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Dinnertime

Started by pic-dr, February 12, 2012, 04:11:39 PM

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pic-dr

Hi everyone--I picked up this photo a few days ago, and have made some progress, but would like to know if the color is correct, and what other things still need to be done. I'd appreciate all the help I can get  ??? Also, please note the mark on the cheek of the woman on the right, does that look like damage, or a bluish scar of some sort? And the red at the top of the same person's chair--I noticed something on the top of the chair of the other woman, and am not sure what that is, so I left both in until someone else could check it out. Thanks!




The most important room is that which is reserved for improvement.

pic-dr

Mhayes

Hi Larry,

This is one of those photos that using a Levels Adjustment is the best route rather than Curves. In fact you do not want to use both or you will have an over saturated photo like what you have. I'm not sure about what is on the chair, but it appears to be decorative, but not sure of the color so I would leave as you have it. I really couldn't tell much about the mark on the woman on the right, but I think it is damage. Other than that I think it looks good.

Margie
"carpe diem"

Margie Hayes
OPR President
[email protected]

pic-dr

#2
Thanks Margie--OK, I removed a bit of saturation overall, not sure if it's enough though. Any more, and it made the faces start to look a little ghostly... I also removed the blue mark from the girls cheek, and damage I hadn't noticed before on the other woman's sleeve, where the 'blue curve' was. I think this one looks a bit better. Let me know what you think--I'd like to get this as good as possible, and am more than willing to listen.  :)

The most important room is that which is reserved for improvement.

pic-dr

Bambi

Hi, Larry:

Nice work so far! I agree with Margie that is is still a little too dark and you're right about the skin tones that were already washed out in the original. Try using the Brightness/Contrast panel:

The Brightness/Contrast command is best used on selected portions of an image. Use this command to adjust the brightness of an entire image or to reduce contrast results in an image that doesn't use the entire available tonal range. The Levels and Shadow/Highlight commands are better choices for making tonal adjustments.

    Do one of the following in the Editor:

        Choose Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Brightness/Contrast to make adjustments directly to image pixels.

        Choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast to make adjustments to a layer.
    Drag the sliders to adjust the brightness and contrast, then click OK.

    Dragging to the left decreases the level; dragging to the right increases it. The number at the right of each slider displays the brightness or contrast value.


Bambi

Johnboy

Larry,

I'll chime in on the red seen at the top to the chair on the viewer's right. I notice a plant in full view which leads me to believe that the red is from a flowering plant perhaps a poinsettia or something with a large bloom.

If I understand Bambi correctly she is saying the Brightness/Contrast adjustment works best on selected areas unless you are doing the whole photo. Before you do this you may want to use the Lasso tool and make selections of the areas. By all means name and save your selections. That way if you need to go back you don't have to redraw the area. I would suggest that you do each area separately in case one area is good but another needs more tweaking.

Johnboy

pic-dr

Thanks Bambi and Johnboy, I took your advice, and learned a lot from it--especially in learning how to use layers and selections. I'm able to do a lot of tasks much easier now, and the result is an improved (I hope) picture emerging.

You'll notice many of the tiles restored, certain places lightened others darkened. These techniques are great and I really appreciate your help.

Here's where I am so far, all suggestions gratefully accepted.  :)

The most important room is that which is reserved for improvement.

pic-dr

Hannie

Hi Larry,

What a beautiful repair job you did!
This is one of those really hard to levels/color correct photos.
You managed to bring out the detail in the faces, especially of the lady on our left.  I think that went at the expense of the overall tone of the photo.  Margie already mentioned that you will only want to do levels on this photo but even there you can get into trouble:

In the red and green levels you don't want to slide beyond the flat black line on each side of the graph.  The blue channel should be left alone.
The image is still too dark after these levels.  You can then merge visible and go to Image->Adj.->Shad/Highl. and slide the shadow slider to 21%.
To brighten it up some more you can lift the RGB curve slightly in a curves adjustment layer.

The lady's face will be blown out but that is how the photo was taken.  You can always, with a layer mask, adjust the faces a little.

Hannie


Hannie Scheltema
Distribution Coordinator
[email protected]

pic-dr

#7
Thanks for the advice Hannie  :)

In an effort to accomplish both lightening the pic and preserving the details on the faces and hair, I created a new layer, selected the faces, inverted the selection, and applied the brightness/shadow/contrast and saturation changes to the rest of the pic.

I think I accomplished what I tried to do, I thought the details on the faces would be important to the family, and I really don't know how bad the original was before it was damaged, so I tried to be 'diplomatic' about my approach. I hope that's ok.

Thanks again,
Larry



PS--the one thing that always bothered me was the color of the leg of the pedestal table. It looked too yellow compared with the rest of the wood, so I have fixed that using the same methods outlined above. The latest version has the wood nearly perfectly matched...Seems there're always a few more pixels to fix  :) I can post that change if anyone feels it necessary.

The most important room is that which is reserved for improvement.

pic-dr

Pat

Hi Larry,

You've put a lot of hard work into this photo and it's paying off.

A couple of things are bothersome however.  Both of the girls seem to have a blue cast to their faces and the girl on the right (as you look at the photo) seems to have a "white glob" just below the corner of her mouth.

Pat
Pat

"Take a deep breath and think of the three things you are grateful for, right in this moment."  -MJ Ryan Author

pic-dr

Hi Pat,

Yes, I agree. The white blob is some kind of artifact that got introduced somewhere along the way, I hadn't noticed it, but it's corrected here. The bluish cast seems to be in all of the pics, even in the yellow stained original, you can see it if you look hard at the eyebrows of the lady on the left. I'm wondering if a combination of fluorescent lighting and a flash caused it.

I tried to get rid of that bluish cast, but couldn't lose it all, and trust me, I've tried. If anyone knows of a way to do that I'd love to know. I tried playing with all the color channels, hue and saturation, everything I could throw at it, but to little or worse effect.  :( The guy doesn't seem to have the problem, but the women definitely do..other than try to transplant skin from him, I have no idea how to eliminate it.

Here is my best attempt (so far) to fix those problems:

The most important room is that which is reserved for improvement.

pic-dr

Pat

Hi Larry,

This is just a very quick and sloppy job of it, but it gives you an idea of how much the girl's coloring can be changed with the color replacement brush in PS.  The problem is I have absolutely no experience with PE and no idea if it has the equivalent tools.



Pat
Pat

"Take a deep breath and think of the three things you are grateful for, right in this moment."  -MJ Ryan Author

pic-dr

Hi Pat,
I looked and there is no color replacement brush in Elements 10. I'll have to check and see if Photo Plus has one, and if so, I can use that. The fix you did looks great, I'd love to be able to do that, so I'll look into it today..
The most important room is that which is reserved for improvement.

pic-dr

Mhayes

Hi Larry,

Looks like you are getting closer, but switching between softwares is not the answer. "Throwing everything you have at it," isn't the answer either. I hate to sound like a broken record, but with time and practice you will get to know your software's tools and won't need to "throw everything at it," because you will know where the problem is. A month or two later is not going to get you up to speed with those who have been doing it for years. Plus, you are at a disadvantage here with most of us using PS and cannot tell you what to do on PE.
QuoteI tried to get rid of that bluish cast, but couldn't lose it all, and trust me, I've tried. If anyone knows of a way to do that I'd love to know. I tried playing with all the color channels, hue and saturation, everything I could throw at it, but to little or worse effect.

I'm not sure what you mean when you said you tried playing with all the color channels, when PE will not let you work in the individual channels? When you have done a basic color correction with Levels, you don't won't to be messing with the "Hues & Saturation" unless you do a layer's mask, because what you are doing then is messing up the color correction you just got through doing.

What I would do if you can is to make a blank layer above last restore you are showing on the forum. Double click on your foreground window (white) and bring up the color palette and pick a soft pink> change your color mode on your layers palette to "Color" and paint in pink on the two girl's faces> lower the opacity where it looks natural.

Good Luck!

Margie
"carpe diem"

Margie Hayes
OPR President
[email protected]

pic-dr

Hi Margie,

*smile* I didn't mean that quite so literally, "throwing everything I had at it", I meant trying every avenue individually to try to achieve the best result. And I'm really not trying to become an expert overnight, although I did work all night on this one--and expect to work more on it. I know I have a lot to learn. Unfortunately, I was working on the pic when you last posted, so I didn't yet get a chance to try out your tips.

The software--Elements is not a full featured editor, though it does have some very good tools, most of which I've used at one point or another fixing this one, but when someone suggested I try a tool--color replacing brush--it just isn't there, so I tried, with some success, to use a similar tool in Photo-Plus, which is like a poor cousin to Photoshop. I've discovered you can make some changes to colors in channels with Elements, but not full channel editing.

Photo Plus does most of what Photoshop does, (I think) but not nearly as well, and with lots of bugs. But it's full retail price is under $100. I paid $25 for it.. However, I did discover a tool there that is called 'paint to select', which I guess is like the color replacement brush in PS, but which is confusing and buggy, though I managed to do a better job with the complexions with a lot of trial and error with it and some minor painting. I'll post the result I got, and you can tell me if I still need to start over using your instructions. Fair enough?




The most important room is that which is reserved for improvement.

pic-dr

Bambi

Hi, Larry:

I've had mixed results using the Color Replacement Brush and prefer Margie's suggestion about painting on a New Layer in Color Mode. When you have the skin painted, also try setting the layer to Soft Light and see which looks more natural. Color Mode is usually best, but sometimes Soft Light looks a little better, so I always check both. Good job so far, Larry. You're really making progress in PE!

Bambi