Glenna's New Challenge 3/25/07

[glennab]

Hi CM

Your timing is perfect.  I'm going to attack the hair tonight.  I believe I downloaded the hair brushes a while back, but I thought they could only be used with a Wacom tablet, and my attempts at using my Wacom have ended in utter frustration.  NEED MORE TIME to learn to use all these wonderful tools.  Anyway, I'm going to use your guidelines and give it a try.  Thanks so much for jumping in.  I'm hoping to be able to post the completed restoration this weekend.

Glenna

[Johnboy]

He's looking good!! :up:

I downloaded your last image. Then I put a Hue/Saturation layer on and slided the Saturation slider all the way to the left to create a grayscale. Looking at him in grayscale he looks great. After doing this you can cancel or throw the layer away later if you don't need it.

I also downloaded the original, and noticed that there appears to be more shadow under the tip of his chin in the original than in the restoration. There may be a fold of skin creating a "baby" double chin that is catching the light. I am seeing collar, skin tone, then shadow under the chin. Even if you don't do anything more he is ready to go home or almost there.

JB

[glennab]

Hi JB

Appreciate your observations very much.  I'll look for those shadows you mentioned.  I see  a few places where the shading might need softening as well, but I feel that this is my truest restoration to date.  This may not be a new technique, but I just discovered it, and it worked so well.  If the original is above the restoration, and a "repair" layer is below the original, it's much easier to get the shading in the right places.  That's been such a challenge for me.  I brushed in a darker version of the skin tone sampled from the original, at a very low (20%) opacity, or used the dodge & burn tools at low opacity, then turned off the top original and checked positioning.  Even though there are a few places about which I'm not too sure, I'm with you in thinking that he's about ready to go home.  Last challenge is the hair, and I'm going to try Codeman's suggestion and actually USE the hair brushes that I downloaded months ago.  (I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes.)

Thanks for your kind words on my work.  I'm still trying to learn so much, so when one of my volunteer friends says I've done something right it makes me soar!

Glenna

[glennab]

Hi my pals,

At long last, I've made some progress.  I need fresh eyes to check him over and see what else I need to do to make him ready to go home.  Comments, please!



Glenna

[Ausimax]

Hi Glenna,

I think he is looking pretty darned good, about time to send him home - before you have to adopt him!

If the owners aren't happy with that, then they are hard to please and ungrateful.


Max

[cmpentecost]

I think you've done a beautiful job Glenna!

Christine

[glennab]

Chris & Max, thanks so much for the kind words.  And to the rest of the volunteers who jumped in with great observations and suggestions, you're the very best!  I appreciate your input more than I can tell you. I tweaked just a little more, and I'm sending him home.  Gonna miss the little darlin'!

Glenna