Greetings from the sunny South

[seatlanta]

Hello everyone:

Greetings from Atlanta, Georgia.

I've just uploaded my first restored photo and I'm feeling disappointed with the results. I felt even more disappointed when I received a confirmation message asking if this is just a work in progress. Yikes . . . I thought I was done.

Parts of the picture were, in my opinion, almost not restorable. I was able to correct a few things, but was frustrated by people and objects that were completely hidden by damage.

I spent a lot of time trying to add a four-wheel ATV to the photo because I could tell that's what one guy was sitting on. But this involved lots of guess work on my part. After rereading the guidelines I decided to just leave it messed up. I felt I could not correct it if I had no idea what's there.

Is this the way I should approach it--just correct things that I can, and leave the remainder alone? Or should I try to recreate things from nothing more than reasonable guesses?

Help me, please.

The following link should show the two versions (of just one piece of the photo):

http://www.artpages101.com/photorescue-pictures.htm



Best wishes.
James

[cmpentecost]

Hi James,

Welcome to OPR and the forum.  Photo restoration is an ongoing learning curve, and there is no where better to learn than OPR.  I remember the first photo I worked on.  It took me forever, and once I posted it, I learned a gazillion ways to improve on it.  OPR is filled with some very talented people.  The one thing we try to do within OPR is keep as much of the original image as possible.  You did a lot of that, but parts looked a bit blurry.  That's OK.  They can be fixed.  I've taken what I've learned with OPR into the "real world" in providing photo restorations for paying clients.  Consider OPR as a "free school" in which to learn and help those that have lost so much!

Christine

[Mhayes]

Hi James,

We've all felt the frustration you are going through and the photo you picked is a difficult one. I don't know what software you are using, but if it is Photoshop go to the blue channel. Usually if you have a photo that has a lot of red or yellow over the photo, the blue channel will strip that away to give you a clearer picture. I think this will give you a better idea of what the 4-wheeler looks like. On your far left, you will have some info on the woman in the chair, but you will have to reconstruct the brick wall. Hang in there, we will help.



Margie

[Tori803]

Hi, James, and welcome!

As a newbie myself I've found two things that really help you understand the expectations at OPR: first is the Forum. Read every post and feel free to ask questions. It's much better to ask first than to find yourself having to start over. The second is to look at the restorations in the Gallery. There you'll find wonderful examples of what could be fixed and how the parts that couldn't be fixed were handled. I'm sure you're going to like it here!

Tori

[glennab]

Hello James

Welcome from Florida!

Since Margie already gave you the run-down on the blue channel, I'll instead mention that there are a few mantras you might want to practice while we wait for the Galveston run barrage:  "What the HECK was I thinking?", "It didn't look that bad in the gallery," "What do I do with all these SPOTS,"  "What do I do with all these SCRATCHES?", "HEP ME, HEP ME!"

Okay, with that out of the way you can be assured that any time you run into a snag, be sure to post.  Someone's always available to give you feedback.  I'm not sure how many of my monsters I'd have been able to complete without help from this wonderful bunch!

I'm so glad you've joined us.  The rewards are immeasurable. And if you wend your way through some of the threads, you'll note that a few of us are a sandwich or two short of a picnic.  What the heck!  We have fun and love what we're doing.

Cheers,

GK