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What was I thinking... getting too uppity here... this one may be out of my skill zone..  :crazy:  I must enjoy suffering is all I can say.. gonna need some serious help on this one me thinks... That little girl is looking at me saying "so you're gonna fix this mess?? Good luck!" she's laughing at me...

Lynnya,

Mine too. I have kind of a lazy solution and QC will most likely shoot me  :'(. Wonder after correcting the wallpaper with the ink streaks, you could duplicate the later and go up to filter and chose Gaussian Blur and have it around 2.3. It is going to make the face out of focus, and perhaps a layer mask to reveal and then restore those?

(https://s1.postimg.cc/17lahjmrp7/mosiac.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/17lahjmrp7/)

Margie

Thanks Margie.. I'm actually sorta working along those lines.. but don't tell QC please...I'll be gettin the boot... :mad:

Surface Blur leaves the edges more intact. I wondered who would try restoring these pictures—and how they would even begin. Watching with great interest and admiration.

Yes, I kind of forgot about Surface Blur, but remember than Dan Margulis in his book on LAB in Photoshop mentioned using it and there was quite a bit to it--whether in LAB or working in the channels in sRGB. It was more than just a click of the button. Since it has been so long I really can't explain how he went about it, but when I have the time will read up.

I tried using the Surface Blur on a duplicate layer and could not get good results, you might. I think this would work great on some, but this one where the whole photo is like mosaic tiles, not so much.

Margie

Lynn, what were you thinking, I would not come near this one with a ten foot pole! 

Margie's Gaussian blur looks pretty good to me, tried a few filters myself but all came out worse...

Hannie

My usual approach for this kind of damage is to try to fill in the gaps while avoiding the existing details.
My attempt would be to create a duplicate layer, apply the Filter–Other–Minimum filter (radius 1 seems to work okay), apply a bit of Filter–Blur–Gaussian Blur (slightly higher radius, 2 in my case) and set the layer to "Darken" mode.
Then create a stamp of all visible layers by holding the [Alt]-key and selecting Layer–Merge visible, deactivate the filtered layer and set the merged layer's mode to "Difference".
Now the blue channel will have mostly white where the cracks were and black in the other areas, so I'd copy it and use it as a layer mask for the filtered layer.
This layer mask can then be enhanced with curves to remove more cracks or let more details come through by moving the black and white points (I went for 20 white and 65 black).
If you used smart filters, you can also try deactivating the Gaussian blur after creating the layer mask which might help to bring even more details back.

Here's a sample of this technique: (https://s1.postimg.org/961ad95onv/Cracks.jpg) (https://postimg.org/image/961ad95onv/) (and the PSD file and an action to replicate it because I'm not sure if my explanations were understandable at all :): https://www.dropbox.com/s/gew036l5bqnhgre/Cracks.zip?dl=1)

Edit: Sorry if the download doesn't work yet, I'm uploading to Dropbox and it takes a while. In the meantime use this link instead: https://www.sendspace.com/file/ck3735

Thanks all and Thanks Jonas.. sounds very interesting.. I couldn't access dropbox for some reason.. and yes I would be interested in an action.. I'm going to try and follow what you've described..

The link should work in a short while, but in the meantime I've also uploaded the PSD and an action to reproduce it here: https://www.sendspace.com/file/ck3735

I'm working on one of those, too. I've found that {duping the pic, setting to 'darker color' and nudging pixel by pixel in the direction perpendicular to the major crack direction until the cracks just disappear} helps a lot!

What a great result Jonas!  I downloaded your files, thanks so much.
I have never used this minimum filter before, it works very well for this.
Learn something new every day here.   :loveit:

Doug, I have not tried your tip yet but I will later, sure makes a lot of sense for this kind of damage.

Hannie

Thanks so much Jonas, I have bookmarked this page and will also print to keep for future reference. Doug, thanks for your tip and reminds me of what Katrin Eismann had in her book. A very interesting thread and the kind of photo that a real test of skills.

Margie

Thanks Jonas and Steelcraft... ya know? I did try the nudging thingy but I forgot to "darken" the layer below.. duh.. I might have done a whole lot of work for nuttin... :cool:

Lynn, thanks for posting this challenge! Lots of great tips for all of us. Eager to see your WIPs. Good luck.  :)

Jonas's tip looks really interesting! I'll give it a try too!

I had a play around with this photo and these are a couple of alternatives to just 'blurring' or 'painting over the cracks' in Photoshop. They don't do the whole job but they might take you a step in the right direction.

1. I hardly ever use GIMP and I only have it because it has some different filters to Photoshop (and it's free!). The GIMP 'Erode' filter seems to work quite well in reducing the cracks while maintaining some detail (as small blocks of color) instead of just blurring everything. See the examples below.

2. Most noise reduction software doesn't make much impact on this kind of crack patterns. The Photoshop plugin 'Neat Image' does a better job than most. Largely because - although it creates an automatic 'noise profile' - users can customize the profile and how it's applied to a high degree. So you can create a 'noise profile' that targets the level of detail at which the cracks are at while leaving larger and smaller details (relatively) unaffected, or that targets specific LAB channels more than others. The 'Demo version' is free for personal use and the only limitation seems to be 8 bits/channels (which the OPR jpgs are anyway). The licensed version (16 and 24 bits/channel) is $40. There's a good video on YouTube that shows how to use Neat Image: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OslEdNXoDUU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OslEdNXoDUU). See examples below.

GIMP 'Erode Filter' (without additional blurring)
(https://s1.postimg.cc/9fscacmzl7/Lynnya-_Jpxm_LGL-_X2_-_GIMP_Erode_filter.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/9fscacmzl7/)

GIMP 'Erode Filter' with some additional blurring in Photoshop (Faces)
(https://s1.postimg.cc/41xdw8wrmj/Lynnya-_Jpxm_LGL-_X2_-_GIMP_Erode_filter_Blur.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/41xdw8wrmj/)

Neat Image (without additional blurring)
(https://s1.postimg.cc/8pivt7rat7/Lynnyai-_Jpxm_LGL-_X2_Neat_Image.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/8pivt7rat7/)

Neat Image with some additional blurring in Photoshop (Faces)
(https://s1.postimg.cc/885lisrxgr/Lynnyai-_Jpxm_LGL-_X2_Neat_Image_Blur.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/885lisrxgr/)

Hope this adds some additional arrows to your quiver!

One more thought: perhaps adding in a High Pass Filter layer (with all the cracks grayed out) would sharpen up whatever 'crack removal' steps you take.

Mike

Wow Mike I really like your second Gimp with blur.. I think I'm going to start over again.. I don't have Gimp but can get it ... Great input thanks.

I'm hot happy with my WIP so far.. need to break and maybe start again... cooking dinner now... :cool:

Love the Erode with Blur version too.  Great to have a Gimp user amongst us.  I downloaded a Dutch Gimp user manual some time ago (helpmij.nl) but never got around to  downloading the program. 

Lynn, it is starting to look really good!  Never thought it could be fixed.

:up2:

Hannie

I agree that it's starting to look much better than I would have thought possible. With so much pervasive damage, I doubt whether any OPR volunteer can do much more than create a 'reasonable approximation' of the original. Sharpness being the first casualty.
The only alternative is weeks of very detailed patching and cloning to replace each and every crack. And then the question is whether the end result would be any better than a filter + tidy-up. I, for one, would pass on the option of weeks of cloning/patching! ;)

Mike

I've downloaded gimp... took me a minute to figure it out.. it's not photoshop...

This is Mike's suggestion.. straight out of the box.. I did color correct it in ps earlier tho.. Just a Erode blur and then I ran it through my Imagonic software in ps and added some noise, blurred the noise a tad and then embossed the noise..I also created another layer with screen blend mode toned down some as it was very dark...

No damage done yet.. what do you think...I'm excited about this gimpy thingy...

Love the new avatar. Looking good Lynn!

Amazing !

Margie

Looks good, Lynnya!

Very clever of you to think of using noise to 'diffuse' the blocks that come of out of the Erode filter.
This is a much cleaner photo to work on!

Mike

Looks great!

Hannie

Thanks Hannie and all... now lets see if I can mess it up...

So gang.. what do you think of this version...

Wonderful Lynn!  :up: :up: :up: 

Thanks Shadow.. hubby walks in and says... "it's blurred"... of course it's blurred says I... but it's blurred him says... sigh.. I added a little contrast.. any better? worse?

Absolutely amazing Lynn!
The added contrast works well.
I can imagine that the owner is going to be really pleased.

One little jumped out at me and those are the pants of the guy on our right, it almost looks like he is wearing a skirt.  Maybe a little more shading or I don't know what.
I tried patching a little from the good areas, not sure if it makes a difference. Perhaps it looked better on my (misbehaving) monitor.   ;D

(https://s1.postimg.cc/9qhd428hx7/lynn_forum.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/9qhd428hx7/)

Hmm...like the contrast. If you go way back to your first WIP you can see the space between the man on the lefts legs and maybe get some help with the man on the right's pants. Thank Hannie sure has the good eye  :D

I'm with Hannie that the result is absolutely amazing!

On the added contrast, I find the results vary slightly (in low single-figure percentages!) depending on the face:
- On the left man's face, the effect is relatively small. The positive effect is that his eyes, glasses and perhaps mouth look slightly sharper; on the downside there's a tonal difference (blocks) on his left check which becomes more visible with more contrast; I would mask this out (or blur the blocks more)
- The effect on his wife's (?) face is far greater. Her eyes, glasses, mouth and teeth become significantly sharper. The line under her chin and from her nose to both sides of her mouth too. I leave it to you but you might want to flatter her by slightly softening these 'lines'.
- The effect on the 2nd woman from the right is smaller. Positive is that her face is very slightly sharper. On the downside there's just one lighter 'block'on her left cheeck which becomes more visible. Like the man, I'd mask this out (or blur it more).
-The effect on the man on the right is (to me) the smallest.  I notice a difference but with little up-side or down-side.
- The strangest effect is on the little girl's face.  I don't see much of an up-side in terms of sharpening. The down-side is that her eyebrows seem to become less visible and the tonal differences on the left and right hand sides of her face/hair become more visible. So I would just mask her face out because there's only a down-side.

There are still a few faint lines/block visible on the furniture in the background, the womens's hair and the nr. 9 on the man's sweatshirt. You might want to consider blurring these 'within the edges'.

Pioneering work, Lynnya! " ... to boldly go where no one has gone before" (Star Trek) ;)

Mike

Thanks Mike for input.. helps..

here is my latest... losing sight of the plot now.. lol :crazy: :D

To me, it looks perfect, Lynnya. Just compare this with the original!

Close it out girl, I'm sure that the requester will be delighted!

Mike

Thanks Mike... I went and got the gimped face of the little girl and masked it over my wip.. brought back some features.. also attended to some of the things you mentioned.. thanks again for input. :up:

I got tickled when I saw the title of the work.  lol

Beautiful Lynn!  :up: :up:

Lynn, they will not only be delighted but amazed you pulled this off!  :up: :up:

Margie