GG's Challenge -- Help, Gurus!

[glennab]

Hi volunteers,

I've been battling with this photo for a month or so, and after two iterations, I'm still struggling.



The biggest challenge is the white spots that cover the entire image.  I've been cloning small pieces at a time, and sometimes they look natural and sometimes they look painterly.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to techniques that might help me get through this one?  I was able to re-create the carpet and make it look quite realistic, but the rest is baffling me.  I have a background (the drapes) that have shades and shapes of green, as if there are plants in the background, but not enough definition with which to do much.

I've become very fond of these people and want to return a really fine restoration to them.  Appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

Have a great day!

GG

[milanab]

those are plants in the background,sort of the obligatory planter box in front of the baptismal pool is what it looks like to me.  the navy curtains and the dark green leaves blend so much i think i would not worry too much about the detail of them.

[Ausimax]

Picked your self a good one glennab  >:(

About all you can do that I have found is to try and radiate out from any small areas that look natural and get rid of the actual damage, the real hard part is getting back texture and toning.

I have used the healing brush to copy texture from another image for things like materials, then you have to clone it to the edges where the healing brush fouls things up by sampling adjoining colours.

Toning and shading you may be able to do by using the airbrush on another layer at a very low flow rate, then you can use layer opacity to blend it.

I doubt I have been much help, but sometimes it helps just to talk it through and sort out your ideas.

Keep in touch as you proceed and we will give you a hand, Clap,Clap. ;)

Max

[cmpentecost]

Glenna,

Have you tried doing selections on certain areas, such as the curtains, and doing either a light gaussian blur, or, dust and speckles.  If you use this with a layer mask, you can then go in with the brush tool set to black on the layer mask, and erase the blur on important areas, such as the creases of the curtains, or any other significant area.  I'm pretty sure Katrin covers this in her book, which you stated in another topic that you had the book.

I've had a fortunate day today where I've been able to spend many hours on my photos.  I've pulled out about every book I've had, and researched things on the internet.  These photos are an incredible challenge, but certainly rewarding!  I'm a little bit cross-eyed tonight, but well worth it.  Good luck with this one. 

Christine

[glennab]

Hi!

Thanks for the feedback.  I've tried the blur, but to get rid of the spots I lose so much detail that it looks contrived.  I even tried recreating the curtains, and that didn't look too bad, but then I lost the green of the leaves.  Christine, I might try the despeckle again just on the curtain area and see how that works.  And I just purchased Katrin's latest restoration book for CS2.  I'll check that out as well.  I also got her book on masking and compositing, but I have the choice of reading books or working on restorations!  What a dilemma.  I grabbed another photo to work on for a while, then will revisit these folks.  Meantime, if you think of anything else, I'll be forever grateful!  And if I find any revelations in my reference books, I'll certainly pass them along.

As usual, you're all wonderful in trying to find ways to deal with these challenges. Thanks again.

G'night!

GG