Where's the color?

[Bambi]

I just can't decide which way to go with this photo. The color correction is unsatisfying, to say the least. Here are some options I've tried. I'd love to hear your comments.

ORIGINAL



LEVELS AUTO



LEVELS (USING DRIVEWAY AS WHITE)



LEVELS (USING SHIRT AS WHITE)



SAME AS ABOVE IN BLACK AND WHITE WITH CONTRAST



At this point, I'm tempted to work with the black and white. Possibly add color later.

Bambi

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Hi Bambi, I ran the photo through Kodaks digital roc and got a different result again. Not sure if you have that colour correction plugin?

[Pat]

Hi Bambi, Tess,

This is the result I got when I used OPR member JB's action, without any further tweaking, which can be found at the following forum link:  http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/index.php/topic,2992.msg27433.html#msg27433  This action generally works quite well, but in this particular case, I like your results better Tess.



Pat

[Mhayes]

This photo is one of two that because of age, color correcting will be difficult. Pat and Tess,  your version is an improvement, but seems to have a greenish cast? I probably for color like Bambi's where  she has used the shirt for white. I would vote for the B/W and what I might suggest is to do one of color and one B/W to upload.

Margie

[glennab]

Hi Bambi

I got a slightly different color cast - I like the blues better here - by sampling in curves.  I used the lightest area of the woman's shoe (the toe) for the highlight, the car's wheel for the midtone/gray/ and the darkest area in the shrubs in the background to get the shadows.  I think you could use color balance or selective color to perhaps tweak a little more, but not much more.  I found that the most I could coax was more green than I wanted.  But it's late, and the old eyes are getting tired.



GK

[Tori803]

It doesn't look like the color can be fully restored, especially the skin tones. So doing both a color and a BW would be a good back up plan.

Tori

[Hannie]

After you have done levels and curves there is little or no magenta in the reds leaving the skintones looking very pale.  You can try and add some magenta in the reds in a Selective Color adjustment layer.

Hannie

[glennab]

Not too shabby, Ms. Hun.  I like the extra magenta.  I wasn't courageous enough to bump it up that much, but it does improve the photo. Now how does one tone down the texture, if that's what it be called?  That's what made me so timid. I honestly wouldn't know what to do with it.

GK

[Hannie]

Glenna, I didn't use a hide all layer mask when I increased the magenta in the reds.  It should have only been applied to the skintones.

For the damage in the background, cars and drive way I would try a Dust & Scratch filter.  The couple I would zoom in 300% and  clean up by hand.  Same for the wheel and any other detailed part of the photo.

For me the hardest part would be to fix the car, what the backlight would look like and what model car etc.
I am so not into cars, wouldn't have a clue!

Hannie

[Bambi]

Hannie, that's precisely why I selected this photo. My in-house automotive forensics expert found ample reference that this is a 1964 Pontiac GTO, midnight blue. Probably new and very special. I'll be posting a work in progress in the next few days. It's been fun two work on. Thanks for helping me get my bearings on the color.

[Bambi]

Here's the current work in progress. Please look it over and let me know what you think.

Bambi

[Theresa H]

I think you've done an awesome job! :up: Very nice clean up on the car! You all make me feel very humble to be apart of your group! Every time I come to this site I get teary eyed.

[hughlettstudio]

Hey Bambi,
You've done a nice job with the clean up and color restoration. One thing that stands out to me is the back bumper. I would bring back some of that highlight to make it look more like chrome. And you lost a few of those specular highlights that are reflections from the car behind it.
Hope this helps!

Phil

[Bambi]

Good eye, Phil. I did lose the highlight on the bumper. Thanks for spotting that.

Bambi

[Bambi]

Much better with the highlights restored. thanks again, Phil.

Bambi