Sheepishly Surfacing

[PatW]

 :-[...Hi Guys,

Long time no see.  (You can blame Margie for dragging me out of my self-imposed exile.)

The reason for my folding my tent & stealing away into the night was that I've had the Glodowski tot out for some time, a verrry long time actually, and he's still not finished.  Margie has assured me that if I were to return him as-is,  the world won't come to an end.  I find this very comforting, but I'd like to run this by everyone.

So... please be brutally honest.  Is there a chance that I can finish this or should I send it back so someone more experienced can take a shot at it?  I was kind of paralyzed by guilt, but the kindness of our Marcat seems to have snapped me out of it.  So please, oh please,  take a look at where I am & see what you think.  I can go either way on this.






Edited to add:  I know the football needs work & I think there needs to be kind of a fringy grass where the lawn meets the road.  Also, it seems like there should be a molding at the point at which the painted background meets the floor, but I'm a little clueless about this kind of a studio setup.  Oh cripes!  Were those sun rays supposed to be white, not yellow?...  :huh:... If it's all the same to you, I'm going to go pour a glass of wine now.

[Mhayes]

Pat,

I see no reason for you to hoist the white flag just yet. Yes, I know I promised you that you could return this photo and no questions would be asked. I also promised you could start fresh with an easier photo, but that was a trick on my part. Remember Lucy promising Charlie Brown in the Peanuts cartoon strip that she would hold the football while he kicked? Ever trusting Charlie Brown would kick and Lucy would pull the ball at the last minute and Charlie Brown would hit the dirt.  ;D

You are really very close to having this one whipped. I looked at it in the blue channel and you have the details all there. I would change the sun to maybe a pale yellow (move away from the green)  and the rays to a lighter shade of yellow to white. You could even use a gradient on the rays. You have the right idea of bringing some grass around the brick road. I think the boy's sweater is more of a tan color, but that is a minor pic.  The problem with this photo is that the studio background is so hard on the eyes. I bet the boy in the picture would pay us not to restore this photo!



This was a quick and dirty on my part to do some changes. One thing I wanted to do and not sure it was all that successful, was to cause the background to be a little darker, which would make the kid and truck stand out more. I duplicated my background and changed the blend mode to Multiply and then did a mask to conceal all. I then picked a gradient (color to transparent) and with my foreground white I came in from the corners inward a little to darken around the background.

You really are close to the finish line!

Margie

PS Happy to see you back!

[Hannie]

Hi Pat,

I'm glad you're back again!  I know what it feels like when you are working on a restore that just doesn't want to get finished somehow, don't feel bad, we all have those moments.

Your restore looks great and only needs a few little tweaks.  I like Margie's suggestions for the sun and making the background a little darker.

I also have a few suggestions for the color levels that you might want to try:

curves adjustments layer: black point on car tire, white point on sweater sleeve, gray point on forehead.

Color balance adjustment layer:  cyan/red slider to +23

Finally a 50% small blur brush over all the newly painted outlines.

Hope this helps!

Hannie



Maybe the sturation on my version could go down a little   :)

[Mhayes]

Hannie,

I like your version and boy's skin color looks good! Pat, when we get done, you are going to want more of these type of photos.  :P

Margie

[schen]

Nice, nice  :up:

[PatW]

when we get done, you are going to want more of these type of photos.  :P

Margie

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha :funny:...(pauses to wipe away tears)....Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha :funny:


But seriously folks, thank you Margie & Hannie for the encouragement & suggestions.. :loveit:  (at least I think I want to thank you for the encouragement part) and thank you Schen for the kind words. 

Now that I look at my version again, I can see that I was trying to turn him into a little Martian boy.  Not sure how I managed to drift to green, but thank you Hannie, I really appreciate the curves help.

There is still a fair amount of damage to the red enamel of the car that needs to be fixed.  It doesn't show up quite as dramatically on the web photo as it will on an 8X10 print.   Also, I think there needs to be something to show where the wall meets the floor, even if it's just a little shading.  The problem is, I'm not sure where this is. 

I chose this photo because, at the time, the only stuff left in the galleries was the really hard stuff & this one at least still had the face.  I fear I was cruelly betrayed by my eternal sense of optimism.  I remember thinking brightly that at least I would learn something from giving this a go.   And indeed, learn I did.  I learned to never, ever get mixed up in something like this again!... ::)

[PatW]

Oh yes, it's me again... :)

The flames on the hood are confusing me.  I can't make sense of their direction or pattern.   I'm not sure if there is some white damage running through them confusing the issue.  Also, I don't understand the weird off center slant.


I'm hoping someone who has seen a similar pattern can help me.   Might be that I've stared at this too long to actually see it. 

I'm waiting to do the final color correction until I get the car in better shape, but rest assured that I continue to trudge on.  (smiles bravely)





:wow: O'migod..... I just previewed my post.... could that be a reflection of the windshield?

[glennab]

Hi Pat

I think the "flames" ARE a reflection of the "windshield" on the front of the car.  It looks to me as if the windshield is placed above the car body, which would allow that shape to be duplicated, if a bit distorted, on the car's surface.  I think there's debris scattered within the reflection, but if you look at the shape of the white areas, it seems to be a mirror image.  I'd clean off the blue and yellow splotches and leave the white that looks like reflection.

And I'm so glad you'll be jumping on similar images. How sporting of you to give the rest of us a break.  You're the best!

G'night!

GK

[krishirt]

Wow, what a good job on a tough image! Congratulations...now look at something else for a little while so your eyes don't burn in the image, like old computer monitors used to! I know this is well after the fact, but I looked at this one several times...glad YOU got it!