We're in the Army again!

[glennab]

Hi my friends,

Here's the latest iteration.  Still lots of work to do, but I'd appreciate feedback, especially on the upper background.  I know I need to work on the drape folds and the couple's hair.  Since there are so many opinions about the left side of the photo, I'm going to leave it as is -- and maybe even ask Dave if it can be cropped.  Still waiting for the ribbon poster.

Original



Comments, please.



GG

[klassylady25]

The drapery and the plants might be able to be found and duped (just a thought)  but I think you've got the uniform down well.  I know you were having a  fit with the ribbons. 

Hugz
C

[glennab]

Hi Candy

Are you talking about trying to place real plants behind the couple?  If so, I hesitated to do that because I was concerned they'd look too contrived.  Not that what I've done looks particularly realistic.  I cloned the colors as best I could and tried to pull out the leaf shapes. It was a real crap shoot, because of all the emulsion run from the uniform.  His medal and the surrounding area showed up in 3 or 4 different places.  I think the photo was wadded up in a ball.  I still have to shadow and clean up the drapery folds, and I think they'll be okay once I smooth them out and add a little grain.  I found chevrons in my photo sources, so I can clean them up and hopefully match the hash marks.  Anyway, thanks for the input.  I truly value your opinion!  Keep those cards and letters coming!

Hugz back at ya

GG

[glennab]

Hi volunteers, especially Kenny & Kurt --

I finally got my chart with the ribbons and have been able to identify 6 of them for certain.  Kenny, the "racks" you sent were a great help.  My eyes are giving out, so I'm going to pick up again when I get home from work tom'w.  I may have to guess at a couple of them, because there's nothing that looks like the ribbons you have in the file you sent me, and I don't see anything on the chart that I can match to what little I can discern on the original.  The best thing is that the medal is definitely a "good conduct" award, so I'll have the ribbon AND the medal.  Woo Hoo! -- progress.

And Kurt, you were absolutely on the money with the perspective on the carpet.  I've re-created it and think it's more to scale now.  Thanks for that astute observation!

I still don't know what to do with the "plants" or the other items that no one seems to agree on as to their identification.  I'm open to suggestion. In other words HELP, PLEEZE!

Thanks so much for all your ongoing input.

GG

[Kenny]

Glenna, several of the ribbons he's wearing are National Guard ribbons for the Louisiana Nat'l Guard.

Here is the reply I got from one of the fine people over at Grunts Military:

Since this is a restoration for the hurricane I figured he was in the LA national guard. Here is a link to a web site that describes the LA ribbons and has the colors for the LA ribbons:

http://www.armyawards.com/arng/la/laawards.shtml

So here is the list of the ribbons from top left to the bottom right (as it is worn here in the picture)

LA General Excellence Medal
LA Counter Drug Service Ribbon
LA Emergency Service Ribbon

next row:

LA Commendation Medal
Army Service Ribbon
NCO Professional Development Ribbon

Bottom row (should be the top row and even if it was these ribbons in this row are out of order anyway):

Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal
Army Good Conduct Medal
National Defense Service Medal

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. My doctor changed up some of my meds and they've been making me sick. I'm starting to feel better, though, so I'm ready to get back to work  :up:

[glennab]

Hi Kenny

I've missed you!  Sorry the meds are giving you fits.  I deal with that all the time.  I have to take meds to counteract the side effect of other meds  I take.  How miserable is that!   I hope you find a way to feel better.  Hang in there.  You're a wonderful guy!

You did nail the ribbons I identified from the poster hubby got for me.  I'll check out the web site you mentioned, but I'll probably use what you put together for me.

Still have a lot of small clean-up work to do, but I'm getting closer to wrapping this one up.  I've had a few bad days myself, so I had to back off over the weekend and rest.  I just discovered that my sight has changed considerably over the last year, so I'm hoping new glasses will help some.  As for the headaches and depression -- I guess I'll just have to keep beating my husband and kicking the cats.  (Just kidding.  He's too wonderful for words!  They're a pain in the butt, but I adore them.)

How's Pirate Junior?

Thanks for verifying the ribbons for me.  You get me through a lot of these restorations.

Better go.  Have to scoop poop and get myself to work.

Have a wonderful day!

GG

[kstruve]

Glenna,

You've really done a lot of clean-up on this photo, and it looks so much better.  There are a few things that stick out to me a little bit.  The curtains, her hair, and the shading on the couple.  The curtains look less like folds of fabric and more like painted stripes on the wall.  If you could blend the transitions between the light and dark areas, that would go a long way.  The woman's hair looks kind of flat, and her bangs have been blended away.  I would grab your burn tool, set it to around 7%, and shade the outside parts of her hair.  The lighting on the couple is fairly flat in the original, however, there is a fair amount of shading on their legs.  Again, get your burn tool and add in some shading using the original image as a guide.  All of this shouldn't take you more than 15 to 20 minutes, but the visual impact will be pretty profound.  I know, you're probably pretty sick of this photo by now, and it's those darn little detail things that take up so much time.  God is in the details.

You've done a great job with this photo, and the family will be overjoyed to have it back!

Kurt

[glennab]

Hi Kurt

Thanks for your observations.  You're right, the drapes look abysmal (though you described them in a much more diplomatic way!)  I still have a lot of that kind of detail work to do.  (I found some real drapes in my photo source, so I can pull detail from them.) I also placed the couple's damaged faces back into the file to try to get more contour.

Actually I'm not at all sick of the photo.  I sometimes feel very inadequate to the task, and I know I've taken way too much time on it, but between learning so much more about Photoshop and interacting with the wonderful OPR volunteers, I'm a happy camper.  My biggest problem is not having much fine art experience.  Graphic design is a completely different animal and certainly didn't prepare me for the level of expertise needed for these restorations.

My team didn't have any easy or moderate restorations, so I had to jump right into the toughies.  (I probably would have anyway, because I love a challenge.)

I appreciate your specific suggestions for getting better shading.  What I've tried to do is get the clean-up done first, and now I'm about ready for the details, so your information will see me through a lot of that.

Thanks so much!

GG

[cmpentecost]

Hi Glenna,

I think Kurt hit it pretty accurately.  You've done a really great job on this photo, and adding a bit of shading will really make it stand out.  My only comment is to add back the slight tough of gray on the left side of his hair.

I'll be anxious to see the finished product!

Christine

[GP]

Hi Glenna,
very nice job  :up:

I agree with Christine and Kurt! The only thing I can add is that you might want to adjust the blue on his right leg a little if possible it looks a little dark compared to the other site.

Gerlinde

[glennab]

Hi everyone

Thanks for all the encouragement!

There'll be a slight delay while I get myself together.  We had a scary event at work today -- our office was hit with death threats from a deranged individual, and we stayed after hours  to talk to a police officer.  I got home late and was overwrought enough to just read the paper and lay low for the evening.

Tomorrow after work I'll go at the restoration full throttle!

Please pray for my co-workers and me.  We don't know how dangerous this person is, nor do the police, so we're all on edge.  The officer said that the man is definitely crazy (he called the police department 6 times and threatened them!), and he knows where our office is.  Life does get interesting!

G'night!

GG

[Kenny]

 :wow:

Be careful out there, Glenna!

Most people like that are just trying to get some attention. Do the police have him or know who he is? Why did he target you guys' office?

Wow..just, wow.

[Ratz]

hey Glenna,
sorry to hear about your REALLY! rough day! I'll be praying for you guys and hoping for a quick resolution.
On a lighter note, your resto is looking great.
Regards, Vicki. :)

[glennab]

Hi Vicki

Thanks for the encouragement on the restoration.  I'm looking forward to making more progress when I get home.

I appreciate your concern and Kenny's.

The police know who the guy is, and they're trying to find cause to arrest him.  Right now they only have phone harassment.  I'd rather they not wait until he shows up at our office!

But the guy threatened to kill our receptionist's kids, uses several names when he calls, and we're not really sure what he wants.  We publish and distribute tourist guides, and he claims he wants to distribute them.  Our president spent about an hour with him on the phone yesterday, and his story changes from one minute to the next.  First he claims our pubs are in his distribution racks, then he says he wants to do our distribution, then he says he lives out of a van and next minutes says he has nearly 200 employees.  The police are frustrated because they got his name from his driver's license, as well as his description, but they don't know where he is.  Evidently the address on his license is bogus. 

Meanwhile they say they'll patrol more often around our office.  He's obviously mentally unstable and should be in a hospital rather than out terrifying innocent people.  I decided last night to leave with the police officer, since she was wearing a SWAT badge.  I figured that since it was pitch dark out, I'd just as soon be with her when I went to my car than alone!

And Kenny, I think you're right.  He wants attention and he wants to engage people with his anger.  I told the crew that I thought the best way to deal with him was as soon as they knew it was him on the phone to say, 'I have nothing to say to you," and hang up.  I'm afraid our pres played into his hands by spending so much time with him yesterday, but I also know he was trying to get as much information about him as possible for the police.  Evidently this has been going on intermittently since August.

Our art department is in the back of the office, so half the time we don't have a clue what's happening up front.  We usually wear headphones and listen to music unless we're on deadline, so we're the last to know anything.

We'll just get on with our business and try to keep things as normal as possible.  Our president is a wonderful guy, and he'll do everything in his power to ensure our safety.  We'll have to trust that the police will nab this poor soul and get help for him before he hurts anyone.

I would mean a lot to me if you'd keep us in your thoughts.  Just as a little "insurance."

Thanks again  and hugz to all of you.

GG

[Ausimax]

Hi Glenna,

Sorry to hear about your troubles, makes it hard when you don't know just what is going on, and I don't know what it is like over there, so often here when people make threats, the Police claim they can't do anything till there has actually been a crime carried out, then its a little late if you have been belted up or killed.

Maybe you should ask Santa for a Flack Jacket for Xmas. :) Not trying to make light of it, but unfortunately worrying will not help, just make sure you are constantly aware of your safety and don't go into remote places alone.

Must be the season for it I think, last Friday night our nearest neighbour was shot in the back whilst asleep in bed, he survived, and drove to another neighbour for help, the bullet nicked the bottom of his lung and is lodged against his spine and Dr's say that it is unsafe to remove it. He will be a long time recovering and they have doubts if he will ever be able to work again, so it is quite serious

He is one of those people who seem to be involved in a variety of things, timber cutting amongst others, he also has a reputation as a bit of a womaniser, with the result that about half the Women in the village and ergo their husbands seem to be prime suspects. The general opinion is that it is a personal assault and not the act of a random shooter.

So Glenna you aren't the only one having a bit of drama, guess we will all have to watch our backs and keep our heads down until there is a resolution.

Keep well, keep safe,

Max