Almost done..?

TracyLee · September 23, 2008, 07:56:20 PM

I'm working on this restoration, and while I still need to clean up the background and work on his face, I'd like to know what you guys think so far? Also, any tips on evening out his complexion a bit (I've been using the healing brush and the clone stamp).

Also - do you think that the splotches and wires on the viewers left should stay? The splotches looked fairly regular, so I figured they were meant to be there.

weewood · September 23, 2008, 08:41:15 PM

Doing good TracyLee, but I think the shirt needs more definition, so we can see the collar and sleeves, Regards, David

Mhayes · September 23, 2008, 09:31:43 PM

Hi Tracy,

It looks like you are off to a very good start on this one. I agree that the wires should stay in as they are part of the artwork. By splotches, you mean the round balls?

What I would do to even out his complexion is to duplicate your layer, go up to Filter?Blue?Gaussian Blur and move the slider to the right until you see things even out. Don't go too far as we don't want him to have the complexion of a cover girl on a magazine. Next hold your alt key and hit at the bottom layer mask. That should give you a black mask that conceals all. Change your foreground/background so that the foreground is white. Pick a soft (no hardness) brush, opacity of around 60% or higher and paint white on your mask to bring back the blur you created. Since this is an older man, I would make your brush opacity much higher since you don't want real smooth skin. Also, stay only on his skin.

For his shirt, you might try this. Do a merge visible. Go up to Layer?New>Layer>Mode pick either overlay or softlight and check the box for fill of 50% gray. You will paint on that layer with a soft brush. If your foreground is black then you will be darkening and if your foreground is white you will be lightening. In this case go with the black and with your bush, start out a low opacity of somewhere around 15 to 25% to get a feel.

Great job and nice removal of the ink in the background!

Margie

TracyLee · September 24, 2008, 04:14:55 AM

Thanks for the tips - I did try to bring some detail to the shirt using a grey brush at reduced opacity on colour mode, but it didn't do much! I'll try the 50% gray layering.

Regarding the "splotches", I suppose I should find a more descriptive word ::) I didn't mean the balls; I mean the irregular shapes, two above the top striped ball, and one just below and to the right of it. I can't tell what they are supposed to be, but as there are three of about the same shape, and appear rather as a pattern of three.

Tess (Tassie D) · September 24, 2008, 06:12:05 AM

You're doing a great job on this one TracyLee. :up: I think those shapes are supposed to be there so I'd leave them in.

Hannie · September 24, 2008, 07:06:58 AM

Good job TracyLee! I like how you didn't overdo his face, not the dreaded "painted" look. Margie's tips to smooth it out some would be great.
The shirt in the original photo also doesn't have any definition so if the tips don't work I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Hannie

TracyLee · September 24, 2008, 07:30:26 PM

Thank you all (Margie, David, Tassie and Hannie), for your help and comments.

Margie - I did the 50% gray layer, painted over the shirt, and managed to reduce the overwhelming whiteness. I then used the brush to paint in some lines to define the sleeves and collar a bit.

I also used a bit of gaussian blur for the face. I didn't want to overdo it, and this photo is old, so I tried to keep some naturalness to it.

So... do we think he's done?

GP · September 24, 2008, 08:28:05 PM

TracyLee, great work on this restore! :up:
It looks really good. I have only one little thing that you might want to check. One of his ears seems to be bigger ( or smaller) than the other one. You could maybe also add a little sepia toning, since it seems to be an old photo.
But that is really optional. :)

Gerlinde

TracyLee · September 24, 2008, 11:24:06 PM

Hmm. Yeah, one ear looks smaller, but I think it's folded a little because of his hat...?

Sepia toning - it crossed my mind; I'll try a gradient map adj. layer and see what it looks like.

Thanks :)

Tracy

Hannie · September 25, 2008, 03:43:11 AM

Tracy, well done it looks great!

Hannie

mschonher · September 25, 2008, 11:29:13 AM

Hi Tracy,

You did a wonderful job on this, congratulations. I have to agree with GP that one ear is slightly smaller and like you I looked at the top part of the ear near the hat and yes it's somewhat folded.....but it's the ear lobe that is shorter so you could steal the longer one and place it on the other side. I think a sepia tone would be lovely on this photo.

Mary

TracyLee · September 27, 2008, 10:36:27 PM

I want to thank everyone for the help and feedback. I did redo the ear, and added a slight sepia tone.

Thanks again!

Mhayes · September 27, 2008, 11:11:18 PM

Tracy, I think he looks great! :up:

Margie

glennab · September 28, 2008, 11:23:32 AM

Hi Tracy

You did a fantastic job on this gentleman. It takes a special touch to keep a face from looking painted, and I think you caught the balance of taking away the junk and still leaving texture (especially on an older face like this one, where most likely his skin would naturally be a bit mottled).

Kudos!

GK

Almost done..?

mschonher