Specific Fix the fade?

[Ky-leo]

Hey Gurus

I was wondering if someone could edit this. This photo is fairly old and im trying to get its quality restored but im not happy with my own results, so i was wondering if someone would be kind enough to give it a quick go?

I just want to reduce the fade and get some life back into it

thank you

Ky

 

[thebestcpu]

Is this the original image or the one you have already processed? Would be best to start with the best original possible with no post processing
Just a suggestion if its not the original.
John Wheeler

 

[thebestcpu]

Here is one rendition. I think a bit beyond my abilities yet hope you enjoy it.
John Wheeler

 

[Ky-leo]

Here is one rendition. I think a bit beyond my abilities yet hope you enjoy it.
John Wheeler

View attachment 117853

Hello! I cant seem to find the original image at the moment but this is definitely a good job! Can i ask how you got to this? Is it a combination of playing with levels, brightness/contrast and then using a soft brush aswell?

thanks again! good work

 

[thebestcpu]

Sure @Ky-leo

This was not my most methodical approach yet I am particularly fond of the camera raw filter and usually use that early on.

I am not sure I will remember all the steps and in which order I did them (some I started and then scraped)

Decided on cropping and replacing the background early to focus on the subjects.

I started by isolating the subjects with Select > Subject and tuned it up by hand with various tools. Converted to Layer Mask and used the Select and Mask to tune up the selection to be a bit more realistic (though it could have been better)

One of the bigger challenges or me was there was little image data in the highlights on the moms are a face. Those because a lot worse when trying various tonal adjustments (that was an uggh feeling of what to do)

In Camera Raw Filer
- Adjustment Brush on arm with reduced Texture and reduce Clarity
- Adjusted white balance
- Adjusted
- Reduced Texture overall
- Increase Clarity overall
- Reduced Sat of yellow and orange
- Increased Luminosity of Red and Orange
- Reduce Luminosity of Yellow
- Moved Hue of reds more a bit towards orange

Second Camera Raw Filer applied
- Healing Brush on moms face to remove distractions
- Used adjustment brush on moms bace with reduced Texture and clarity so smooth out the lines/wrinkles

Back in photoshop and used healing brush on parts of arm to smooth out rough colorization along upper portion of arm

Added Layer with Color Blend on top and sampled arm color closer to hand and applied to whole arm

That's what I remember
John Wheeler

 

[JeffK]

Not at an expert at this but thought to try my hand at retouching. This was a tough image at least for me.
Basically used curves and adjustment layers to bring back the depth and exposure on the image.
Used the healing brush tool to fill in the blown out highlights on the face.
Use the cloning tool to fill in the blown out highlight on her arm then used hue/saturation adjustment to adjust the color of the skin.
Did a bit of cosmetics using the Liquify filter to thin out the upper arm.
Used a filter to reduce the overall noise in the image but also added some sharpening to the eyes, lips, and hair.
I decided to leave the background. Sometimes on these vintage shots - I assume it's a vintage shot - the surroundings give some context. So it becomes "I remember where that was taken" which leads to other stories.
BTW - there was a white fringe along the back of her blouse possibly from trying to mask the image. Could also have been in the origiinal.
It's really a beautiful image to keep.
- Jeff

 

[Babine]

 

[JeffK]

@Babine - Interesting interpretation, Gary. Very unique. Almost as if you went in the opposite direction.
Great idea to desaturate the background. Nice work!
- Jeff

 

[Babine]

@Babine - Interesting interpretation, Gary. Very unique. Almost as if you went in the opposite direction.
Great idea to desaturate the background. Nice work!
- Jeff

Thanks