1930s Wedding Party

[dle]

Here's a wedding party I've been working on for a while. As you can see from the original, parts of the emulsion have stuck to the glass which makes things interesting.



Here's how far I've gotten.



I'm reaching the point of diminishing returns and have probably looked at it too long. Suggestions from fresh perspectives would be most welcome.

Dave

[schen]

Dave, nice job!

My first suggestion is for you to take a nap, have a drink or whatever relaxing for you.

Here are some nitpicking items:
I will probably increase the contrast.
The men in the back row seemed to have the hair more distinct from the background in the original.
The groom's left shoulder above the boutonniere seems much darker than any other place.
Was that a big brim hat at the lower left by the skirt of the girl?

Shujen

[dle]

Thanks, Shujen!

Good suggestions, all. Here's an updated version:



Yes, that's a hat in the lower left. There are some interesting props in this picture. It was the style, I guess. I do like these old pictures!

Dave

[schen]

Dave,

It is looking very good.  I do wonder about those two circled areas as I can't see well with low resolution.  I love the old photos too.

[glennab]

Dave, you've done a great job on this lovely old photo.  I have a couple of observations and suggestions.  I think the upper left corner should be the same color as the rest of the background.  It looks to me as if the lighter color is damage. At the very least, I'd diminish or eliminate the prominence of the diagonal line.  The only other thing that jumps out to me is the blurring of some of the areas that you had to replace.  One way to get rid of that is to use your patch tool and pick up the texture from another area of the garment.

Small picks. Wonderful restoration!
GK

[dle]

Well, I think I'm definitely sneaking up on this one. I'm starting to worry that I'm very close to the blurry boundary between restoring and retouching. When working on a heavily damaged photo this border is sometimes fuzzier than usual! Is that damage or just a problem in the original? If a problem in the original, did my restoration make it more prominent?

Glenna's right that the upper left corner in the last version is kind of weird. In the original it looks to me like the party is standing in front of a painted backdrop that has a drapery painted in the upper left. So, what to do? I opted for a drapery. But it would be easy to smooth it away.



The boy sitting near the bottom of the photo has hair problems, as Shujen pointed out. That looks to me like uneven bleaching of the emulsion, so I messed with it. The dark mass next to the girl on the right's head looks to me like it is in the original. For a long time I thought it might be one of those big hair bows that were popular at the time, but finally decided probably not. Maybe a purse? In any case the radical levels shift I had to make seems to have made whatever it is stick out like crazy, so I took it away.

Finally, I added a bit of texture to that same girl's totally invented dress and to the bottom of the bride's dress. Hope it looks less blurry (smooth) now.

Further suggestions?

Dave

[schen]

Dave, It looks great! 

How much damage/deterioration happened before the flood got to it, we will never know.

Shujen

[Mhayes]

Dave, beautiful restore!

Margie

[bjtx]

Your hard work paid off  --   wonderful restoration!

[Pat]

Amazing Dave   :up:

Pat

[dle]

Thanks, everybody, for the help and for the nice words about how it came out in the end.

Time to send it on its way and start on the next one!

I hope the gentleman and his wife enjoy the restoration.

[Candice]

 :up: