Hey Team -
I've been working on this photo for a while and I'm starting to get a little too close to the project. I'd appreciate any feedback before putting on the final touches. Original and WIP restore are below. Thanks!
Joey Ziarko
(http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa439/jziarko/ClemonsD11_4_4x6_original.jpg)
(http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa439/jziarko/ClemonsD11_4_4x6_R22_2.jpg)
Hi Joey,
You have done great repair and cleanup on this one! How did you get the date stamp to look like that?
One thing jumps out at me and that is the slightly painted look. It is hard to avoid when there is this much damage but sometimes you can use one of the R, G or B channels to bring back some shading and detail.
I took the blue channel from the original and did a quick and nasty repair/levels adjustment.
In your restore I pasted the repaired blue layer on top, mode luminosity.
Afterwards it needed a few more repairs but I got most of the detail back in with not too much extra work.
I ruined your nice date stamp though!
Hannie
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb18/marijtje2/OPR/bchannel.jpg)
Thanks for the help Hannie. I've tried it a few different ways but I'm still ending up with two main issues. One is the "painted" look that is a result of over-smoothing and the other is the color correction. I tried a few tutorials but haven't been able to achieve anything like what you were able to do below. I could post my progress but I'm not sure I've made any real progress since I'm not totally confident in the corrections I've made. What should I do?
Hi Joey,
The blue channel will get rid of the "painted' look for you.
If you are not sure how to use this method you can do a forum search to find lots of topics like this one (http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/index.php/topic,2214.0.html) that will tell you how to do it. You can post your efforts here to get more help if you need it.
Once you have selected and copied your blue channel you can do a curves/levels like it were a B/W photo, make sure it is not too dark.
I didn't do any color correction, the top layer (blue channel) also changed the coloring in a nice way, I didn't have to change anything except for a few spots of leftover damage.
Don't feel discouraged, you have done a great job already, the rest are just minor tweaks!
:up2:
Hannie
Thanks so much for your help Hannie. The tutorial you posted was very helpful. I've given it another shot. Let me know if there is anything else you think needs tweaking before posting this one. Thanks again!
Joey
(http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa439/jziarko/ClemonsD11_4_4x6_R22_4.jpg)
Looks great Joey!
If you feel the whites are a little blown out you can do a simple auto tone from the Image pull down menu.
Great job!
Hannie