Couple Portrait

Shadow · October 29, 2016, 09:40:36 PM

Original. The WIP below are a long way from finished so ALL thoughts, suggestions, ideas welcome!

Decided this was probably a BW. Added Curves& held Alt key & drug in sliders on RGB. Then added BW adj layer w/High Contrast Red Filer. (Tried Chanel Mixer, Hue/Sat, and others first. This one seemed the best.)

Merged layers to work on the man. Zoomed way in & used Healing brush & patch tool mostly. Then I added another merged layer for the floor. (Erased all but the floor and feet area.) Used the lasso to select, copy & paste good areas and more Healing and Patching. Selected left bkgd area and ran a Dust/Scratches Filter & more healing. Is it OK to do this for the Bkgd?
For the curtains I went back to the lasso again etc. Couldn't find the repeat in the pattern so I did my best ... any thoughts?
Put the woman on her own layer and ran noise reduction on the dark skirt area & more healing. I think I may need to start over on her because the skirt looks so soft now. Kept getting obvious repeat patterns & still some even now. Oh my ... :D

Have plenty of questions on this one ... first, how do I begin on the ear/side of the head area?

Welcome all comments gang! Thanks.

JackR · October 29, 2016, 11:09:01 PM

Looks like, unless you're really good at drawing, you'll need to pilfer an ear somewhere...I use family members a lot for parts...;-)

Lynnya · October 30, 2016, 08:36:15 AM

Lookin good Shadow.. your family member ear may not work for this one.. :funny: too furry..

worst case scenario I take a picture of my own hand or ear or whatever and blur it and enlarge it etc etc. his hair looks shortish, I think that may be damage in the back of his ear.. I think using black and white was best.. they prefer that to channel mixer if there is no color. I agree the skirt does look soft now, what noise reduction do you use? His face looks really good to me..and the floor.. looking forward to seeing the rest.

JackR · October 30, 2016, 02:51:43 PM

Quote from: Lynnya on October 30, 2016, 08:36:15 AM
Lookin good Shadow.. your family member ear may not work for this one.. :funny: too furry..

lol...pretty funny...

Shadow · October 30, 2016, 02:55:17 PM

You guys crack me up. Yes, Shadow said he wasn't get his ear trimmed for no stinkin' photo! ;D

My first foray into body part pilfering. Unsure about perspective/angle? Too dark/light? Looks odd to me. Suggestions anyone? And thank you Jack and Lynn ... laughs much appreciated!

Shadow · October 30, 2016, 03:09:46 PM

Lynn, glad you liked the face and floor. Appreciate your encouragement.
For the noise I tried: Noise Red, Dust & Scratches, Topaz Detail Skin Smooth and Media (which was a total bust). If this was your skirt ... what would your approach be? How did you avoid the repeat pattern when you restored that man's suit in Couple at the Fence? On the man's suit I was able to zoom in at around 450% and get fair results. Still loose lots of detail with patch tool but couldn't think of another way. The lady's dark skirt is more of a challenge. Do you think there may be a pattern there as well?

Have a good one!

Shadow · October 30, 2016, 04:37:46 PM

WIP up to now. Critiques? Suggestions? Thoughts? Thanks all.

Mhayes · October 31, 2016, 01:11:56 AM

Shadow, I think this is coming along nicely, especially after looking at the condition of the originally.

Margie

JackR · October 31, 2016, 02:23:56 PM

Shadow, looks good so far... for the ear, thinking maybe a bit small judging from the distance from top of ear to his hat, perspective looks good...for noise you should look at Topaz Deniose5 or 6, works very well and seems to maintain detail too, they have a free trial and if you own it there are free upgrades to the newest version...

Lynnya · October 31, 2016, 03:30:20 PM

Hi shadow, I agree re the ear.. bit bigger.. the skirt I think hmmmm... it's not bad but I think I'd use an emtpy layer on soft light and paint in some black and light shadows maybe? tricky.. coming along nicely tho don't ya think? :up:

Shadow · October 31, 2016, 08:16:26 PM

Hi Gang. Thank you for your comments. See what you think about his ear now.
I did what you suggested Lynn and added a Soft Light layer for the skirt. It is still soft but better? Actually, to me, most of the image is soft and I have started over more times than I want to admit. Cannot seem to get rid of the smutz without ending up here in soft-land. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks for the tip about Topaz Jack ... will check it out.
Have a good night all!

Mhayes · October 31, 2016, 09:17:52 PM

Shadow, looking good and the ear better. I understand your frustration with as you put it: "soft-land." The bad part is that the original was that way too--the woman's hands a good example. I know it will be tempting to try and sharpen it some, but let QC if it needs done or else that was the way it was originally. Nice restore on the drapes too.

Margie

Shadow · November 01, 2016, 10:38:18 AM

Thanks Margie. No worries about sharpening ... happy to leave that to QC! You are right - the original was soft in important areas as well. I know they had to be still for the camera back in the day, still, kept wondering what the man was thinking ::)

Lynnya · November 01, 2016, 10:59:31 AM

Shadow I think it looks really good! Skirt came out fine.

Mhayes · November 01, 2016, 02:31:22 PM

Shadow, I bet the man is thinking: "Tic-toc, will this ever be over!" Or, he might be thinking back to his carefree bachelor days. ::)

Margie