Help Please! My first attempt!

[SweetSam]

Hi,

I got my first assignment last weekend, and it happened that all that was in Christine's folder were difficult ones. So I picked one that I didn't think would be "too hard", but it seems that it is!

Original


Please don't laugh at the way my "progress" looks so far, which is not very good.

My work so far


I took a tip I found somewhere on here & looked at the details in separate channels. I can see what I think is more detail of the man's ear and maybe the shape of his hair, in the blue channel.

So I copied the channel, tried a Levels Adjustment to bring out more contrast and use for creating some selections.

One of things I'd like to know is:
Once I can see more detail in a channel, What do I DO WITH IT?
I mean, I'm not sure if there's a way to apply that detail to the RGB, or to a layer!?
Is it better, maybe, to view that channel in a separate document, and just use it for reference to "redraw" the detail somehow?

I'm working in Photoshop CS2, using layers, and so far doing some work with the Healing Brush (on Replace and using it like the Clone Stamp), and Painting with sampled colors.

Also, if I sample two colors with the eyedropper tool, is there an easy way to create an in-between color for subtler blends? So far the man's cheek closest to the woman looks like "paint by numbers" and the forehead is not much better.

Any tips or hints would be so much appreciated!

~ SweetSam

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Here's a good step by step on using a channel to add detail. http://www.oprworkshop.org/forum/index.php?topic=394.0
I don't use Photoshop so I'm not familiar with the tools on it.

[SweetSam]

Tassie,

This looks like a wonderful solution! ...Just the information I was looking for, I think, for one of my questions.
Thank you!
I'll try it!

I'd still love any other hints or tips from anyone pertaining to my post.

[Ausimax]

Hi SweetSam,

Picked your self a real beauty for you first project, didn't you?

Probably your best tool for doing this is the Healing Brush Tool, find a spot of good skin and using a small brush gradually work outward and expand the area of good skin, you don't have to keep changing the spot you sample just keep working from the best areas into the worst,  try and follow the natural contours of the faces and leave the areas of shading that define shapes , the nose etc until you have the larger areas done, its sometimes a good idea to make another layer and sketch in the main visible features and areas of shading, keep that layer on top of your layer stack and you can switch it on and off to check where you need to put things back.

When you get to bad areas where the colour is badly damaged and dark, you may find it helps to chance to "Replace" mode and transfer some of the colour, then switch back to normal mode and rework the same area to blend the colours, sometimes you have to rework the same area several times to get the blending right, working from the good colour areas into the bad.

When you get near areas of a darker or lighter colour you will have to work with the clone tool as all the healing tool sample the colour from the surrounding areas and blend them in, so if you use them near the edge of the face they will blend in the background colour, and unfortunately they are not constrained by selecting the area you want to work on, they will still sample outside the selection area.

Here is a bit I did on your image all done with the Healing Brush Tool, it took about 5 min, its rough but it gives an idea of what you can do. You can see near her hair line where I transfered colour in replace mode, and it hasn't been blended in yet.





When it comes to the hair I am afraid you are on your own HAIR is really one of my great bugbears - I hate it!!!!

Hope this helps a bit, and I'm sure many others will come to you aid.

Max

[glennab]

Hi Sam

I can comment on a couple of things you mentioned.  First of all WHAT WERE YOU THINKING when you took this one???  (I'm only kidding, because it was next on my list to try!)

If you can find a channel with good information, there are several things you can do, depending on the level of damage in addition to the detail.  You can copy the channel and paste it as a layer (have the channel active, select all, copy, then go to layers and paste).  Then you can try some of the blending modes to see if any of them integrate the channel into your image.

Or you can try channel mixer or apply image, which give you different ways of blending channels; sometimes helps; sometimes not.

I often take the "good channel" layer and use it as a template to flesh in detail on the repair layer.

Don't limit yourself to RGB.  Check out CMYK and LAB, because it's amazing what you can at times pull from those color spaces.  I'll often keep a test file just for that kind of "playing" until I find something useful.

As for sampling with the eyedropper, if you double click on the tool and look at the menu at the top, you can do 3 things: sample point, sample 3x3px area or sample 5x5px area.  Usually I keep mine defaulted to the 3x3.  It gives a pretty good average of contiguous color as a sample.  If you're talking about non-contiguous areas, I've never had to do that, but there must be a blending mode that would combine two colors.  That's an interesting question.  I hope someone else can explain it.

Do everything you can to keep the texture, even if the photo doesn't look as "polished" as you might want it to.  It'll be less painterly than if you try to make everything too smooth.  Been there, done that, started over!

I'd say your best bet is to heal and clone small areas, trying to keep the good colors as close as you can.  I use the original, place it above my repairs and use a low opacity brush with sampled colors from the original to add any shading that I've lost during repair.  I use a lot of repair layers, because then I don't affect the original and can delete anything that doesn't work.

Anyone who laughs at your restoration hasn't tried one yet.  It's a trial and error effort, and you can usually expect several re-starts before you're happy with the restoration, especially with a bear like the one you've chosen.  Don't hesitate to post questions and progress.  There are a number of volunteers (I'm one of them) who enjoy helping other restorers progress almost as much as doing their own.  It's all a great learning process.

Good luck and keep posting!

Glenna

P.S. Since he was posting at the same time I was, I'll jump back in to give you another tip.  Pay attention to Max.  He's done some amazing restorations.  The man knows his stuff!

[SweetSam]

Thanks, folks! Great tips!
I appreciate it!

[SweetSam]

I  decided to start over. I set the white & black points using a Levels adjustment. Is this a good start?



But would it be better in Curves instead of Levels? I'm not sure how to do this in Curves, and I have no idea how to do a midtones sample. Can someone please tell me?

I'll be working on seeing what I can get in Lab & CMYK color modes, but so far I haven't seen much more in channels of either mode. :(

I think I will take your tip, Max, and try working with the Healing Brush in normal modeat foirst rather than replace. I think your sample of what you did in 5 minutes is amazing, but I'm not there quite yet! ;D

[SweetSam]

When I switch to other color modes to inspect them for more detail, should I be on the original layer, or the adjusted layer?

I think maybe I should use the adjusted layer, and turn off visibility of all other layers to do this? Is that right?

[kiska]

Sam, when I check the other modes I duplicate the original first, change the copy to lab or cmyk, THEN if there is a good channel, I isolate that channel, select all, paste on the rgb image you're working on.

[klassylady25]

Adjusting through use of the threshold for black and white points helps, too.  Your original was adjusted using that method.  As you can see there is not quite as much 'red'.   It's a very reliable way of defining the black/white points.   Have you ever tried using it before?  I'd be glad to share if need be.

Candice  :)

[glennab]

Hi Sam

Curves is the most sensitive and accurate way to adjust your colors.  Unfortunately many people  are intimidated by its complexity (me included, although sometimes I just jump in anyway, and the results can be amazing).  I do, however, use curves to adjust my white, black and mid points.  To get the mid point use your eyedropper on an area of neutral color.  Since his jacket looks gray, that would be a good start.  The black and white points can best be determined by using threshold and actually setting points by option, clicking (on a Mac) on the lightest and darkest points.  You'll have a little circle indicator at those points, and then you can use your eyedroppers.

I do my channel-surfing on the original.  I'd be concerned that I might lose a detail while I was color-adjusting otherwise.

I think Candy's color correction is more true than yours, but with a tad too much blue.

If his coat is gray, when you click on it with the mid-tone eyedropper your colors should balance nicely.

Keep at it.  You're asking great questions.

Glenna

[sanbie]

Well I think you are absolutely brave to try one of the difficult ones straight off...I am too chicken to try that!! So at the moment I am just looking in awe!!

Sanbie

[SweetSam]

I don't feel very brave right now!
I'm working on the man's jacket right now, using the healing brush, but not getting very good results! I THOUGHT I knew how to use these tools!

I do fear I've taken on too much, but I feel like if I can get it done somewhat decently, I will learn a lot and then be able to do an easier one really fast!

[glennab]

Good morning Sam

Don't get discouraged!  It does take time and practice to get just the right balance of healing and cloning.  I think the main thing to keep in mind is to work with very small contiguous areas to keep your texture and color as true to the original as possible.  The trick is judging when to use which, and that's a matter of experience.  I've been at it for a year, and I still have a battle with each restoration, because there are so many unknowns and so many variables.  Not to mention the differing opinions and observations you'll get -- all of which are sincere and valid (so much of this work is subjective!) -- but in the final run, it's your call where to take the restoration before you send it home.  If you go through the threads, you'll find the majority of us have made the same statements you have, especially that it looked easier before it was downloaded.

You're wonderful for joining OPR and for sticking with this toughie.  Take it a little at a time, when you have a chance check out other threads and see how volunteers have handled some of these issues and I think you'll find that this is a fantastic learning experience and working on the restorations is relaxing and good for the soul!  Sending one home -- it just doesn't get any better than that!

Glenna

[klassylady25]

You'll growl and fuss and fuss and growl through this process but in the end you'll  :)  We've all started over on the pictures we do, because we believe in what we are doing.... that's what makes you keep on.  You're doing a fine job.  Now, go back to growling!  LOL