Hey gang what to you think of this one. I thought it looked pretty easy, but when Jan put it in my gallery she managed to add some hidden damage. ;D The worst part was the area in the background above the fence. As I was working on this one I came across the post with Katrin Eisman's tutorial on Levels
http://www.photoworkshop.com/adobe/softwarecinema/Katrin_Eismann/index3.html
It proved to be helpful in a reverse application of the tutorial. The thing I did was make a selection of an area, put a Levels adjustment layer in, go into the individual RGB channels, and move the black slider over to darken each of the channels to blend the color as much as possible into the background. Then went back and Patch tooled the the portions that did not blend to fill them in. I ended up with four different levels adjustment layers to accomplish the task. Before I saw this tut I was using the Patch tool to work on that area. It was working but I think this trick did a better job and a little faster too. I even tried the Stamp tool but didn't like what I saw.
Original
(http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/5036/mcduffcorigpostcm5.jpg)
Restoration
(http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/2315/mcdufffpostsg1.jpg)
Thanks for the help
Johnboy
Nice job Johnboy!!
Christine
I agree with Christine. Sweet indeed.
Goodnight Johnboy,
MaryEllen (actually Candice)
:up: Well done Johnboy.
Looks good, great job on bringing the color back to its fullness :)
Looks great Johnboy.good use of Katrins tutorial!
I posted that tutorial just recently. It's a gem!!
Great restore Johnboy! I like what you did with the levels. The tutorial is really good, I bookmarked it after Candy posted the link.
I use Photoshop CS2 and it has a really handy tool called Shadow/Highlight. I used it a little on your photo, maybe you like the effect. It can be toned down a bit with the opacity slider in the layers palette.
:loveit:
Hannie
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb18/marijtje2/OPR/shadow.jpg)
That's pretty Hannie. :)
Hannie, I am on Photoshop CS so the Shadow/Highlight tool is not available to me. Maybe when I ship it home the printing end can make that final adjustment. I had used the combined RGB levels to adjust the color when I first started. Then after watching the tutorial I went back and used the individual levels channels, and liked the result better when I compared the two methods.
Candice thanks for posting that tutorial. It helped me understand the curves adjustment better as well. I have a Word document with a lot of the URLs for the various tutorials that have been posted, and this one is definitely in it.
Thanks for the comments. :loveit: I am working on two more from the same family so you will see a couple more in the near future.
Johnboy
Johnboy,
Photoshop CS has the Shadow/Highlight tool! Look under Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlights. This was the raved about new feature in Photoshop as CS came out.
Gerlinde :)
Nice job Johnboy. :up2:
For the CS3 users, have they put "Shadow/Highlight" on an adjustment layer yet? That would be one great move forward.
Max
I have used CS3 at a friend's and noticed Adobe still hasn't made the Shadow/Highlight available as an adjustment layer, I find it mind boggling that they didn't!
If at all possible I try to use the Shadow/Highlight adjustment tool at the beginning of the restore, before adding the other layers.
What you also can do e.g. is add a level adjustment layer (or any other adjustment layer), don't change levels and click on OK. Then change the blending mode to either screen or multiply, depending if you want to lighten or darken certain areas of the photo. Now you can use the brush (black or white) to show or hide parts of the layer underneath.
Hannie
OR, for Shadow/Highlight, I just duplicate the background layer and run it on the dupe. Then you can adjust the opacity, add a mask, whatever.
Ditto to Kiska. I do the same thing.
Chris
Good tip Kiska!
:loveit:
Hannie
Thanks Gerlinde for pointing out the Shadow/Highlight adjustment. I have been putting in adjustment layers via the icon at the bottom of the layers palette so I haven't been in the Image>Adjustment menu often.
Hannie, now that I know where I can make the Shadow/Adjustment I'll play with that before I send it home.
Thanks for all the help.
Johnboy
Hannie,
Do you recall the settings you used for the Shadow/Highlight adjustment? I tried playing with it and a 1% on the shadow scale started to blow out the highlights while adjusting the shadows. I was able to get a look similar to yours with a .5% but it has to be in whole numbers. I played with the different sliders but it didn't seem to make much difference.
Johnboy
Hi Johnboy,
I did an 30% Shadows (Shadow/Highlight), increased contrast to 8 and repaired the previous repairs that started to show again.
Hope that helps!
:loveit:
Hannie
Hannie,
Thanks for the reply. Either I am not doing something correctly or Adobe made changes in the Shadow/Highlight adjustment dialog in CS2. I cannot get the nice results that you did. Below is a screen shot of the way things look with the Shadow slider a 1%. If I push the Highlight slider to 100% I can get back some of the highlights but the cheek highlight on the mom in the middle is blown out. This is from Photoshop CS.
Thanks for the help.
Johnboy
(http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3715/picture1mf9.jpg)
Johnboy,
I don't want to jump in and say what I think Hannie meant, but I have a feeling that when she said a 30% in the Shadows, she is talking about the very first slider under Shadows. You have only 1%, which means that the shadows are going to remain very dark. Below that line is Tonal Width that needs to have a larger number--try between 30 and 50%. Below that is the radius, which you may want to increase to anywhere from 10 to 30%. None of these are set in stone.
One thing that helped me have a better understanding of Shadow/Highlight was Russell Brown's tutorial. Here is the link to his site: http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html Go down the page about 7/8 of the way and look for a title called: "Hidden in the Shadows." If you should have trouble getting it to play, save the tutorial to your computer and then open to play.
Another thing I find helpful is using the Shadow/Highlight to get a better feel for the tonal range of a photo. When I took a watercolor class, the instructor had us do it in black and white to get a better idea of the need for contrast to keep a painting from being flat. What I like to do is take a photo and go to mode>Lab. Once I am in Lab, I will duplicate the layer (so I can compare the before and after) and then go to the Channels area and then click on the Lightness channel. This will give you a good idea of whether you need to do some tweaking. I like doing it in black and white better than color, because color can sometimes fool you. If you notice that it needs some work, go up to Image>Adjustments>Shadow/Highlight. Under Shadows, the very first slider, bring it back to 0 and then start the slider back to the right and see how your picture is looking. You may not need much or you may need to bring it up to 20% or more. Most often you will no want the default of 50%. Now go down to your Highlight and do the same. I usually don't more the slider much and you may have to go back and readjust your Shadow slider. Since you are in black/white, you will not have a color correction box. Instead you will work with Midtone Contrast if needed. Once you are happy, click back on the top channel that says LAB and go back to Layers. Since you have made two layers, the top will be your corrected copy and the bottom the original with which to compare. If you like the corrected copy, flatten the layer and change your mode back to RGB. Sorry this is so long, hope I didn't make this more confusing.
Margie
Marge,
Thanks for the reply. I will play with that and post the results probably tomorrow or the next day.
Johnboy
Margie I couldn't have said it better! (thanks for the great link)
Johnboy hope you can get it to work!
:hug:
Hannie
Margie & Hannie,
I finally got some time to play. Margie, I watched the tutorial. I am not sure I have a great handle on it but since I am only starting in that area it will come in time. I followed your instructions to use LAB color. My results were not a good as what Hannie posted but it does look better than my original restored post. Here is what I have to show for my efforts:
First restoration post
(http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/2315/mcdufffpostsg1.jpg)
With Shadow/Highlight adjustment via LAB color converted back to RGB color
(http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4360/mcduff505shplayyv0.jpg)
I played with the Shadow/Highlight adjustment on both the first restored image and the original unrestored image just to see the affect on each. From what I saw, would I be correct in thinking that the Shadow/Highlight adjustment should be applied before doing any color changes with Levels or Curves? Also needing to go back to touch up the restoration in the black area over the fence, I would think this needs to be done before starting any restoration. Is there any sanity to my logic?
Which one of the above do you think I should return? Or both?
Thanks for your help and any further comments.
Johnboy
Hi Johnboy,
I think you did a great job and looks like you got the hang of it. Yes, I would do the Shadow/Highlight adjustment first and then Levels or Curves next. You can also do Cuves while in Lab on the channel section. Click on Lab and then hit Ctrl M to bring up the curves box. If you want to fine tune the shadows some more, work on the lightness curve. For color, use either the a or b channel. Also, should you want to keep the background dark behind them; you could have the original as the background and your new layer on top with a layer mask to bring back the darker background.
Margie
Hi Johnboy,
The second photo would be great if you set the saturation at about 12 and add just a notch of contrast (4).
:loveit:
Hannie
Johnboy, that looks great. You've done a good job on shadows, bringing out more detail without blowing the highlights.
I think Hannies' suggestion is a good one and then it's ready to go home, Job well done!
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll work on that and get back to you.
Johnboy
It has taken me a few days to get back to this. I went back to the original restored file I posted earlier to start over with the shadow/highlight adjustment based on the last suggestions. I didn't follow them exactly but I think I have gone in the direction that was suggested. So here are my results:
First post with S/H adjustment:
(http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4360/mcduff505shplayyv0.jpg)
Latest S/H adjustment:
(http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/2411/mcduff505startshpostkg0.jpg)
I have a question related to the S/H adjustment. After I click OK and then decided to make further adjustments do I need to start over again on a new background layer or can I work from the point I just accepted? When I was playing earlier I did click OK and then decided I wanted to make more changes. I noticed that the Shadow/Highlight dialog did not hold the last settings for the same photo. So by going back do I compound the affects to the image? Example—Say I set the shadows where I think I want them and click OK. Then looking at the photo more I decided I want to change the Midtone Contract or some other slider. So when I return to the Shadow/Highlight adjustment I find the default settings in the dialog box which drastically changes the photo's appearance. So do I then just adjust the sliders to the original settings and make my contrast change, and I am good to go or do I start over with a new background layer to adjust. When I was playing before,and needed to make further adjustments I just started over with a new background layer. Rather than taking time to play now I thought I would pick on your experience first for this topic.
Thanks for your help. Let me know what you think of the latest changes.
Johnboy
Hi Johnboy,
Unfortunately the Shadow/Highlight is not an adjustment layer so you cannot go back to change the settings. Instead you can Alt+flatten visible and do another SH adjustment. You can also duplicate your layer, set blending mode to screen or multiply (lighter or darker ) and use a layer mask to bring out whatever shadow or highlight you like in the image.
From your latest post I like the first photo the best. I still think it can use some saturation (12) and contrast (3). You can use adjustment layers for those so that you can change them later if need be.
:loveit:
Hannie
Johnboy,
I think you are doing great. What I would do is to have my background layer and a duplicate on top of it. On the duplicate I would use the Shadow/Highlight. If for some reason you do not like it later, you could trash that layer and make another duplicate. If you are reasonably happy with what you have done, but later want some more contract or some other tweaks, your best bet would be to do an Adjustment Layer with either Curves or Levels. These are non-destructive and you can come back and make changes to them with no problem.
If you went into Lab to do the S/H, you may have flattened your original file. Once you get a feel for doing this, it won't seem so strange. Also, S/H comes up with the default and does not keep your previous settings. I only use the S/H once and the rest of my tweaks are always done with adjustment layers.
Margie
Hannie & Margie,
Thanks for replies. I figured that it was a start over kind of thing if I didn't care for the results, but just wanted to be sure. I'll take care to record any settings in the future so I can remember what to change if I would want to do that. When working on this one I did use LAB color and had to flatten the image. I also made a copy of the background layer before making the changes as suggested.
Hannie, I went back to the first photo that you said you liked. I added a Hue/Saturation layer and set the Saturation at +12. I had added some Midtone Contrast in the original S/H adjustment. I don't remember the setting but it was around 8 or plus or minus of that number. So I didn't make any contrast changes in this latest version.
First Post S/H adjustment
(http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4360/mcduff505shplayyv0.jpg)
First post S/H adjustment with Hue/Saturation layer added
(http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4360/mcduff505shplayyv0.jpg)
Let me know what you think.
Johnboy