Help me Gurus!
I have a difficult photo of a couple whose faces are so covered with small brown and large black blotches that I'm having to clone very small areas to get skin color. What I'm achieving in doing this is a very flat, "Paint by Number" look. There's not enough skin showing to be able to use the healing brush or patch tool. I'd appreciate any feedback on how I can avoid this contrived look. Thanx!
Glenna (aka GG)
Hi GG,
It would be helpful to see your image. Are you able to post it?
-Mark.
Hi Mark --
Third try -- my poor old G3 is very cranky about my trying to preview this message to determine whether I actually was able to attach the photo. This time I'm just going to post without previewing and hope you'll be able to view the photo. At any rate, this is the original. I lightened it with levels and got great color, but also got the horrendous blobs on their faces. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
GG
GG, there's a fair bit of skin around the blobs that you really want to leave as it is. So, you could try sampling the skin colour and using a brush set to Lighten to remove the black blobs without touching the OK skin. Use a soft edged brush and resample the skin colour as you move.
Let me know if this helps at all.
-Mark.
Agree with Mark. It looks as though you have plenty of "good" skin to work with. Cleaning the rest up will be tedious, as it means working on each spot, however, doing it that way will give you much better results in the end.
Mark & whansen:
Thanks so much for the feedback. I'll try the method you suggested. Do you think it would work better on the darkened version? I chose this photo because it wasn't apparent how drastic and close together the flaws are until I got rid of the dark cast. It's going to be daunting, I realize, but I want to do the very best I can to make this look realstic. I've done photo restoration before, but never on a photo so covered with debris. Wish me luck. I'm pretty Photoshop savvy, but I certainly appreciate your guidance.
Best wishes, Gurus!
GG
Quote from: glennab on July 06, 2006, 08:29:17 AM
I've done photo restoration before, but never on a photo so covered with debris.
It's quite a shock when you see the level of damage on some of these photos for the first time, isn't it? But at the same time, there are some really awesome restorations being done by OPR volunteers on these images.
-Mark.
Mark:
Yes, I was quite taken aback by the destruction on these images. But then, that's why we're doing what we're doing! I have a feeling that I'll learn more and more each time I tackle one of these challenging photos and they'll get easier as time goes on. Just pray that you won't be working on some of mine one day, because I live at the southern tip of St. Petersburg, FL -- and I know our day is coming!
Thanks again for all your help. I'll let you know how it goes. Am at work right now, so I need to get back to business.
'Bye!
GG
My Photoshop Tutors:
Just an update. Mark & whansen, your technique is working extremely well. I actually have some skin-looking skin. Now I feel as if I'm making progress. Thanks again for your input!
GG
I use a similar technique for light spots. I use the Clone tool set to either Lighten (to remove the dark spots) or Darken (to remove the light spots).
paz y luz
ron
I am interested to try the clone tool set to lighten or darken, as I have not tried this tool on any other setting. Could someone succintly explain when & why you would choose to use lighten or choose to use darken with the clone tool? Thanks! (I'm still learning!! Have just finished my 3rd restoration)
This doesn't work for all images of course, but I've been using Eye Candy's HSB Noise filter for years to add film grain back into images. Usually for places that I have to totally reconstruct, and am left with flat or smooth areas. As far as I know, this is the best film grain emulator out there, and really works wonders in my opinion. I'd love to hear any other suggestions though.
I use the clone tool set to darken when there are white spots (or lighter spots) in an area where cloning a direct section would look... cloned.
Example: in one picture two people were sitting on a boat, lots of rippling water in the background. The ripples grew smaller in the distance (perspective). I didn't want to lose that perspective (clone water from the far background to the near background) and I didn't want a cloned pattern of water. To maintain that organic/natural feeling I used the clone tool set to darken to get rid of the white splotches. This process made it blend better than straight cloning (had a better edge and seemed more natural.)
I've done this in places where there is a texture I want to maintain but do not want an EXACT clone of it.
paz y luz
ron
Thankyou Ron - I am hoping that if needed I can try this technique out - So much to Photoshop, not sure if I'll ever catch-up with all it can do! Cheers...
I have the book How to Wow Photoshop for Photography, which is an excellent book. In the book, on page 96, the authors recommend using an oval brush for the healing brush. To quote, "click on the brush preview on the options bar, set hardness to 85%, angle to 60, and roundness to 60. That brush will produce an irregular edge, which will help blend the retouching into the image". I have been using this method, along with changing the blending between darken and lighten (depending on the area of damage), and it's been working great. I feel I have much better control of the healing brush by using this method.
Christine
This is a problem I have been having, I am waiting for some easy photo in Mikes gallery, in the meantime I am restoring a photo for a friend, unfortunately there are only about 3 small spots on the whole skin area with undamaged texture. When you clone continuously from these spots the skin texture doesn't seem to maintain well and combined with the colour differences it gives the image a flat, painted look, and the more you try to improve it with cloning,healing tool or airbrushing the less you seem to achieve, any other tip/tricks would be welcome, as unfortunately I am not very PS literate.
Max
Could you post the photo for us to see? This might help in giving you suggestions. Thanks.
Christine
Hi,
These are the Original and present state of repair, it is still a work in progress, In the hi-res original image the only clean textured skin is above the left eyebrow and in the shiny part to the left. the hair has been completely remade using Russell Browns hair brushes.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/Ausimax/Reworked/M001original.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/Ausimax/Reworked/M001enhanced.jpg)
Any comments and tips welcome.
Max
Maybe a close up of the skin is needed, as looking at the original posted, it looks like there is actually plenty of usable skin area. It looks as though you've put a great deal of work into this, and pretty much reworked the entire image. However, it looks like a painting. Part of the reason may be that the clone tool doesn't maintain the texture as well as the healing brush. I'm not sure if you have the healing brush available, but if you do, I would use that instead of the clone tool, as there doesn't appear to be any texture to the skin.
Here is how an quick rework using the healing brush on the skin.
The "upload" folder is full so here's a link:
http://www.pbase.com/vhansen/image/63814904
Hi vhansen,
Thanks for your help, the healing brush seems to be doing a much better job, will have another go at the whole image, all good practise, and already I've learnt something!
Here is where I had got to with the other one, a little better I think buy still lacking that natural look.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/Ausimax/Reworked/M001-final.jpg)
Thanks again,
Max
Hi Max
I've gone through the same challenge with my first difficult restoration. I redid it three times before I got rid of the "painterly" look. What I did was use the patch and clone tools, but only on extremely small contiguous areas, which helped preserve the texture and the color.
One thing I also found helpful was to do any cloning on a separate layer, with "use all layers" selected. Then anything I wasn't happy with, I could delete, reduce the opacity, add grain or whatever I felt would work without affecting the primary layer. And I didn't try to get rid of all the imperfections this time, which was one of my mistakes the first go-round. Many of the techniques I used were ones I picked up from this forum.
I think you could make her hair more natural looking by going back to the original (and this is another great tip I got from this group), using the smudge tool set to 1 or 2 px and about 80-85% opacity and pull the damaged areas in the direction you think the hair should go. Tedious, but it works great. My guy's hair was non-existent, so I also used the brush tool at 1-2px and added a couple of colors, brushing in the direction the hair should go and then blended it all with the smudge tool.
There are several Photoshop filter plug-ins that may be helpful, but I haven't used them yet. I'll let you know if any are worthwhile.
My best to you,
GG
One more tip: The side of her cheek does not look like the original (the shadow is lost) and is much lighter. This tip may seem like too much work, but it will give you better results.
Layer your version over the original. Add a layer mask, and fill it with black paint (to hide your version). You should now be seeing your original. Paint on the layer mask (attached to your rework) with WHITE paint wherever you see blemishes. What you are doing is using your fixed version to repair JUST the damaged areas.
If you've done a good job on the repairs, you will have a great restoration (without a painted appearance) however, if you've smoothed out the grain, (too much painterly effect) or lightened and darkened, or changed features, you will notice that right away. This is really a great way to check your work.
Oops, one more tip: A grainy photograph is always better than a "clean" painterly image. Most of the grain you see while working at the zoomed image will not be as obvious when printed. To help retain the grain/noise, only use the healing brush, and save the clone tool for very small tight areas or along edges. Blurring, smudging, and any type of "global" effects should not be used.
Hi,
The latest effort, may not be great, but I think it looks a lot better, the subject loves it, so I suppose that is something.
Thanks to all of you for your gracious help, it is much appreciated.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/Ausimax/Reworked/M001reworked.jpg)
Max
Max I think it is better than your first posting.
Now it looks like a photo! Much better.
Hi Max
Nice work! Quite a difference on the second effort. What techniques worked best for you to get those results?
GG
Hi All.
Thank you for your comments, though the credit goes to you, who got me on the right track.
glennab,
Mostly all done with the healing brush and the clone tool, used the clone mainly to average out areas of colour and then the healing brush to give it back texture, on the face mainly the healing brush working out from small areas of good skin texture.
The hair was still a problem, despite how it looks in the original low-res image, there was little detail that was not damaged, I managed to clone some in the front centre, however most of the top and both sides I had to paint in with the Russell Brown hair brushes to give it form and detail, far from perfect, but better than I could achieve buy any other method.
Thanks for all your help, and don't go away, I'll probably need heaps more! I have just applied for two of Mikes difficult ones, need my head read I think.
Max
Can you tell me where you found the Russell Brown hair brushes ?
Hi Paula.... Here's the link to Russell's Tips... You'll have to scroll down until you find, "Creating Digital Hair"
http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html
:'( I am devastated! Those wonderful brushes are for CS2 and I have photoshop7. Really great tutorials for anyone with CS2 who is dealing with hair. Thank you for the link anyway. :'(
Just wanted to say thank you for the great tips in this thread! I have been struggling with a Difficult restoration, with tons of mold damage, and very bad skin! I have reworked it at least 4 times, and am still not happy with it, as it looks too painted. I am going to try the lighten/darken modes on brushes and cloneing, and especially the masking technique! I tried it on my 'finished' problem photo and can see already that I am going to rework it once again!! :crazy: