I've been working on this image. It doesn't seem especially difficult but I'm having a challenge with color restoration. (I did check the tutorials). It seems that color restoration destroys a lot of data so there must be an art to it as to when to stop.
I think that this image is almost done but the man's hair seems rather flat (after all of the color restoration.) I would greatly appreciate some experienced eyeballs taking a look and making recommendations. Should I start over from scratch on the head (I could easily do a transplant)? Anything else pop out as needing more work? I know that the upper portion, walls etc., are probably too tall but there isn't any image there to work with. Tess said there isn't anything that can be done with that.
Thanks for advice!
(https://i.postimg.cc/DJJpLKJR/Sorenson-C-almostdone11-25-Medium.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/DJJpLKJR)
I think the effect you have is more like a colorized picture than a color photograph. Flat colors overlaid on tonal information. That's why the guy's hair looks so flat.
Take a look at my take on applying some adjustment layers to the original - no restoration - to see the difference. I'm not entirely happy with it, but I think it's in the ballpark of what it should look like
(https://i.postimg.cc/7CyrwkXH/Sorenson-C-almostdone11-25-Compare.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/7CyrwkXH)
I had a channel mixture adjustment layer to mix in a little of the green and red channels with the blue - blue is way too dark which is why the photo looks yellow. A curves adjustment layer set to multiply blend mode (no adjustments), masked black. Paint in gray on the mask to darken some of the faded areas a bit (not so much the background as it was so dark given the flash photography in the original.
Then a curves adjustment layer to get some approximation of neutral gray using shadows on the baby. Another curves adjustment layer to set the contrast.
Depending on how you did the restoration, you should be able to alter the colors without losing your fixes.
See what you think, and let me know if more needs explaining
Thanks for the advice Jo Ann. I like what you did with the hair, it does look more realistic. I will follow your steps and try to recreate a more realistic hairdo. Originally I had removed a lot of the yellow and also came up with a grey suit but the administrator said the suit is supposed to be beige, which meant removing the blue and purple cast and keeping enough yellow to create beige.
I will use your suggestions and ask for more help if I get stuck with them.
Thanks again!
It's pretty straightforward to make the suit color different if that's indicated while still leaving the overall image tones about right. A solid color adjustment layer in Overlay blend mode (you can try soft light for a gentler effect) and paint in shades of gray with a soft edged brush to get the color you like. For example:
(https://i.postimg.cc/H873xtG1/Sorenson-C-almostdone11-25-beige-suit.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/H873xtG1)
Wow! :up: :up: And I make such work of it! I'm most familiar with levels and curves. I can see that I need to learn more about the adjustment/blend/channel mixer layers because I don't know how to use them to full benefit.
When you say paint in gray, do you mean using the paintbrush with a light shade of gray on the brush? Again, when I've used masking layers, I paint with solid white or black, depending on whether I want to reveal or conceal the underlying layer.
On painting with gray on a mask: you can always paint in white or black, and, you can change opacity of the overall layer if what you painted white (on the mask) over looks to much of (whatever).
If you paint in shades of gray, it's typically because the image needs more or less of something in different areas. With a flash image like your current restore, the foreground is often a bit too bright and the background too dark. When correcting fading with a curves adjustment layer set to multiply blend mode, I'll start with the mask all black, and then paint in a lighter gray over the foreground and darker gray over the background (or leave it black if I want no correction at all. Even with a soft-edged brush, I often then use a gaussian blur on the mask to make sure the different shades of gray are all well blended.
When coloring something, sometimes the shadow areas need less coloring - they look too saturated - so a darker gray for those.
Another trick to make various changes easy - on something like the suit - is to make a group and put a black/white mask of the suit outline on the group. Inside the group you can have as many adjustment layers as you want, and the mask edges don't need to be exact because the group mask will contain all changes. You don't ever want to have to make a careful mask twice! You can then change opacity on the group, or on individual adjustment layers in the group, to tweak your changes in many ways to get exactly what you need.
Thank you so much! This is sooooo helpful! Did you ever consider creating a tutorial on adjustments/blending?
I agree, great tips Jo Ann! :up:
Good to see you Toni. Love your "location". Look forward to your final.
Good luck Toni :up: