Houndstooth dilema

Lynnya · July 30, 2019, 02:42:43 PM

Hi all.. yes I know I still have stuff to do and it's by no means like the original.. my aim was to get as much of the spirit of the image back to the family hoping they wouldn't care too much about the houndstooth.. focusing more on the faces.. I tried EVERYTHING to fix that check and finally gave in.. as you can see.. If anyone out there can re-create the check I would gladly turn it over to them..I still have to work on the middle girl's hand and a few other things.. any help would be appreciated as this image is nearly as far as I know how to go..Oh.. and I'm pretty certain the white area between the boy and the middle girl is not real.. it's damage.. a rip I think.. it makes no sense what so ever if left...

Jo Ann Snover · July 30, 2019, 04:22:28 PM

Is the original image size 1024x638? I think the cloning would be something I can do, but I don't want to experiment on something the wrong size.

Looking at the blue channel, the boy's hand is balled up in a fist - it isn't a tear but the wall between them.

If the posted "original" isn't the right size, you can email me the correct one (I'll PM the address). I'll make the corrections in the original and you can then paste that into your Photoshop file. I think that'd be the least complicated way to do it?

Lynnya · July 30, 2019, 04:26:13 PM

Sounds good to me.. thanks Jo Ann.. just got your message will reply. :up: I've sent you the file.. great project to work together.. I love it.

Jo Ann Snover · July 30, 2019, 06:39:59 PM

I've sent Lynn the PSD file, but here's the cloned houndstooth, just in case anyone was curious (houndstooth is evil!!!)

Shadow · July 30, 2019, 08:31:56 PM

Look forward to seeing how the collaboration turns out! Know it'll be good. :)

Candice · July 30, 2019, 08:47:10 PM

All the kids are colorful!! Looks like fun!!

Mhayes · July 30, 2019, 10:35:39 PM

Wow Lynn, you know how to pick em. I agree with Jo Ann about the blue channel showing his hand in a balled up fist. I would make the fist a little larger because otherwise he will look deformed.

Lynnya · July 31, 2019, 09:27:10 AM

Thanks Jo Ann.. houndstooth looks great! I'd like to know how you did that!! Maybe I need to take a seperate tutorial on cloning.. I fear I may have missed a class somewhere.. The middle girl's hand looks way better shape - the boys hand still looks odd to me.. I'll try and address that..
I appreciate your help and It's fun doing a collaboration. See how it turns out in the end :)

Jo Ann Snover · July 31, 2019, 09:56:58 AM

No tricks used, just the result of years of cloning work on other photos (not restorations) that pays off on tasks like this one. In general, zooming in a lot; cleaning up an area that you can then use to clone from; watching how the verticals and horizontals of a row of houndstooth curves around the body or at seams. The devil's in the details as they say :)

Practice on photos with logos all over clothes, buildings, products, etc. Once you get good that doing that so no one can see where you took something out, houndstooth will be a doddle :)

Candice · July 31, 2019, 05:14:56 PM

Jo, time and patience are sometimes the only option. Great work you two.

Lynnya · August 01, 2019, 11:50:40 AM

Well I'm back... thanks to Jo Ann's cloning the houndstooth is looking good :wnw: I stand in awe. I'm still having trouble with the boy's hand.. what else looks like it needs attention.. thanks guys..

I vote that from now on all cloning jobs go to Jo Ann :funny:

Jo Ann Snover · August 01, 2019, 12:58:27 PM

Jo Ann doesn't vote for that!! I'm going to put simple checks on the list with stripes, plaid, and houndstooth of banned fabrics (there's a man in a check shirt in my current restore).

I think there are a couple of things still needing attention:

- I think the highlights came down a bit too far - picture looks dark
- The boy's thumb gets pointy at the end; it should be about the same width above the knuckle as below
-The older girl's hand needs a bit more rounding on the thumb side where it meets the dress (I didn't spend enough time on that and it's too straight)
-The lace sleeves on the younger girl still have damage - it's cream lace and her skin; those bright pink bits are damage I think.
-The wall has a number of blotchy areas - on the lower right (there's a dark area from below the top of her head); on the door frame to the left of the boy.
-There's some discoloration in the wall - possibly a black & white layer (not full opacity) or a solid color layer in color blend mode using a cream/off white to be your desired wall color

Other than that... all done :)

Lynnya · August 01, 2019, 01:08:20 PM

Is that all!! :funny:

thanks Jo Ann.. will work on that.. :up:

Mhayes · August 01, 2019, 03:03:23 PM

Lynn, nothing more to add. I still have a problem with the kid's hand and while it may be true to what shows on the damage photo--it looks too small as if he is deformed. My eyes go straight to that hand. I took your original and copied the hand to it's own layer and then did a transform to enlarge and also rotate. I then did a layer mask to clean up what was left behind. I tweaked just a little when I saw some clipping in the blue and green channels. Then I got carried away and cleaned up the background.

I'm working between having my computer go down and being bossed around by 2 cats, one my left in his bed and the other I had to pull up a chair as she wanted near me. That wasn't enough as she wanted my full attention as I tried to work she would nip me. That does not make for a steady hand.

Lynnya · August 01, 2019, 03:32:05 PM

Hi Margie.. this may be the hardest hand I've ever worked on.. I'll keep at it but I'm with you.. if we stick to the blue channel it's always going to look problematic.. I'll be back..