBoyDave · July 31, 2008, 08:22:05 AM

I didn't notice that - thanks.

Better?

Hannie · July 31, 2008, 08:39:16 AM

I like it! :up2:

Hannie

glennab · July 31, 2008, 09:02:21 AM

Good morning Dave

I'd say you're hired! What a great restoration. You really ran with everyone's input, and it looks superb.

Another cat! With that typical "C'mon, get just a little closer and I'll make some interesting patterns on your face!" look. I've gotten that look more times than I can count, and as for the "patterns"... Let me write a book! You're a kindred soul. You'll discover that OPR is a great place to find many of those.

Have a wonderful day!

GK

Mhayes · July 31, 2008, 12:13:00 PM

Dave, What a great job you did with this one! Beautiful job with the blinds and cleaning up the table. :up: The crop is perfect too. When you send it back, you might change the last part of the extension to reflect the new dimensions (in inches).

I love Zak's photo and the DOF makes for an interesting shot.

Margie