And Baby Makes Three!!!!

[weewood]

As you can see, I'm struggling with this one! I just can't seem to get the baby's face to look right, and I don't know why. That's my major hang up. If you have any suggestions for improvement, rather its the baby's face or something else, please let me know.



Regards, David

[Hannie]

Hi David,

This photo is so damaged and on top of that, the colors are almost impossible to correct!
Mom looks pretty good in your restore, Dad and baby girl now look a little different from the original, I think.
What if you make it a black and white (check off mon. box in channel mixer layer)?  I tried it and did some levels adjustment + dust and scratch filter at 1 %.
It would mean an awful lot of healing/cloning but I think it may be possible?
Only draw back would be that you and up with a black and white photo...

Hannie

[Johnboy]

Hi David,

I am really out of my element on this one but I'll comment on some observations I see in your restore. I think you are missing some of the facial contours for both the man and the baby. Such as the man's right check is missing its contour compared to the original. Some of the same is going on with the baby. I note that in the original the baby has a bigger smile on its face than you show. Also the baby is missing some of the shadows around the eyes, and the nose seems to be flattened. I am seeing too much nostril shadow compared to the original, and the end of the nose is not obvious. Both the man and baby look artificial to me compared to the woman. The man's lower lip seems to be wider on his left than in the original.

I have not delved into painting with Photoshop and am probably a long ways off before I do. Sorry to sound so critical and not be able to offer suggestions.

I am not sure if this post would help. It is something I copied out of the forum to hold for my own reference. http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/index.php/topic,394.0.html

Johnboy

[glennab]

Hi David

This is a real challenge!  Between the horrendous color cast and the damage, it's really tough.  I think Hannie's on the right track.  You need to create a B&W that's as clear as possible where the photo's good, and then you should be able to patch and clone and heal to get good skin from the skin that is decent.  I used a different method to get the B&W, and it's a little more contrasty than Hannie's.  Not sure which I like better.  I'll post mine and tell you how I got it.  I used Calculations, combined the blue and green channels, then used the Linear Dodge (add) blending mode at 80% opacity. 

I'd say your best bet is to get everything cleaned up as best you can, then colorize the photo, or depending on what your coordinator says, leave it B&W.

Here's my version:


Good luck, my friend!

GK

[weewood]

I tried several different things but many did not work for me, so even though Hannie, JohnBoy & Glenna gave me some good ideas, I still struggled. I must have a lot of patience! Anyway, this is my latest version, and I think its a lot better. Maybe not the best, but better. Let me know what you think and I'll do my best to correct it.

Regards, David

[Mhayes]

David,

Kudos for taking on this one! I know you have put a lot of work into this one, but I would try doing it with a black/white like Hannie and GK have shown. I think by going that route you will have better details on the baby and man. Right now the man's features do not look the same and the baby is looking really different. If you If you have Katrin Eismann's book on Photoshop Restoration & Retouching, look at Chapter 7, page 271-274.  Also, look at Chapter 8, pages 294-298. There are some good tips on adding color to a black/white.

I also think that what you see on the woman's shoulder is not a strand of hair, but part of the design in her dress. I don't think she is wearing a sleeveless, but you really don't have much good information left.

Taking a break and then coming back may also help.

Margie

[Johnboy]

Dave,

You are making progress in my opinion. I have some more observations:

On the man: The out of place hair needs to move more towards the part. His left eye has too much shadow and he looks to have a black eye. The main light for the portrait is on his left side so that means less shadow. Add more shadow but not a lot to his right (far) cheek. That side of the face will be in shadow. Narrow the shadow under the lip on his left side. I think you have that about right in your first post.

On the baby: Add some shadow to the cheeks around the laugh lines. The "plumpness" of the cheeks is missing compared to the original. Add some shadow under the eyes. Not a lot. Also there is some shadow at the edge of the right cheek in the original but not a lot. It is rather narrow. If you can, open the baby's lips a little more. The baby has a bigger smile in the original than you have created. The nose needs a narrow line of shadow at the base along the upper lip. The right side of the nose needs some shadow (not much). The nose septum (dividing the nostrils) needs to come out a little more to give more definition to the nose. This may be a delicate balance with the shadow under the nose.

Woman's arm: Her arm at the baby's right leg appears to bend toward the floor. Some of the baby's dress may be bunched up there giving the impression that is is part of the arm. I have drawn a line on the arm. Also the fingers are too long. In the original they cut off almost at the photo's border.

I have added some notes to your last restore.



Good luck with what ever you do.

Johnboy

P.S. Margie posted while I was working on this, and you may want to follow her suggestions.

I disagree with Margie about the hair on the woman's upper arm. When I look next to her hair on that shoulder I note a touch of yellow with a shadow under it. The top of the shoulder to me looks like skin. If it is not hair, it may be a decorative cord but I don't think it is filled in with material.

[lurch]

Hi David,

You've received some good pointers from several folks, and are making good progress on a really difficult photo. I have a few observations on your latest version. I second everything Johnboy said and, like him, have added a markup to illustrate some of the points. I want to emphasize that the man appears to have a black eye

I would work on the woman's skin tones (the baby's right arm and leg as well). There is way too much cyan; she looks like she has frozen to death :). The mask is too sharp - the trio look like paper cutouts - and there are a couple of rounded corners. I've marked the corners. On all three of them, there needs to be more facial color. I'm talking about eyes, lips, teeth here. As it stands they are all monochromatically tinted, and it doesn't look natural.

The reconstructed eyes seem to be mis-aligned and not tilted correctly. Just one pixel of movement makes a huge difference with eyes. And the baby's mouth seems too narrow. Here's a tip: unless you're Julia Roberts, generally the corners of people's mouths lie on a vertical line that goes through their pupils.

Last observations: the shadow lines marked seem out of place; I think the man's mustache is not so bushy (this is maybe a personal interpretation only); his sideburn is maybe too long and in any case is not the same color as his hair.



Don't give up, though, with all this nitpicking. This photo is really a bear, and you're making tremendous progress. It might be that Glenna is right - the best restoration might be black and white. You wouldn't have to deal with color issues that way.

My other advice would be to study people's faces, noting how the light and shadow falls on them and how that light gives them shape.

[Hannie]

When you look at the original and do a levels correction most of the photo is left with just cyan and a hint of green.  Remove those color casts and you are left with black and white as you can see below.

Repairing the black and white version would also eliminate the need to replace the background.  There is an awful lot of damage but it can be repaired, less vital parts can be painted but the faces and background can be restored rather than painted?



Hannie

[weewood]

Well, here I go again! Trying do this photo in black and white did appear to be easier, and I think I've done a better job this time. Not so sure about the baby's eyes though. Anyway, I like the photo in color, and could try to tint it if you felt it was necessary. Please let me know what you think?

Regards, David

[Tori803]

Hi David,

It's looking pretty good! But Mom looks a little cross-eyed to me. Do you think it would work to move her right pupil over to our left a bit?

Tori

[Johnboy]

Hey David,

You are making progress. I agree with Tori about mom being cross-eyed. I imagine you took her left eye and flipped it horizontally to correct the damage. It is something I would consider doing. What if you did a little surgery on the right eye to copy the iris and pupil, flip it horizontally to fix the problem. Then some healing or patch tool to fix the eye lids. I would suggest taking the iris and pupil no further than the center of the eye. Otherwise you will be dealing with the specular reflection in the eye. Once you get it lined up you may need to erase a little to get things to match. Good luck.

Johnboy

[weewood]

Does this look any better? Should I colorize the photo, or leave it as is?

Regards, David

[Johnboy]

David,

Much better on the cross-eyed mom. One thing I do notice is that the specular reflection in that eye is on the wrong side. It should be similar to the other eye. I'll leave colorization up to someone else.

Johnboy