I need some help identifying things

[Tony_G]

Hello all,   I'm working on my second OPR restore and stuck identifying things in the background. 

Behind the boy, over his right shoulder I see an iron railing (in white) for a stairway. Behind that is some type of wood thing.  Is it a patio deck(look at the wood strips above his head)?  Over his left shoulder there is some kind of strange cutout geometrically shaped.  Any idea what that is? :-\

Thanks for the help.
-Tony_G

[Hannie]

Hi Tony,

Great start on your second restore!
I have no clue as to what those shapes are or what that fence it.  For a while I thought the boy may sitting on the floor up against a bed but that doesn't seem right.
What ever it is, you can clean it up and just go with the shapes. (I did a little levels adjustment but you probably haven't done that yet.)

Hannie

[Tony_G]

Thanks Hannie,

       Yeah that makes sense, I'll try to restore it based on the shapes.  It's driving me nuts not knowing what it is though!

-Tony

[Ratz]

Hey Tony, nice job so far. That cut out shape is a canoe! I think this may be a photographers backdrop.
regards Vicki. :)

[cmpentecost]

The canoe makes sense, especially since the boy has his arm around a beach ball.

Christine

[Tony_G]

Wow, I see it! you guys and gals are awesome. Funny I didn't see the boat, as my entire life has been around boat and beach... Now looking at it as a canoe or small boat, then the things I though were wooden decking boards at the top are maybe just an optical illusion and really part of the sky backdrop.

Whatcha think?

Thanks
-Tony

[Tony_G]

I'm having some trouble with the sky on the background... any thoughts?

[glennab]

Vicki, it's amazing that the minute I read your post I could see the canoe.  Before that it looked like a bunch of blue odd-shaped almost-triangles.  Great eagle eyes.

Tony, you've done a fine job.  I think I'd give the white railings a little more substance and dimension, as in the original.

It's a crazy maker when there's no way to discern the bits & pieces.  I agree with Hannie that if you can't define what's there, do the best  you can to clean up any shapes that jump out at you and blur the rest of the background or follow color splotches to see if something appears out of the muck.

If you love puzzles, you'll adore these restorations!  As for the background, what I see is a little bit of surf beside his head on our left and water behind that and on the other side of his head (our right).  The color may be from a sunset scene.  The dark area you pulled out at the top might be trees overhanging the canoe. I'm not convinced there's any sky showing. Another "Rorschach" guess!

Cheers,

GK

[Tony_G]

Thanks!  Using what you said about maybe there being no sky and also some surf, I changed the way I'm looking at it and reworking the background. Now if only it would warm up outside, things would be perfect! lol (its 14 deg Fahrenheit here in New Jersey today.)

-Tony

[Ratz]

That's looking beautiful Tony. I agree with Glenna that it's a late afternoon or sunset backdrop with orange reflections.The trees overhanging the canoe look really good.

[Mykl]

I think the Dark shapes (tree branches) against the sunset at one time used to be palm fronds. May want to give the original a look. Not sure, just thought I'd offer my input.

Excellent restore!! Beautiful work!!

Mykl

[Tony_G]

I did get to submit it the other day. I redid the background again with the thought of it as water, the line over his right ear seems to be a breaker in the surf, so I left that in.  The railing was very difficult, as there was very definition left in the original.   I'll post the final later tonight so you can see what I did, as I don't have access to it at the moment. 

Thanks for all the help and suggestions! It was very helpful.
-Tony