Capriccio's Workshop

capriccio · June 24, 2006, 05:52:21 AM

Still meddling with the background on this image, but it's about done.

Before:

After:

After some more work on the background:

happyheart · June 24, 2006, 04:22:43 PM

I think this one looks great! How did you go about eliminating the cloudiness in the image? I'd be interested in your method, as I see this in a lot of images. I like the contrast in your first version better than the second one though. I tend to go for more contrast rather than less.

pcraft · June 24, 2006, 08:30:13 PM

Nice work Capriccio... Athough I'd like to see these larger... I think I agree with Happyheart about contrast as long as it's not overdone... :)

Regards
Robert

capriccio · June 24, 2006, 09:31:59 PM

Thanks - I agree about the contrast, too, but was afraid to overdo it. Here's bigger versions of before and a third "after" - same as above but with more contrast.

For the haze, it was a combination of adjustment layers (curves, contrast) and lots of cloning and healing. The missing parts of the curtains were painted on in a solid fashion and the darker "waves" cloned using "darken" blending. I also painted in the shadows and highlights on multiply and screen layers above. For noise reduction, I separated the photo into parts - arms/collar/dress/background - and ran each separately through Neat Image. I did the face by hand with clone and heal, and painted in shadows around the neck and at the bottom of the skirt where it meets the floor. The left side rug is a mirrored duplicate of the right side rug, and the floor is cloned and painted, then burned for shadows under the curtains. LOTS of layers and masks and gradients and adjustment layers... Couldn't begin to describe the entire thing 100% accurately. :)

Risici · June 24, 2006, 11:27:28 PM

"LOTS of layers and masks and gradients and adjustment layers... Couldn't begin to describe the entire thing 100% accurately."
Thats how we like it! one big mess of Layers in Pshop :p
I really like how you turned out the final image.

/Lasse -Risici

danger_Mouse · June 26, 2006, 04:37:57 AM

Hey capriccio - what a fantastic job! Well done ;D

capriccio · June 26, 2006, 04:49:41 PM

Thanks D_M! Great to see you here. :D

And thanks for everyone else's comments!

idyllopus · June 29, 2006, 04:11:51 PM

A beautiful, delicately finessed restoration.

happyheart · June 30, 2006, 06:38:57 PM

I love the final product....great job!