Ausimax's Workshop

[pcraft]

Hi Max...  I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you out with your latest.  I generally only chip in when I have something of use, that will be help.  I'm amazed with what Kurt was able to do with it in 20 minutes and it shows me how much I have to learn yet.. Great work Kurt...  Anyway Max, sorry I couldn't help you with this...  :-[

Regards,
Robert

[glennab]

Hi Max -- I have the same syndrome as Robert.  I haven't yet acquired the skill to grapple with damage of this extent.  It's frustrating to not be able to offer any suggestions, but I wouldn't know where to start.

And Kurt, you're amazing!  Do you clone & heal very small areas to keep the texture?  We all seem to be losing the look of skin as we dispense with the damage.  You have some secret that we haven't stumbled upon.  Is it time for a tutorial?

In Katrin Eismann's book on restoration she describes a way to create a brush that simulates skin texture.  I don't know how well that would serve us in dealing with the muck on these photos.  Think I'm going to try it, though.  Meantime, PLEASE tell us how you do it -- in detail!

GG

[Ausimax]

Hi Robert, Glenna,


I haven't had time to do any more to this one yet, I thought I would have a real onslaught on it yesterday and see if I could make any progress, or if it was time to toss it back.

Got all the chores done - pressed button "B" and the computer wouldn't fire up, dead as a Dodo, opened it up and ran a few checks and could find no signs of life, so I began to suspect that the Power Supply had died - I had a faulty one that still worked but overheated in constant use, so I plugged it into the motherboard and switched on - the computer attempted to start so that confirmed a defunct power supply.

So that required a 70 mile trip to town to get a replacement before the shops closed ( Saturday) by the time I had done that and carried out the replacement it was time to get cleaned up and go to a fund raiser for our local school - so that took care of my great plans. Oh well! Will have another go today and see if I can get some work done.

Robert, I'm sorry you can't help! I need all the help I can get, unfortunately I just lack the basic skills for something like this, Kurt makes it look easy but he has a great grounding in PS and the ability to draw/create faces and people, I'm struggling to draw water from a tap.

Glenna, I have tried everything I can think of on this, I tried working with a very small healing brush and working with the natural contours and features of the face and that got the result I posted - I tried using a larger brush and not working so intensely to see if that would retain more texture - that method resulted in no texture and less natural detail - I have not been able to replicate the effect that Kurt achieved - and on a photo as badly damaged as this, cleaning up like that is probably as far as it should be taken.

I will have another go today and see if I can achieve anything, may do a bit of work on the rest of the image, I usually start easy, doing the background and working into the harder stuff, but on this one I figured if I couldn't do the face any other work was a waste of time, and then if I get the face OK, then remains the problem of HAIR!!!!!!! >:(

I haven't any books on PS but have done a lot of searching on the web for tutorials and tips for restoration, but I can find nothing that seems to deal with the degree of damage we are trying to repair, cracks, tears, scratches and spots yes, total destruction no.

Thank you both for taking the time to support an old idiot who jumps into the deep end, and then discovers he can't swim. :D

Max

[pcraft]

Hey Max...  You say you don't have any Photoshop books???   Which version of Photoshop are you using??

I have a few books for Photoshop 7, that I'd be pleased to send to you, if they'd be of any use to you...

Regards,
Robert

[cmpentecost]

I have a PS 6 book you are welcome to.  I haven't touched it in ages, but it's a good book.

Christine

[Ausimax]

Christine,

My thanks to both you and Robert for your offers, since I last communicated with Robert I have checked postage costs and it would cost $35.00 postage for 1 Kg, the average weight of a book.

I will have a look around, I may be able to get them locally second hand for about that, and I am sure you will get others who could use them that are more local to both of you, I don't like making the postal services richer than I have to.

Thank you both for thinking of me so kindly.

Regards,

Max

[pcraft]

You're welcome Max...  I've sent you a personal message and am awaiting your reply...   :up:

[kjohnson]

One good resource for PS books? The public library!

Gosh, I've lost track of the number of PS books I've checked out. Library system here in Los Angeles is great, you can browse for books & reserve them on-line & have 'em delivered to a branch nearby. One time I went to pick up my books & the lovely librarian asked if I read anything else beside PS books? And remarked that they seemed kind of boring.

Yes, think at some point we all discover that there really isn't a tutorial or book out there that addresses restoring severely damaged images like we work with. So, that's why we enroll here at the OPRU, aka OPR University. 




 

[glennab]

Hi Max -- believe me, you're not the only one in the deep end, floundering!  I'm having a bad case of inadequacy syndrome right now!

And Keith, I suspect you're right about there being no documentation that deals with our measure of image destruction.  I'm hoping that because we're creative and determined, the more we know about Photoshop and what it can do, the more we can extrapolate means by which to do the clean-ups.  I've discovered methods and tricks from our interactions on the forum that have helped me tremendously with my job.  That gives me hope that I'll get better at restoring, because I can do the easy ones with no problem, but I want to do the difficults for the challenge and the learning experience.  Hence, need more input!

I'm still slogging my way through the book on LAB color (had to take a break and read some sci-fi.  Tech book overload!) and am sure that even though it's a very obscure and eccentric color space there are ways it can be used to conquer the muck!  I'm realizing that since so many of our volunteers are photographers, they're not very familiar with CMYK, because that's printing color space.  But CMYK gives a little more information, especially in the channels, that can be invaluable.  Since my career has been in the printing business, all I've worked in is CYMY, so I'm learning about RGB for the first time.  OPR University indeed!  Love it!

Glenna

[kjohnson]

Glenna,

Yes. some of those texts (like the LAB one) will give you a headache, it's not as painful as hitting your finger with a hammer, but close.  I suggest sleeping on those kind of books, turning to the pages you want to learn first seems to work best.

Yes, for fun I've sent images to Ben Willmore's Image Ambulance, to Katrin & Pop Photo, where  they have a section where their guru tackles problem images. Anyway, don't bother....as you will not hear back from them. They seem to run. Although Katrin did have nice things to say about OPR. 

Maybe Kelby & Co will do a real retouching book someday, or someone from here.

Yes, from other posts here I've explored & futzed around with cmyk as well as lab, but when chunks of the image are missing - they're still missing, for me anyway. But then Kurt chimes in and does some abra-Ka-dabbra and LAB seems to work beautifully for him. Can I get my tuition back?

[glennab]

Hi Keith - Somehow I visualize that sleeping on the lab book would be almost as painful as hitting my finger with a hammer or reading the darn thing!

As for Kurt, I've come to the conclusion that he's an alien (as I said, I read sci-fi) from a planet of uber-creatives whose major talent is dealing with mucky, dirty, destroyed images.  He's a phenom.  If the two of you came up with some tutorials, I suspect we'd all become experts in an amazingly short period of time.

I contacted Kelby & Co to thank them for putting me in touch with OPR, but maybe I'll e-mail NAPP again and see if they could do a series of tutorials based on our challenges.  His operation is less than an hour's drive from me -- I can always go up and grovel!  Anything for the cause!

Glenna

[cmpentecost]

I started reading the LAB book today, after it was sitting on my bookshelf for several months, and proceeded to fall asleep.  I KNOW it's a good book and valuable tool, but I just need a large cup of coffee first I guess!

Christine

[glennab]

Chris, reading that book is like learning another language.  Gerlinde has been reading it, too.  I don't know if she finished it, but she'd mentioned that the author got into a lot of esoteric and weird stuff toward the end.  I mean, the concept of LAB includes "imaginary colors!"  I really did have to take a break from it.  It's so different from other color spaces that you have to twist your mind a little to wrap it around the concept.  Start inhaling that coffee!  I recommend Apricot Creme, Wild Blueberry or Chocolate Raspberry Creme for starters!

Glenna

[kjohnson]

Yes, Christine if you're in a in comfy chair sitting in the warm spring sunshine like we have here in Los Angeles, you can forget about getting much past page 5 in that book, 10 max. 

Here's a link to Deke McClellands video clips on channels including LAB, he makes some sense out of the channels. And your head shouldn't go clunk on the monitor.

http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=322

And Glenna will get us all invited to a Kelby workshop. He's coming to town mid-April to do a lightroom seminar. It's amazing the PS empire Kelby & Co. have put together... I think its great.   

[cmpentecost]

Thanks Kurt, but just so you know, we got a heavy spring snow today, that melted by 4pm.  Aahhh...'tis the season of those wet, heavy snowstorms.  6" of white stuff at 6:30 am, and mud by 3 pm!  That's ok.  The more moisture and mud I deal with in the spring, the more wild flowers and less wild fires I deal with in the summer!

I think I'm up to page 10 now in the LAB book!

Christine