Newton and Friend

[pic-dr]

OK, guys, I've got a toughie I've been struggling with, and would love your input (I hope)!

Introducing Newton and his buddy, if you haven't met yet, don't worry, they're going to be around for awhile  ^-^ Before I invest too much more time with them, I'd like to know if I'm doing something wrong.





I'm really not certain what color Newton was, at least towards his hindquarters. The pic is covered with a film, and I'm not sure what is damage, what is shadow and what is real--even under high zoom, I can't discern any fur as such. What do the experts think? FYI, I'm aware of all the little damage yet to fix, but that's the least of my problems.

[Mhayes]

Hi Pic-Dr

Your color correction is still off a little as the sliders in Levels could be brought in more. The dog's color is what it is. He looks like a Lab and his coat a combination of reddish-brown, yellow,and the pale yellow almost white in other areas This looks more like a natural variation in the coat rather than shadows.  The only place I see that I would repair is section nears his back that looks like the top of a puzzle piece. That I think would look better to borrow some hair close by and move into place and then a layer mask to bring back in as needed. If it is too light, duplicate the later, change the color mode and then reduce the opacity.

I know there is damage all over the dog's coat, but you are painting areas in when all you need to do is repair the damage. On the rest of the dog, except for getting rid of the damage---let his coat show the variation. The photo is old and you don't have much texture for the fur, but you do have the shading in his coat.

I couldn't figure out how you knew the name of the dog and then it dawned on me you were using the family's name on the extension.  ;D  What a cute photo!

Margie

[pic-dr]

Thanks Margie, and my wife agrees with you  :up:

I'll keep at it :)

Larry

[Hannie]

Hi Larry,

These 2 look like real buddies, what a lovely snapshot!

If at all possible, please do not paint over damage, it hardly ever looks right. 
When you zoom in really large the fur is not so hard to repair (heal/clone).  Like Margie said it is an old photo and to retain the texture of the fur is more important than having it look crisp and new.

I zoomed in at 400% (I know, it is a lot) and it took me 10 minutes to repair this part of the photo.  As you can tell it is not as clean looking as yours but it gives a better representation of what the fur looked like and the shading is not lost.

Hannie

[Mike S.]

Good morning Larry,

A very nice picture to work on.  Hannie has put you in the right direction.  A couple of things when you are working with the spot healing tool it is important to keep the tool as small as possible to do the job in particular when you are near a border, line, change from one color to another.  The spot tool should repair more than 90% of your picture.  Very little cloning, required.  Also like Hannie  I normally work at 300% and go to 400% when I need more clarity for the area I am working on.  From time to time go back and review at 100% to see if you are getting the desired results.  The picture below is not complete or as nice as the example Hannie posted but you will get the idea.

Thank you and keep up the good work,

Mike

[pic-dr]

Thanks to Hannie and Mike for your input, I'll get to work using your advice.

[Johnboy]

Larry,

I'll add the Patch tool to what the others have said. You have to use the Patch tool on the background layer, but when you make a selection and move it to a good area you can see what you are doing. That feature is great if you need to line up an edge or a pattern. Personally I use the Healing and Patch tools more than the other tools. The nice thing is that they will blend the color(s) for you once you release the mouse. Put any healing on a separate layer, and put that layer  above any color correction. By putting it on a separate layer you can start over easier if needed. If you put the layer below the color correction you see your healed spots.

Johnboy

[pic-dr]

A special thanks to Johnboy, I've been working on it with the band-aid and the healing tool, and it's progressing very nicely :) I've also fixed the color and lighting. When I have something to show you that's worth posting, I'll beam it up  ^-^

[Bambi]

The Patch Tool is my go-to tool. Carefully matching one tiny spec at a time.

[pic-dr]

The Patch Tool is my go-to tool. Carefully matching one tiny spec at a time.

Yep--one small speck for man, one giant speck for mankind! :)

[pic-dr]

I thought I'd posted the original and latest wip I'm working on, but don't see it here so I suppose it's possible I forgot to hit 'post'. I'll be waiting to find out if you think I'm headed in the right direction.

This is far from finished, still a lot of damage to repair, but I just want to make sure the colors are now ok, and if the dog's fur is as it should be. This time, I used the spot tool and healing brush almost exclusively in the repair as advised:

[Mhayes]

Hi Larry,

Big improvement and the spot tool and healing brush have gotten you much better results. I'm not sure that the round spot on the dogs is maybe damage.  On the rest of your damage, look at it about 300% and you will be able to spot it better.

Great progress!

Margie

[Mike S.]

Margie,

When you look at the original it looks like the white spot is not damage, just white fur, there is still a lot of detail.  See blowup below.  Once it is color corrected that area goes white.

Mike

[Mhayes]

Mike,

You could be right, but the shape and where it is located still looks funny.

Margie

[pic-dr]

ok, here's the latest wip--I've compromised on the 'fur ball' of white on the dogs shoulder/back, to try to keep the original look and cleaned up more of the mess. I believe Mike is right about the white fur, and also that Margie is right about it looking strange, the reason for the compromise. Would anyone be good enough to tell me where I'm going wrong?