Seeking Some OPR Magic...

[jfharrison]

Hi folks,

I could use some OPR Guru-type guidance on this restore.  I admit that most of my past restoration work has been on B/W photos -- not seriously damaged color images.  Thus, I would be really interested in getting some guidance on how to BEST approach the restoration of a color photo with this kind of damage.

Here is the original



Here is my current WIP



I've had a real struggle dealing with what I perceive as a yellow/green color cast on parts of this image and particularly, with some of the more pervasive spotty "artifacts" with green halos you can see in the three attached enlargements.  I'm not really sure what they are how how best to get rid of them -- especially since they exist primarily in the hair of these three individuals.  (These enlargements are about about 400%)







Any analysis, explanation and/or guidance would be REALLY appreciated.  I've found that I can fudge-over these spots and halos with a spot healing brush and conceal them a bit - but I'm thinking that that is probably not the optimum approach to the problem.  It is also very possible that I should have taken a different approach to this restore right from the start to deal with these artifacts...   :huh:

So OPR Divas and OPR Gurus  :)  --Any thoughts or recommendations???

I know I've still got a lot of learning to do, so any help or guidance is tremendously appreciated.  Thanks!

---Jared

[Mhayes]

Hi Jared,

This is kind of a simplistic fix, but I tried doing a Color Balance Adjustment Layer and moving the Magenta__Green Slider more towards the Magenta about a -26. That got rid of the greenish cast and maybe the bottom of the her hair still has a bit of green cast. This is one of those photos you would like to fix for being overly exposed from being taken in bright sunlight, but that is how it is. I think with a little correction, the printed version will look fine.

Nice job on the cleanup.

Margie

[schen]

For the yellow cast, I will use Selective Color adjustment and move the Yellow slider to the left.  A few areas especially his left eye may need more work.

For the damages in the hair, I will use very small brush Smudge Tool and brush them along the direction of hair.  It is tedious work but the result should be pretty good.

If I were the guy, I sure want to have the picture restored.

Shujen

[Hannie]

Hi Jared,

Nice photo, you did a great job!
I would not worry too much about the little spots, they are hardly visible at print size.  I would zoom in and try to heal some of them.  Then I would add a color layer and sample from the good part of the hair to paint over the greenish spots.

Margie and Shujen already gave you great tips on the color correction.  There are quite a few ways to try and use.  I have seen a photo just like this in the Katrin Eismann restoration book but I don't remember where I put it... ::)

I tried:
-lowering the master Hue/Saturation to 20%;
-on duplicate layer I used Image->Adjustment->Shadows/Highlights and set the highlights to 3% the rest at default);
-upped Vibrance some, skin only;
-Selective Color adjustment layer upped cyan(68%) in the reds

Hannie

[jfharrison]

So I did some more cleanup on this image and used Katrin Eismann's Selective Color Replacement technique to get rid of the green in the hair by painting with it's direct inverse color.  Really seemed to work pretty well.

I'm not 100% sure of the final color correction, since my view in Photoshop looks radically different than what I see in a browser on this uploaded image.  The reds here seem to be overemphasized.  As I recall, this seems to be a fairly common issue noted in the Forum.



BTW - This is one image that seems to beg for some exposure correction and sharpening...  :(

Any other repairs or tweaks needed before I send it home?

Thanks!

---Jared

[Mhayes]

Hi Jared,

I think it looks good and you are right about the browser making it more red than than when viewed on the computer. As I said before, this photo was taken in bright sunlight and overexposed. You brought it back to the original and that is what we are aiming for. A lot of times we can color correct and make the exposure better than it was in the original, but in this case it would take a lot of work to try undo what was not done right when the picture was taken.

As far as begging for a exposure correction and sharpness, that is out of your hands. Yes, you could improve it a little by going into curves and clicking on parts that are over exposed and bringing the curve down and that will help, but if you get too carried away, you will end up bringing back some colors you do not want. I tried bringing this photo in Camera Raw for the exposure even though I saw no reason for it to work (and it didn't) as it was a jpg and not a RAW file and it would not be working with the camera settings---this would need the file of the actual photo, not the one from our camera stand to correct. As to sharpening, that is something that is done by Quality Control if needed.

Yes, there are things from a photographer's perspective that are wrong with this photo, but from the family's view this photo is a success and great compared to the damaged one they have now.

Margie

[Johnboy]

Jared and Hannie,

I assume you have Katrin's Third Edition, Jared. If so, look on page 87 Salvaging Overexposed Images. It might be of help or as Margie says this is as good as it gets.

Johnboy

[Hannie]

Thanks Johnboy, yes that was the one.  It worked on this photo but it still needed a lot of tweaking afterwards.

Guess these photos are beyond any "quick fix" methods you'll find in photo restoring books!  :)

Hannie