HELP Needed!

Ausimax · October 12, 2006, 09:05:16 AM

Hi Folks,

This Lady is causing me much grief, her hair is non existent, from what you can make out she may have it in cornrows, its hard to tell, I tried an image search in Google trying to find an image that may help could not find anything that was useful.

I found one that may have worked, however the image size was to small, by the time I had resized it 400% it no longer looked like hair, I am wondering if any of you may have access to image with suitable hair?

I would be most grateful if you could help, if you can you could email it to me at - [email protected]

Any comments and advice would be welcome.

Max

This is where I am at present, still heaps of work to do on the face yet, struggling to get it to look right.

Sonya K · October 12, 2006, 10:28:00 AM

Sorry that I can't help with a photo of hair in cornrows...
But I can sympathize with the heaps of work to do on faces. Especially when they're close up shots and you want to get the expression and details right.
All I can give you is some encouragement to keep going and don't let it drive you crazy ;D

Sonya

Kenny · October 12, 2006, 10:53:33 AM

Max, I'm wondering if someone else might have a picture with that woman in it? You could borrow the eyes, nose and mouth off another picture of her and it would really help.

Maybe someone will recognize her.

Kenny

havril · October 12, 2006, 11:20:09 AM

Hi Max
What I would suggest as far as the face is concerned Check in the channels and you will find that the woman's face in the blue channel is relatively undamaged. Select and Copy it and then go back to RGB and paste it on top.Take the opacity of the pasted layer down to about 80% and then merge visible. The colour will be slightly off but you can adjust it with color balance and hue saturation. There is still a slight amount of damage to clone but a lot less and I think it will give you a more natural look. I am not sure that the hairstyle is cornrow it looks too high at the back.

Harvey

glennab · October 12, 2006, 02:50:25 PM

Max, Oh Max,

You sure can pick 'em. I can't help you much with the restoration part of this, because I just can't make out that much detail. However, I do have access to hair photos, so if you figure out what her style is, I'll see if I can get it for you. Let me know. And good luck!

Harvey -- where did you get your expertise on channels? I'm so inexperienced in using them, and it's frustrating!

Best wishes, guys,

GG

Ausimax · October 12, 2006, 09:44:01 PM

Sonya,
Thanks for the encouragement, you want the best possible result with these photos.

Kenny,
I had thought of asking if there were any other photos available, though I can't remember having seen any, however if anybody has images of her (Buxton) it would be appreciated.

Harvey,
That is exactly what I did, though even then there is little undamaged skin to recover texture and detail from, as always the damage is much more severe in hi-res than it looks in the low-res image,( why do you think they give us such small images to chose from? I f you could get a good look you would run a mile.). I had to clone a lot of skin texture in from Mr to try and repair her.

I have a lot of trouble around the eyes, even though they are her eyes repaired they still don't just look right, I think it is more to do with the area around they eyes, trying to get the folds and eyelids and crows-feet natural looking.

Re the hair you can't see any thing you can recognise as hair in the image, the damage around that area is total, the reason I go with the cornrow idea is if you look at her forehead on her left side there appear to be peaks of scalp showing between rows of hair, and it is a style that would not be inconsistent.

Glenna,

Just my luck I think, I put my hand up for two, one would have been reasonably easy, and this one, guess which one I got?

If you could help out with hair, it would be great, I find it really hard to make/fake realistic looking hair so if I can get a similar style I can blend it will make for a better result.
As from my reply to Harvey, I tend to go with cornrows, though any style consistent with the image would be a great help.

Thank you all for your help and ideas, it is greatly appreciated.

Max

glennab · October 13, 2006, 12:06:51 AM

Hi Max

These are the images I was able to find. If any of the styles will work (you can always use the liquefy technique to make it fit), I'll e-mail a jpeg to you.

GG

(Note: in order not to take up too much space on the forum, I removed the link to the photos, since Max has his reference image now)

Ausimax · October 13, 2006, 01:29:29 AM

Hi Glenna,

Thanks for your help, the last image looks like the one, I'm pretty sure it is cornrows the lady has, and I can't see her in any of the more frizzy styles, particularly considering how she is dressed.

I can trim of the excess hair to fit, the previous image is good also but it would present problems making it work.

So I would be very grateful if you could email me that one.

[email protected]

Thanks heaps,

Max

glennab · October 13, 2006, 09:14:52 AM

Good morning Max!

You've got it. I'm going to mail it right now. Glad I could find one that might work.

Have a wonderful day!

GG

Ausimax · October 13, 2006, 08:54:30 PM

Got It! Thanks Glenna, you are a champion!

Max

glennab · October 13, 2006, 09:06:36 PM

Max,

You're welcome. Anything for one of my favorite OPR pals!

GG

Ausimax · October 15, 2006, 08:52:13 AM

Hi Folk,

I think I have gone about as far as I can go with this one, I have made two complete restarts and spent interminable hours tweaking and twiddling and I can get it no better. I am far from happy with the result, but as stated I can find no way that improves it.

I think I will submit it to the powers that be, and let them decide its fate, they can accept it, give it to somebody with more skill, or blur out the lady's face and accept it as damaged.

I must admit I have hit the wall with this one, I have tried every trick I know, admittedly I don't know many, but I've used them all, to little avail.

I would like to thank all of you for the time you have taken to advise and encourage, it is greatly appreciated, I always seem to be here trying to pick your brains.

Max

Kenny · October 15, 2006, 10:56:14 AM

Hi Max,

You've done a wonderful job on this one. As long as the restoration looks like the real woman it's a succes. It's really hard to see what she looks like, though, from the damage. I honestly don't know what could be done with this one short of a full head swap.

In my opinon this was one of the absolutely worst damaged photos in the gallery. It's a clear closeup picture with the faces as the main focus and her face has been obliterated! :D

Good job on such an undertaking!

Kenny :)

ps...to John....we need a "pulling the hair out smiley" I'll find one and send it to you :funny:

pcraft · October 15, 2006, 11:22:04 AM

Hi Max... Just a thought that might help... What I might try doing is select the highlights from the gentleman's face.. One highlight at a time and use transform\warp if you need to, then apply (paste) to the ladies face... Then use opacity and\or blend modes to adjust it to your liking... Hope that helps? :)

Robert

PS. Sometimes, a light use of the noise filter, on the new parts, can work wonders, also...

glennab · October 15, 2006, 01:48:10 PM

Hi Max

As usual, you're being too modest. I think you did a wonderful job on a face that wasn't even there to replicate. I'd do one thing, and that's to tone down the lady's highlights a little.

You're an inspiration in the way that you hang in there and get the work done, even though, contrary to reality, you don't think you have the expertise to pull off one of these extremely challenging restorations.

This one rates a huge hug! (I hope your lady doesn't mind, but I think you're beyond special!)

GG