Kurt's BABIES! (First OPR Projects)

[kstruve]

Kiska,

Nice catch.  It might be confusing to some the way I worded it.  The Photoshop document is in RGB mode, therefore all it's layers are also RGB.  I meant that the Magenta layer contained an image with no color information, just shades of gray, which is the generic definition of "grayscale", not to be confused with Photoshop's image mode "Grayscale."  For those who are even more confused by my ramblings, here is a nice description from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grayscale

Kurt

[Ausimax]

Hi Kurt,

Thanks for taking the time and effort to explain that to me, I have had a quick and dirty try at doing it and still seem to have a problem with the colour, I used the RGB blue channel as it had the least damage, cleaned up the worst damage on the face and painted with the lightest skin colour from the original RGB image, However when both layers are active the colour is much redder and even if I lower the opacity of the skin colour layer it is till wrong. What am I doing wrong.( It doesn't look as bad converted to sRGB as it does in RGB)





Sorry to be a pain and for hi-jacking your thread, but at least if I keep pestering you you wont have time to finish your photo and be out of work like the rest of us. :funny:

Thanks,

max

[kstruve]

Max,

Don't worry about "hijacking" this thread.  I think it's important that we all learn from each other so we can produce the best results for people.  Are you sure that the original colors are so far gone and can't be used?  I would definitely try to use them first before resorting to replacing them.  That being said, here's my thoughts about your example:  Firstly, your blue channel image is too dark, so any color you place over it is going to be too dark as well.  I adjusted the levels (File>Levels) of her face on the example below.



Secondly, try painting the color in slowly on the Color layer.  Use a big, soft brush and set it's opacity to about 40% and build up the color with several passes.  Your skin tone is a little too orange and intense.  Use this palate and place the colors as shown.  Use the brown in the shadowed areas, the beige in the midtones, the pink on her cheeks, and the lightest color in the highlights.



Then use a darker red for her lips and a subdued color for her eyes.  Check with the original to see what color they are.  Brown?  Hazel?  Blue?  Green?  Very important to get that right.  After you get the colors applied, feel free to adjust them with Hue/Saturation or Color Balance until they look just right.

I hope this helps.

Kurt

[Ausimax]

Kurt,

No the original colours were OK, I previously restored the image, I just chose it as a vehicle to try and learn the technique for future use, I have had several images in the past where I had to clone in skin colour and texture and this way would have been a lot better.

I thought the grayscale image may have been to dark, I lightened it and tried again the results were better, though I think the colours I used may have been too dark, I sampled them from the original face, however they were all darker than those in your palate, plus I probably didn't apply them too subtly.

Great job your eye colour is just about "spot on" with the original, thanks for all your explanations, it is much appreciated, now all I have to get too and practise and improve my skills.

Regards,

Max

[kstruve]

Oh yeah, I thought I'd seen this photo before!  Maybe that's how I subconsciously got her eye color right, eh?

[kstruve]

Well, it's been a few days, so I thought I'd post my progress on the young couple photo.  I've been working more on the man's face and head.  I've been avoiding the eyes since I still haven't received the reference photos, but I may have to just take a stab at them soon just to get this done.  I've reconstructed the man's face and hair.  I figure I'm about 98% done with this image.  Below is the progress I've made on this compared to the original:



My goal is to have this completely done by the end of this week, with or without the reference photos of the man.  I have some other things to tweak with the floor and background as well.  I would love to hear some feedback!

Thanks for looking!

Kurt

[glennab]

Hi Kurt

You're doing a phenomenal job.  I'm beginning to feel like a rank amateur!  I intend to print out this whole thread when I get home, because you've offered information that will be extremely helpful in the future.  I'm fascinated by your ability to get the details for the young man's head.  I tried every channel, filter and layer effect I could and still wasn't able to see anything definitive.  I hope you can get the other photo.  It'd be tough to finish him without reference.

I can tell that my next restoration will benefit from your expertise.  In fact, I might, if you don't mind, post the original and see what initial suggestions you can give me. I spent an hour or so looking through the channels and got some ideas on my own, but I have areas with virtually no detail and am not sure where to go with them.

I have Scott Kelby's book on channels, so I guess it's time to actually READ it (along with the 5 or so books I've bought on restoring!) Hard choice -- restore or read -- HELP!

Anyway, you're awesome.  So glad you're part of OPR!

GG

[kstruve]

Glenna, thanks again for your very kind feedback and compliments.  I would be happy to offer my suggestions with your next restoration.

This has been a pretty tough restoration.  It's been like, 2 steps forward, 1 step back.  One feature of Photoshop CS (and CS2, for that matter) that I find invaluable are the Layer Comps.  I use them when I'm at work all the time to rapidly toggle through different options with the click of a button.  For those of you who don't know, Layer Comps allow you to save the various states of your layers, for instance you can save which layers are turned on and off and give it a name.  On this image, I have 3 Layer Comps set up:  Called "Original", "Working" and "Working 2".  Where "Original" is all layers turned off except the original, damaged photograph.  "Working" represents one option of current restoration, and "Working 2" represents a second option.  This way I can toggle between the original and one option, then to the second option to see which one seems to be the more accurate of the two compared to the original.  I'm constantly switching between the original photograph and my restoration to make sure I'm not adding something that wasn't in it to begin with.  I also do this and ask myself "Does this restoration look like the underlying image in the original, or merely a painting based on the original?"  Several times I've caught myself adding highlights or removing shadows that I shouldn't have.

I work with a lot of layers - right now I have 52 layers in this 424 megabyte file, so I have to be able to organize them so I can find what I'm looking for.  Some might suggest I use far fewer layers, or none at all.  But I'm a firm believer of non-destructive photo editing, so I'm always copying a portion of the image onto another layer to work on it, that way I can always delete it if I screw it up, or keep it as a separate option.  One way I manage all those layers is layer groups, which are available in Photoshop 7 and beyond.  This way I can place several related layers into a folder, or group.  For example, I have groups for his head, her color, his color, etc.  I try to be good about naming all my layers, but it doesn't always happen :(  But just for grins, here is a snapshot of my layers palate:



I don't know if this is helpful or confusing, but there's my long-winded ramble for the day!

Thanks,
Kurt

[Ausimax]

Hi Kurt,

The photo is looking just great, I'm sure you will have no trouble finishing off the mans face, was there any detail to tell you his eye colour? other than that you will be set. :wnw:

Thanks for the heads up on Layer Comps, have not known about that option, or is it similar to Layer Sets, I have played with that but not been brave enough to try on a working Image.
I doubt if I would have enough horsepower to run 52 layers 424 Mb, I used to have only 256 Mb RAM till I upgraded and now have 768 Mb but even with that, I had a file up to 185 Mb yesterday and it really bogged the computer down. My answer at present is to save the working PSD file, rename, and carry on working with it, I can then merge layers to save space and have a backup if I stuff it up big time.

I am afraid I yet have much to learn about PS, thank you for passing along this sort of knowledge, I find it invaluable.

Max

[glennab]

Hi Kurt & Max

I've not used layer comps either, although I have read about them. I'll definitely give them a try.

I can certainly vouch for layer sets.  The beautiful thing about them is that everything in the set can be moved at once without worrying about links.  I really dislike the way layers link in CS2.  I hope they're more user-friendly in 3.

At any rate, I can see that when one gets into the colorizing and manipulation you've had to do with this toughie that layer sets would work extremely well.

I'm going to get started on my last restoration, but before I do I'm going to post the original in a new thread.  That way maybe you gurus can give me suggestions as I struggle through it.  As ever, I'll appreciate all the help I can get.

GG

[kstruve]

Getting Close!

I'm taking a long time with this one, I know.  But I want to make sure I get the man's face right.  I'm still working on his eyes at this point.  I need to add and define his lids and lashes, as well as work on some general shading issues and problems with his nose.  I think it's getting real close though.  What do you guys think?  Here it is compared to the original:



Comments and suggestions are welcomed!

Thanks,
Kurt

[glennab]

Hi Kurt

He looks wonderful.  Since you already mentioned the shading issues, I won't go into that.  Were you actually able to pull that much of his visage from the muck?  If so, you're a marvel.  If not, and you guessed at his looks, I wonder if it fulfills our mandate.  I know you'd said there wasn't a companion image from which to get details.  That would be my only concern.  If  he truly looks like the restoration, I think I'm in love – with him for being so gorgeous, and with you for working so intensely and making this couple look fantastic!.  Super job!

GG

P.S. How did you render his hair?  I really like what you've done.

[kstruve]

Glenna, thanks for your continuing support and comments.

As far as the restoration of his head goes, after weeks of studying the photo in all available channels, I think I have more than just a "sense" of what he looks like.  I have a pretty good idea of what he looks like and have been using that mental image to guide my work.  I've been checking my work constantly against the original and the several channels to make sure I'm not changing the overall appearance of the man.  I'm also being guided by a common-sense knowledge of human anatomical features.

As far as fulfilling our mandate: If you take it to the extreme and literal - "Do not add anything that wasn't there in the original" - then we wouldn't be able to do any work on these images.  My take on it is, the "original" was the state of the photo before it was damaged, therefore, what I'm doing is restoring it as close as possible to that state.  Have I added things to this damaged photo?  Absolutely.  Have I added things that weren't in the undamaged photo?  Possibly.  Who knows?  (I wish the owners of these photos would visit the forums and give advice).  The damaged photo is all we have to go on in most cases.  Do I think that my restored photo comes as close as possible to the undamaged photo without blatant additions, subtractions, or painterly effects that make the people look like either cartoons or burn victims?  In my opinion, yes.  Am I asking myself questions and then answering them for myself?  Yes.  ;)

All that being said, much of the man's head is indeed a guess.  An educated guess based on evidence in the form of the damaged photo, but a guess nonetheless.  The detail in the ear and hair are guesses.  To a point, the detail in the eyes is a guess.  But they are consistent with the overall remaining image of the man and with the anatomy of a young man's face.

Kurt

[Ratz]

Great job Kurt :up: This guy looks great and I don't think he's too much different from the original, from what I can see in the damaged pic.
You've done a wonderful job on this retoration and it looks like they are almost ready to go home.
regards, Vicki.

[Peter_AUS]

Excellent job so far.  As for the mandate, in this case I think it doesn't apply, otherwise, it would have been discarded as impossible to repair.  Just my two cents.

Wish I had your talent for doing this.  So far since joining, have had nada images to work on.  Awaiting like everyone else a chance to get hold of a beginners image and start from there.