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Margie's Forum - Faded House

Started by WordSpark LLC, October 30, 2016, 07:59:57 PM

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WordSpark LLC

Hi everyone,

I am working on another photo from Margie's gallery. Here is the original and a description of what I did so far.



The instructions I received when joining said not straighten/crop. Would it be ok here?

1) Used threshold adjustment to determine the darkest and lightest spots in the image. Then added a 50% gray fill layer to determine the neutral tones using the threshold adjustment layer.
2) Created a Curves adjustment layer and selected the darkest, lightest and neutral gray areas with the corresponding eye droppers.



3) Applied a B&W and a Levels adjustment.
4) Applied a Curves adjustment, pulling up the curve to make the image darker and masked out the darkest parts of the image, so the lightest areas would become darker.
5) Used a Shadows/Highlights adjustment to increase the mid-tone contrast.
6) Added another Levels adjustment, darkening the picture again and masking out the darkest areas. Healed the dark spots on the tree.



7) Fixed the roof and darkened the shutters on the left (cloning and burning).
8-) Windows on the right: Copied parts from existing windows to new layers. Slightly blurred and reduced the opacity. Copied that layer (Multiply) and reduced opacity again, so the highlight on the window on the far right would show through. Added lattice on separate layer, repeated step 8 for windows, then added some noise to the bottom windows that had been canceled out by the layering.
9) Shutters: Created a new layer painted in the shutters with black, blurred and reduced opacity.
10) Grass: Same as step 9, blend mode set to Multiply and repeated for spots that still seemed light.



More fixing to be done... BTW, can anyone tell what the house number is? It looks like 768 or 769 to me.

Thanks!

Ann

Mhayes

Hi Ann,

Sorry for the delay in answering your question, but I was out of town for weekend. Yes, you may straighten, but don't crop out the inner picture. You can adjust the white border and remove the album holders on the corners. I can't tell what the numbers are on the house, and I thought about asking the owner but wonder if better to leave them like they are. It's not like they are missing, just hard to read. I think you are doing a really good job, and now to work on cleaning up the whites.

Great to have you on the Forum.

Margie
"carpe diem"

Margie Hayes
OPR President
[email protected]

JackR

#2
Hi, took a little shot at the whites  and noise...denoise5 strong, masked out grass and sky...luminosity mask + curves to brighten whites and a  touch of clarity...
Wonder if the line across the yard is damage, doesn't look like something that should be there as it runs right on over the driveway.


The early bird gets the worm, but the SECOND mouse gets the cheese...

cheers...

Jack

WordSpark LLC

#3
Hi Margie and Jack,

Thanks for your comments  :)

I did leave the house number as is and continued working on the grass and what I think might be a chain link fence. There is a very faint chain link pattern on lower left. To mimmick the pattern on the left side, I created a brush preset and added a very faint chain link pattern on the right, so it would look more consistent. Then I experimented with levels, added a tiny bit of blur to reduce the noise in the lighter parts, then added some clarity and it looked much nicer after then clarity step - thanks for the tip  :up:

Then another shadows/highlights layer, a few fixes to the tree and the leaves and added some very faint brush lines on a separate layer to the entryway, the vertical beams on the front of the house and the garage. That's it for today.



Any additional comments, ideas, suggestions are always welcome  :)

Shadow

Nice job with the chain link and the whole image will surely make the family smile.

Mhayes

Ann, I wouldn't change a thing, and yes to the chain link fence in front. At first I thought about having the whites of the house cleaned up a little more, but decided it looks great the way it is. Plus, it add texture to the siding.

Margie
"carpe diem"

Margie Hayes
OPR President
[email protected]

WordSpark LLC

Hi Shadow,

Thanks you very much  :hug:

WordSpark LLC

Hi Margie,

I did clean up the whites on the house, it just took me a little bit to get there, but could not upload to Photobucket and get a maintenance screen...

Hopefully, Photobucket will be back up soon.

Mhayes

Got your newest version and it looks great. I have given up on Photobucket. I would use the blue icon below that says: "Attachments and other options." It's fast and easy and while it just shows a thumbnail, it will allow a person to click on the image for a larger version.

Margie
"carpe diem"

Margie Hayes
OPR President
[email protected]