Two Winning Smiles

[Pat]

Hi Everyone, I could not resist these two winning similes I found in Tess's gallery!  Please let me know where you see the need for more work.  Thanks

Original:


WIP:


Pat

[Mhayes]

Hi Pat,

Good job on repairing the damage. The dog bothered me, because I couldn't decide if he was a really old dog and that would account for all the white. When I look at the head it looks more like the colors were blown out and perhaps water damage had taken some of the pigment out. Curiosity got the better of me and I called the owner and she said the dog was not old in that photo. It is a yellow Lab and I think some of the white may be where the coat is really light, but I don't think white.

I played with this and tried coloring on a separate layer, but the tonal range is so light it didn't look right and I needed to take more time to get it right. The other thing I tried was to do a blank layer and then sam[ple some areas with color around and then with a soft brush set to "Darken" I lowerered the opacity to 60% or so with Layer's Mode still at  Normal. I lowered the opacity, because otherwise it will look painted and no texture will show through. I then mixed different shades to look more natural and add depth. I think around the mouth it would be fine to leave as is.

The other thing I notice and I realize the damage made your job a lot harder, but I would work on the area of the dog's lower shoulder next to the guys sweater. I would borrow areas above the damage and with use of layers work into the damage area. That way you will have more texture and also not give the appearance of clone marks.

Other than that, a big improvement.

Margie

[Theresa H]

Curious as to if you've tried painting using curves so you don't loose the texture? Otherwise I think it's looking good, I do think I see some noise in the background that could probably get taken care of with a light box blur.

Theresa

[Pat]

Thank you for your help Margie, I hope this is an improvement.  Theresa, you were right about the noise, I hope that's a bit better now.  No I've never tried painting with curves.  Could you explain the process for me?  Thanks

WIP2A:


Pat

[Theresa H]

Be happy to explain painting with curves. I'll put something up in the tutorial section.

[Pat]

Thank you Theresa,

Pat

[Hannie]

Hi Pat,

What a lovely restore and what a great photo!

Do you think it would improve the greens if you slide the yellow/blue slider (Color Balance) some to the right?
The dog looks "younger" in your second version, perhaps you can bring back a little of the highlights on the dogs head?
(I may have overdone it)

Hannie

[Pat]

Hannie, thanks for the suggestion.  It's an improvement I think, not sure I took it far enough.

WIP2B:


Pat

[Hannie]

Looks good Pat, I think it is far enough because the overall yellow cast is gone!

:up2:

Hannie

PS
Mine looks slightly different because I also reduced the magenta (-25) and increased the yellow (+13) in the reds (Selective Color adj. layer).

[glennab]

Hi Pat

What a wonderful photo to work on. It makes me smile. You've done a great job on the restoration.  I have one question, only because when I look at the image this keeps jumping out at me.  The upper left corner seems so much more "smudgy" than the rest of the meadow that I wonder if it should be brought a little more into focus by cloning, patching or healing areas that are less blurred until it matches the rest of the background.  It's difficult to tell because of the damage whether the original was more blurred or not, but my impression is that it wasn't.

GK

[Pat]

Glenna you are right, that upper left corner was distracting.  I think this is a little better.
Thank you.

WIP3:


Pat

[Pat]

Thank you all for the help you've given me on this photo.  It proved to be a bit more of a challenge than I had first anticipated, and every one of your observations and suggestions helped.  I'll be sending it home now.

Pat

[glennab]

Pat, definitely a huge difference in the upper left.  No distraction there now. As our wonderful Pat Wendt would likely say: "Boffo!" Or as we say in Florida:  "Awesome!"

GK

[Pat]

Thanks Glenna, I'll take either "Boffo!" or "Awesome!" any day.

[Mhayes]

Pat,

Looks great and here is the feedback from the owner:

Thank you so much for all your wonderful work!

Margie