Feedback Appreciated

[cmpentecost]

This has been a long and tough restoration, but fortunately, I was somewhat saved by what was visible through the blue channel.  I've stared at this picture until I'm cross-eyed, so any feedback is appreciated.  I do think he may need a bit of shadowing on his face, and I'm not so sure on his hair, but I need a fresh set of eyes to help me out.

Thanks!!

Christine

Before: 

After: 

[Kenny]

Very nice restoration!  :up:


I agree with a little shading on the face. With just a little tweaking, it'll be ready to go home!



Kenny  :)

[Ausimax]

Christine,

You have done a great job, I agree a little shading on the left side of the young mans face, just a touch on the top of his cheekbone, apart from that, send him back to his family.

Max

[glennab]

Hey Chris

I think your concern about his hair is warrented.  I'd try to make the hair and eyebrows look a little more natural, maybe a little lighter.  Was the hair coming down on his forehead something you saw in the channels? It looks a bit contrived to me.

His hand looks great -- in fact the rest of the image is wonderfully restored.  I hope I can be as good as you are when I grow up!

I'd better get with my work -- I'm a bit behind, because Aaron Neville, my favorite cat (don't tell the others!) is in the hospital and I've been a little distracted.

Have a great evening!

GG

[cmpentecost]

Thanks for the great comments and feedback.  I'm attaching a copy of the blue channel so you see what I had to work with.  I was estatic when I discovered how much information was available in the blue channel.  Working on this photo has become a passion, perhaps because it's the 3rd picture of this young man that I've done.  The first was of him as a toddler (the one in the newspaper), then of he and his sister, and now this one. 

Christine

[glennab]

Hi Chris

Amazing that all that information is in one channel. How do you pull it from the channel and incorporate it into the image?  With a layer?  I'd think this'll help get him a bit more natural looking.

You must feel as if you've raised this guy. How special to bring back so much of his life in these restorations.  Don't know about you, but I love this job!

G'night

GG

[cmpentecost]

Hi Glenna,

It was a lot of trial and error, and going thru books and NAPP forums trying to figure out how to maintain the blue channel, yet still having color.  I finally ended up basically copying the parts of the blue image that showed through, such as his face, into an RGB format.  The damage was still in black and white, but I then made my best attempt at colorizing the black and white, and matching up with his original skin tones.  I'm not sure if I did it the easiest or best way, but I never came across any other way to do it.  Now that I've taken a break from the photo, I'm seeing areas in his face that need a bit of "shine" and color.  I wish I knew how many hours I spent on this photo.  It's a LOT.  Well worth it though, as it was my hardest restoration to date, and it has become special to me, as I feel like I've gotten to know this young man.  I'd love to meet him some day!

As for cat stories, my Winchester was sleeping on my desk and reached out to stretch, hitting my quick mask button, unbeknownst to me.  Took me awhile to figure out what was wrong with my computer!

Thanks for your great input.

Christine

[vhansen]

To utilize a channel (such as the blue one above), make sure your channels palette is open. 
Click on the blue channel, which automatically selects that channel.
On the main menu choose "select", then "all".
Select "copy" from the main menu (this copies the blue channel to the clipboard)
Click once on the RGB main channel so that all channels are showing. 
Go to your Layers palette and click on the topmost layer to make it the active layer.
Choose "paste' from the main menu. This will paste the blue channel into a new layer.
Change the layer "mode" to "luminosity".  This allows the colors from the bottom layers to show through on your new blue layer.

[glennab]

Hi Vicki:

Great information.  That'll come in handy when I run into what Chris did.  OPR University!  I've learned so much here, and I'm amazed that I'm now the Photoshop guru at work.  (TOO MUCH PRESSURE!!!) I'm trying to correct some gnarly shadows on a woman in an otherwise gorgeous cover photo, and I'm using so much of what I've picked up from all of you experienced pros.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Chris:

Bless Winchester's heart!  Where would we be without our feline pals to muck up our already challenging restoration work?

I'll be glad to get Aaron home.  He usually sits on my arm or the mouse and I'm constantly moving him over on the desk.  You've just gotta love 'em!

Have a wonderful day guys!

GG

[cmpentecost]

Well, I think I'm ready to send this young man home.  I've added a bit more coloring/shadow, and did what I could to give him the most natural look.  I got to the point of second guessing everything, but assuming this picture is an 8 x 10, I think it will be ok.  Please give me feedback if you see something that doesn't look right.....I probably won't send it until tomorrow.  I feel like this lad is my own child, and I want the picture to be perfect! 

Vicki, thank you for the suggestions.  I had done a portion of what you suggest, but never did the luminosity part of it.  I wonder if this could have save me from hours of work.....??

Thanks for all your helpful comments.

Christine   :)

[cmpentecost]

oops....here he is:

[glennab]

Hi Chris

He's beautiful.  Only two things I'd change.  I still think his eyebrows need to be lighter and more natural looking, and the hair coming down on his face seems too hard-edged.

Otherwise, miraculous job!

Do you suppose this photo is of his going into a priesthood?  Rather curious about the ornate robes of the official and the fact that he appears to be receiving a ring.

Have a wonderful week!

GG

[GP]

Hi Christine

great job on this one! The only thing that you could try, is to get his hair to look a little bit more natural
( if that's even possible) ::)

[vhansen]

There are three things that don't look right to me:
The priest(?) eye.  A common problem when using one eye to replace another, is that the catchlight in the flipped eye is on the wrong side.  This usually gives the appearance of crossed eyes.  In the example below, I flipped the eye back to it's original orientation and used a layer mask to blend the two together, so that the catchlight is in the correct position.

The boy's face is missing that photographic quality due to the patching and cloning.  If you try my suggestion about using the channel in luminosity, you can retain the photographic qualities and just make some minor repairs.

The boy in the background needs some work on his neck. In the example below, you can see that the information is also visible in the channel.

[cmpentecost]

Thank you for all of your comments.

Vicki, what you did is amazing, and I guess it's back to the photo for a bit more work.  It appears I could have saved myself a lot of work.  It's a snowy, cold day in Montana today, so perhaps I can make some improvements.  Thanks!

christine