Help Please! My first attempt!

[Ratz]

Slow and steady wins the race Sam! Starting over.....and over.......and....well, you get the idea, is all part of the process.
You'll do fine, just keep at it! :up:

Vicki.

[kstruve]

Hi Sam!  If I may offer my 2 cents worth:  My general approach to restorations is to paint only as a last resort (and even then I only use it on a transparent layer to restore color).  Start by adjusting the levels and saturation, then repair damage with the clone stamp or healing brush, then where there is very little remaining detail, dodge and burn it back in.  Of course check your channels to see what you might be missing.  Also, save a copy and convert it to CMYK and LAB and check those channels too.  Pretend as though you don't even have a paint brush and use other methods to bring out what is already there or replace it with other parts of the photograph.  Also, your restored areas shouldn't have more detail in them than the undamaged areas do.  Quite often, old photographs were kind of grainy and blurry to begin with compared to today's hi-res standards.  Your eye goes right to areas that were painted with a sharp edged brush when the rest of the photo is grainy and slightly blurred.  And whatever you do ... don't add anything to the photo just because you think it will make it look better, like a brand new Paris backdrop or mountain scene or fluffy, dreamy clouds if the original photo was taken in a studio. ;)  A definite "do" is to get as many eyes looking at your photo as possible (which you're already doing).  Someone will always see something that you have missed.

I hope these general tips help you get a running start.  Have fun!
Kurt

P.S. In your example, I can see that the man has wavy hair, that you should avoid painting over.

[SweetSam]

Thank you for the tips, folks! I got very frustrated, almost wanted to give up, and decided to take a break from this one. I've been working on a much easier one and will complete that first. I hope it is OK.

I've posted about it and my progress here.
http://www.oprworkshop.org/forum/index.php?topic=738.0

I feel I am learning A LOT by doing the other one, and will be a bit more prepared to go back to this challenge with the practice on the easier one. I've also been doing some reading on how to proceed.