Black spots. Any tips?

Bambi · June 22, 2011, 02:58:07 PM

I just started on this lovely photograph.

Luckily all the yellow discoloration was in the Lab b channel.

I also replaced the black channel in CMYK with the Lab lightness channel to get more depth in the black. I'm on my way to recovering her face and arm, but in the process I started to see the house in the background. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on removing the black spots on the lower left, over the tree and the house. I'll keep working on the rest. Thanks!

Mhayes · June 22, 2011, 10:55:36 PM

Babin, you really picked a hard one! I really couldn't tell there was a house on left side? I see one in the distance on your right. You have so much damage on the left, that I would repair the grass, trees and fence post as best you can. I like the brightness of your middle photo and bring in the detail of the little girl on your last.

Margie

Bambi · June 24, 2011, 06:58:33 PM

Does anyone have a technique for removing the mold spots to the left of the girl? I'm sure y'all have a lot of experience with mold spots. Still working on the girl. Thanks for any help you can give me.
Bambi

Jonas.Wendorf · June 24, 2011, 07:28:18 PM

Hi Bambi,

since you've asked me via PM, I'll give you a short outline on how to tackle these areas with frequency separation.

The first thing you need to do is run the action I've uploaded for you here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7124285/Foren/Operation%20Photo%20Rescue/Frequency%20Separation.atn (which action you choose depends on your bit depth, 8bpc should be the standard).
Next enter a radius that'll blur all the details that you want to keep from your LOW layer. I know this sounds counterproductive at first, but these details will reappear on the HIGH layer later.
Now the action should be run through, so you should be left with three layers: LOW, Normal, HIGH.

The first step for you is to disable the HIGH layer so that the image looks blurry again.
On the LOW layer you shouldn't do anything.
Now pick your clone stamp, healing brush or whatever method you like to use with a sample of "Current and Below" and repair the blurry image.
This has the benefit of not affecting any of the details, so you can go pretty fast on it without losing detail.

Now enable the HIGH layer again and set your clone stamp or healing brush to "Current layer" only.
On the HIGH layer remove the remaining spots.
This has the benefit of not affecting any of the low level frequencies, which means that you don't need to worry about transitions, color etc. and can just work on it without any trouble.

A pretty rough example of the technique (obviously a lot more work needs to be done) can be found here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7124285/Foren/Operation%20Photo%20Rescue/Frequency%20Separation.psd

And try to make sure you just use the frequency separation technique in difficult areas like the one on the bottom left corner, otherwise you can easily create yourself more work than you would have to do!

schen · June 24, 2011, 07:59:19 PM

I do see a house behind her right and a driveway leads up to it, or maybe they are just my imagination. Most of the obliterated area is lawn so you should be able to clone from the other side. The important subject of the photo is the cute young girl.

Hannie · June 25, 2011, 08:40:38 AM

I agree that the subject is the most important. Also Margie's tip for brightness will add more detail to the little girl.

The left side has so little detail left that I would use the grass on the right to extend it to the left and also use good part of the trees to repair the upper left part of the photo.

You have done an amazing job bringing back what appeared to be lost of the little girl!

:up2:

Hannie

Bambi · June 25, 2011, 03:41:40 PM

Just want to say that this is still very much a work in progress. I agree about the lighter look ultimately. I was just trying to find detail in the girl's face and started to see the porch of a house behind the girl and the tree. The supporting column is very simple, but distinctive.

I did a Google Street View for the family's address—not expecting to find anything useful. The porch style is clearly similar, but flipped horizontally from the version in the photo. Google views are low res and unusable, but it gave me a mental reference to see it more clearly. (And it just might be a picture of the house before the floods!)

But, I haven't lost sight of the basics—the picture is definitely of the little girl. Good to know I can fill with tree and grass if I can't bring the porch up. I'm thinking at the very most, it will be shadowy and in the background without much detail. I will try your technique, Jonas, and let you know. Still a lot of work to do. Thanks to all of you for your help and encouragement.

Oldfaded · June 26, 2011, 09:05:33 AM

Amazing job. What a difficult restore!

Bambi · June 28, 2011, 06:57:02 PM

OK. Here's where I am so far. Please let me know what you think it needs.

Oldfaded · June 28, 2011, 07:28:14 PM

Oh My. I am in shock, what a wonderful job. This is nothing I could do as well as you have.
One thing that I saw was her face looked a bit unnatural so I took the original, darkened it, and cloned over your work.
Im so not anyone with experience, but this is how I see it. Im sure that there will be others that know what they are doing...lol I know they teach me a lot!
-----

Bambi · June 28, 2011, 09:05:21 PM

You're right, Kate. I need as many expert eyes on this as I can get! Thanks for your help.

Oldfaded · June 28, 2011, 09:40:45 PM

expert Im not but I know how it is to need someone else to see what you have been looking at so close for so long.
You have done an amazing job on this for sure. Im very impressed. :)

Bambi · June 29, 2011, 01:14:49 AM

I consider this a first proof and I'm open to any and all comments. In my opinion, this file is overworked. But in the process of wearing the pixels out, I have plenty of layers and versions and know alot more about the photo and the subject. Tell me what works and what doesn't and I'll use what I've learned to create a clean version. I plan to go way back into it anyway. Thanks for your help.

Hannie · June 29, 2011, 07:46:53 AM

Bambi, you have done an amazing job already! Remember this is of photo almost nobody wanted to work and the few who did returned it to be re listed! :)

Kate, stop putting yourself down! You are doing great and your opinion is valued and welcome.
(so there!)

:loveit:

Hannie

Tori803 · June 29, 2011, 01:45:49 PM

I think you've done a great job saving the little girl! That's the most important part of the photo. I'm sure the porch was a lot of work, but there's so little reference information that it's hard to be sure of what belongs where. Perhaps you could also do a version with just grass and trees, no porch, and then the owner of the photo could decide which one they liked best. (I know, I know, more work, just when you'd like to done with it!)