Ready for Review (my first restoration)

[srcrocke]

IMG]http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n595/srcrocke/WebExampleWorked.jpg[/IMG

I hope I am posting these correctly.

I look forward to your suggestions. I have looked at this photo so much my eyes are crossed. I know I need to straighten the pole a little more and clean up around his sleeve holding the bottle. The smidge of table showing in the bottom left needs to be cleaned up. Their shoes have no detail, not sure what to do there.

Color needs work. The original was really saturated or maybe my eyes are blind to yellow now.  :crazy:

Thank you!
Sandra

[srcrocke]

[Mhayes]

Sandra, I think you have done a great job! I think the shoes were a lost cause as I saw little detail except for the blue channel. On it I can't tell if she is wearing socks or not, but I can see where the top of her shoe starts. I know the pole is crooked, but that is how the photo was shot, so I wouldn't worry about it. One way to keep a nice straight edge on the pole is to lasso the good section, put it on its own layer and then move into place. You may have to rotate and scale.

Very nice!

Margie

[Hannie]

Sandra, what a great restore, it looks beautiful!

A couple of weeks ago I saw a finished restore where a window in the background corner was straightened.  I thought it looked a little out of place after the straightening.
If you straighten the pole could you also keep a version of the how it is now, just in case?

Hannie

[Pat]

Very nice work Sandra!

[schen]

Great job removing those yellow/orange swirls. 

As the result, we usually lost some contrast and saturation.  You may want to reduce her tan line on the shoulder and tan her face to match her forearm.  His right arm needs more shading and the medial junction of his right arm and shirt looks like the arm is reduced in size.  The white reflection on his left arm could be damage?

[srcrocke]

Thank you everyone for the feedback. Good to know I am not crazy. After your review it is easier to go back and revisit my problem areas without getting overwhelmed.

I did mean to say a straight edge on the pole and not straightening it. Ooops! I will go back and clean that up via Margie's method.

I will do the blue channel again and do her shoe again so the top can be seen.

With the blue channel I will also make sure I have his right arm sized correctly. I have not done any dodge and burn yet but really need to. Let me get the white off of that left arm, I do believe that is damage. I will try to even out the tan line on her arm and her face, too.

Then I will address the saturation and contrast. Then repost and see what everyone thinks.

Should I have posted in the Easy, Medium, Hard section for review? I think this one is medium?

Ya'll are super. Thank you. I am enjoying this. I hope it gets easier!

Sandra

[Bambi]

Great job! On your first try. Congratulations. And great suggestions. We'll get these all the yellow swirls out of these Nashville photos with quick work like this!

Bambi

[srcrocke]

Bambi,

You are so kind. Thank you for posting links to the expert suggestions. That made it faster for me to figure out what to try. I would never have attempted to volunteer had it not been for the support I have seen on the forum.

ha ha, I feel as if I have been working on this photo much longer than a week! But I feel good. I want to finish up and I'll grab another one.

Sandra

[Jonas.Wendorf]

Hi Sandra,

what a beautiful job you did on this one :-)!

One thing I can see apart from what has already been said is that the area of the chair you restored now seems a little too dark, so you might want to lighten this a little more.

[srcrocke]

Ok, I am happy with his left arm. The white was damage and it is blended to look much more naturally now.

I gave her a sock. I am constantly reading of the mucking-up machine. I believe it now. I could not tell where the top of her shoe began with the blue channel. I did find a post that explained some things you do to get the blue channel spruced up, Margie. If you think I should try again with her shoe, let me know. No more pictures with feet damage for me. ha ha

His left arm is dodged and burned and looks much better (I think?). The arm does look reduced in size because the shirt balloons out in front of that part of the arm. I hope the shading makes it look more natural.

I blended her tan line on her arm. In Texas, we call that type of tan line a farmer's tan. Lots of yellow mixed in there.  :D I need a method to remove it from skintones. I found it very very difficult. I made her face a little more tan, as well.

Added some contrast and saturation. I guaged it from the very familiar red on the diet coke can.

Then an overall lightening. I hope I got the chair enough.

Thank you,
Sandra

[schen]

Sandra, you did a great job!  I looked into the original and you are right that the junction between his right forearm and the shirt has an indentation.  I think it is just the location of his elbow.

What I did to eliminate something like her tan line was to us lasso tool to grab a piece of her arm below the tan line; copy (ctrl-c) and paste (ctrl-v) it.  Now you would have a layer with the pasted arm.  Use move tool to move it up then use warp to match the new piece as close as possible over the part above the tan line.  Use mask/brush tool and healing tool to blend it in.

I am not sure I explain it well.  It's late and my mind is not working.  If you have questions, please ask and I will try again tomorrow.

Good night.

Shujen

[Hannie]

... Lots of yellow mixed in there.   I need a method to remove it from skintones. I found it very very difficult. I made her face a little more tan, as well....

If you use Photoshop here are some guidelines to adjust skin color:

You can use your Info window and look at the numbers, make sure that CMYK values are visible. (drop down list on Info palette, check CMYK) You can stay in RGB workspace!!
- for Caucasian skin tone, M and Y are nearly the same value, slightly more Y than M
- for Afro American skin I would not not make Y higher than M
- C should be 1/5 to 1/3 of Y or M values, Caucasian skin smaller ratio (C=3x M or Y) and darker skin higher ratio. (C=5x M or Y)

You can use a Curves adjustment layer and use the Blue curve to adjust Y and the Red curve to adjust M.
Use you dropper to sample different spot on the skin.  Stay away from highlights or shadows.

I found this link helpful, it explains things better than I do!
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93363

Hannie

PS
using the blue channel in a restore you sometimes have to dodge the skin tones, they tend to be too dark

[Pat]

Hannie what great information; I'm definitely bookmarking this!

Pat

[gwilson]

What a difficult first restoration! I think you did a great job, and I'll bet you will take a lot of what you learned into the next photo. I love how I can learn so much just by reading a thread!