Help, Problem with her forehead & upper lip

[Hannie]

David, you are being too hard on yourself.  You have done an amazing job!   :)

You only need to lessen the whitish edging just a little.
Below is 1 way to achieve that:

(make sure that the Curves Layer Mask is active when you draw the gradient)



Hannie

[Mhayes]

David,

Ditto for what Hannie said and I couldn't have said it better. You should feel proud about this restore, not apologetic and I'm sorry if my remarks sounded like you fell short of the mark.

:hug:

Margie

[alien5string]

OK. It's my turn to have a shot at this image.
Is it just me, or was the original a sepia tone?
I assume we want to maintain the original sepia tone?
I usually average blur the original to get the color for the sepia, and then add a layer of that color and reduce the opacity until it looks right (on the final image) I also thought I might try using that derived color in Lightroom's split toning panel.
Do we normally convert sepia-looking originals to pure B+W?  I'm thinking maybe the sepia is just ageing, and not expected in the final version??
As I said, I usually reapply the sepia tone, at the end.
Eric.

[alien5string]

I have a policy question on this one. I have checked the original by stacking several original (background)  layers in multiply mode, and there is no sign of any image below the cutout "V" part of the neck. So it looks like a floating head.
However, that's how the original was. Do we "improve" on the original, by creating more of the sweater, below the 'V' cutout, or do we reproduce the original "floating head?"
I have always tried to reproduce the original, because I thought that was the policy.
Eric.

[Mhayes]

Eric, you did bring up an interesting point and I wish now that I would have contacted the owner at the beginning. I did get a hold of her and I had her look at her original and also at what was posted in the Forum. Here is her reply by email:

This is my mother's engagement photo taken probably in 1943. It is not sepia but pretty much the ashen/sepia tone of your digital draft image.

The only thing I would hope to see changed is her right eyebrow. It is identical to the left one and not blotched at the outward end as shown in your processed image. Her two brows were mirror images, and she was meticulous about her personal grooming. I think the blotch is an artifact of water damage--a water stain that stuck the photo to the frame.

The bodice of this dress may have had a lace overlay on top of a v-neck, but that is unimportant. The neckline looks fine to me.

If you could make her brows more symmetrical, that would capture the original image beautifully. This was taken by a famous photographer in New York and is one of the few formal portraits I have of her as a young woman.

Thanks for checking with me.

The photo would have been more sepia and a very light one. Also, there is Not the 2nd "V" neckline, only the lace around the collar. What she is referring to is around the neck, not the V neckline below which is caused by water damaged. I mentioned to her that we really didn't have enough info to reproduce the lace like it was in the original. Since we can't there is not a problem with leaving the neckline rounded. I also asked her if in the original in looked like the head was floating and she said definitely not! However, the background would have blended with the head and shoulders. The photographer was well known at that time.

The owner thought the details on David's first WIP and Tori's did a good job of keeping the definition of the face, but still needs the background to be the same. She also asked that on the woman's right eyebrow it be symmetrical to the other and that there was no dark smudge (or from what I can see a thicker eyebrow). Also, on the woman's right temple the darkness is water damage.

She also didn't want the photo to go "high key" where the face is so light and only eyes and nostrils showing. Otherwise she was very pleased with the results.

Thanks for getting me to check this out and perhaps a discussion with the distributor on this one would be good.

Margie

[Mhayes]

Eric, my apologies for assuming this photo was accepted by the distributor and was not put out in the gallery for further work when it actually was. Unfortunately the distributor was out of town and out of WiFi range and was not able to confirm that David wanted to send this one back. Good luck and hope to see your work in progress.

Margie