Ausimax's Sweatshop

[Ausimax]

Hi Folks,

This is my latest project, probably the smallest photo I have done (3x4) but it seems to be taking longer to deal with than most of the large ones, comments and crits please.






Max









Max

[glennab]

G'day Mate!

Overall, your usual great job.  Just a few picks.  I'd try to soften the edges and lighten slightly the shadows behind them, especially behind their heads.  At this point I think the dark areas look like hair, and going through the channels told me that there's quite a bit of shadow, especially on his right.  Her hair is a bit more difficult to differentiate from the shadow, but even if you don't get a definite separation between hair and shadow, I'd think the shadow would be softer.  Their faces look fantastic.  I only see one thing that jumps out at me and that's the light line that goes from the highlight on the lady's cheek to the right as we see her to her earring.  I'd say the area nearest her hair and on the fullest part of her cheek should blend into the darker colors.

I'd soften the woman's shape.  She looks too angular.  I hate to even say that, because you did such a super job on the dress -- that must have been one heck of a challenge.  Maybe a new layer above her on which you can paint some shadows & highlights would help (me, of course, being the expert???  giving you advice on shading -- ???)

Also, it appears to me that in the original, the man's arm hangs straight down, and I'm not convinced one would see his hand.  I'm wondering if the dark that defines his ruffles is shadow and should be softened.

That's about all I see that jumps out at me, and considering the state of this photo, your restoration is awesome.  I think what impresses me most is that  you don't over-restore.  What you've done, especially on their faces, looks believeable -- that's an art in itself!

Kudos, Max

Glenna

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Great job so far Max.  Thats a difficult one with all that pattern in the dress. I agree on softening the woman's shape. Her um chest  ::)  looks to be pointing too far towards the man.

[Ausimax]

Hi folks,

Thanks for your advice and comments, Glenna have done a rework to address your suggestions, hard to do much about the face without causing probs, not a lot of pixels in this one, have to disagree about his hand, when you blow up the photo you can see a small patch of skin tone there, and he is at least 6" taller than her so if I made his arms any longer he would be able to scratch his knee's without stooping. (and we know who can do that, don't we?)  ;D

Tassie D, her um chest, isn't pointing too far, I think I cut her waist in too far, you can see a faint outline of the shape but it gets vague in the area of her waist, I think the rework there makes her um chest look more natural. ::)




Max

[Ausimax]

Hi Gang,

This is my latest project, a bit difficult as it is only 3x3 and 390 KB, give me your thoughts on it please.





Max

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Hi Max, great job on a very muddy one. I'm not sure but it looks to me like he's wearing a polo shirt. You can just see the v on the front.    Those 2 white lines and the other couple further down look like someone's tried to wipe some of the mess off.

[GP]

Max, great improvement already! :up:
His cloths need a little more detail shading, I would try the burn tool. His right hand looks a little funny, but I can't quite say what is wrong.
The chair should maybe have a solid back?
Heads up for taking this one! The current batch of pictures is overwhelming....too much damage.

Gerlinde

[glennab]

Hi Max

I'm a bit late jumping in, but here are the discrepancies I see at first glance and after going through my usual channel and layer blend tests.  There appears to be an upside-down conical shape hanging from the ceiling in the upper left (as we're looking).  My guess it that it's a light.  I see texture in his (her?) trousers that could be camouflage print or even rumpled jeans.  I think the hands are in pockets, except for the thumbs.  His arms could use a bit more contouring as well.  I just did one with minimal resolution, and it was a bear.  My guess it that it's going to be tough to nail down a lot of the details, but one thing that seems pretty certain to my old eyes is that the hands are in pockets with the thumbs sticking out -- a typical kid stance.

Your texturing on the background looks fine -- I'm curious as to the item in the lower left.  It almost looks like one of the old wooden indoor clothes hangers.  Strange looking, whatever it is.  Tough job.

Cheers!

Glenna

[Lorraine]

Hi Max,

First, your work is amazing.  On this one, I think the person is male and should be wearing pants and a shirt.   To be safe, you might want to go for more gender-neutral clothing.  I agree with glenna that the hands are in the pockets.  Also, the fixture on the ceiling could be a fan.   It appears that there's  a blade showing to right of the fixture.  Hope this is of some help to you.  Great work.

Lorraine 

[Ausimax]

Hi Folks,

Thanks for your help? Now I am totally confused, I thought it was a girl - shows my age - girls wear long hair, boys wear short hair.


The clothing, I can find absolutely no detail to suggest what it is, it appears like a bath robe to me, but again I can find no detail of a belt, any constriction at the waist, buttons or a front join, neither can I find any detail to show trousers, even through the damage the colour of the clothing remains constant throughout, and the line of the clothing down each side shows no detail like the end of a shirt or any disruption of the line.

Tassie D, you could be right about the lines, GP, I don't think it is a chair - have no idea what it is, his right hand I read as on the hip with the thumb forward and fingers to the back causing a slight crease in the clothing.

Glenna, the shape in the top left hand corner could be either damage or a shadow of something out of view. at first I thought it was a ceiling fan however careful study showed that the blades could not assume that configuration, and at the top of that you can just see part of a light bowl ( used to reconstruct the light) so I decided to ignore the other as I could not identify what it may be.
As for the clothes, I have covered that above.

Lorraine, thanks for your comments, I think I have covered most of the points above, as I said I am completely confused, I only wish when they collected these photos hey could collect a little info to help in these cases, like " This a photo of my son/daughter and he/she is wearing a sky blue shirt/blouse" it would make it a lot easier to work with and if you knew at least one prominent colour it would make colour correction so much easier.

I have no idea if I have the correct colours in this one, colour correction just would not get me a definite result, the blue channel carried so much damage in the end I had to use the channel mixer and blend it out of the red and green channels.

I have posted a 100% crop of the person, if you would like to use your detective skills and see if you can find some detail I have missed I would be most grateful.




Max

[kiska]

Hey Max. Sounds like you're really struggling. I think it is a boy. Both hands in the pants pockets, thumbs out.  Reddish hair. White golf shirt, not tucked in. Khaki baggie pants. HANG IN! Don't get bogged down with the background.

I did levels first, each channel separately. Then curves.

http://www.pbase.com/ob/image/80967537

[klassylady25]

White Izod shirt and khaki pants are very common in New Orleans/Chalmette.  So many of the schools are Catholic and that's the standard uniform for the guys.  Plaid pleated skirts for the girls.   You're probably on the right track with the hanging light.  Those are some very very old homes and styles in that area.  I have to agree with kiska, however, the young man is point of interest.  Keep going... you're doing great!

As for the longer hair... the nun just hasn't told him to get it cut yet!!  LOL   Just teasing.

[Ausimax]

Hi,

Thanks Kiska, Candice - something like this?





Max

[klassylady25]

Better.  Perhaps soften the edges a bit so the photo doesn't look so angular... if that makes sense :o)

[Ausimax]

Hi Folks,

This is my latest effort, comments and crits please.







Max