dannyg9 Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 Photo retouching/restoring. Client asked "See what you can do." Could use a little more refinement, in my opinion, but the client had ZERO expectations and was blown away by the results. He said where it was at was fine. This is the first real retouching job I did with Affinity Photo so it was learning as I was going. Never looking back at Adobe. The future is Affinity. Smee Again, Kasper-V, GarryP and 6 others 8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteevB Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 Fantastic job, well done. I dumped Adobe when sub's came in (expensive) and they discontinued 'Fireworks'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyg9 Posted July 22, 2020 Author Share Posted July 22, 2020 Thanks Steve! I never bothered with subs. Staggered along with CS5. Was pissed when they dumped Fireworks instead of using that to replace Illustrator. Went back to QuarkXpress for a bit. Since Publisher went full version, I've not used Quark and everything else is Affinity. My machines are Adobe-free. jmwellborn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smee Again Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 My eyes keep seeing a bit of "sepia" or maybe yellow in the image. Did you convert to grayscale? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyg9 Posted July 22, 2020 Author Share Posted July 22, 2020 You’re eyes do not deceive you. I converted it to grayscale and then to CMYK for digital printing as per the client’s request. The original had yellowed quite a bit, plus there was water damage and spotting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smee Again Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 You might have a bit of fun with the attached file. By no means finished, but play around with what I did with the gradient maps if you've ever thought about "colorizing" images like these. The brush work leaves much to be done . . . you're only using two colors: black and white . . . to make the process work for even complicated items like the jackets those guys are wearing. Hope you enjoy. Oh, and the patch tool took out most of the discolorations around the door. Cloning tool is great, but I like to come behind it with the patch tool and with a bit of patience I can remove most of the evidence of cloning (like the dark smudges). boys_in_the_band.afphoto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smee Again Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 BTW, looks like a 60's band -- the kind my older cousin was in. The matching clothes give it away. By the 70's most of those were gone.The closest we came was everyone wearing blue jeans. dannyg9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyg9 Posted July 23, 2020 Author Share Posted July 23, 2020 Smee, I believe the client said late 50s to mid 60s so you're pretty spot on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyg9 Posted July 23, 2020 Author Share Posted July 23, 2020 14 hours ago, Smee Again said: You might have a bit of fun with the attached file. By no means finished, but play around with what I did with the gradient maps if you've ever thought about "colorizing" images like these. The brush work leaves much to be done . . . you're only using two colors: black and white . . . to make the process work for even complicated items like the jackets those guys are wearing. Hope you enjoy. Oh, and the patch tool took out most of the discolorations around the door. Cloning tool is great, but I like to come behind it with the patch tool and with a bit of patience I can remove most of the evidence of cloning (like the dark smudges). boys_in_the_band.afphoto 1.18 MB · 4 downloads I like what you did. A little dark overall but even that lends itself to the time period when the flash bulb of an instamatic camera would illuminate the center focus and render everything else dark. I think you're of the same thinking. We can keep looking at these images and continue to refine them, as options truly are endless. I'll definitely play around with the file you attached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snuffleberries Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 You've done a great job of repairing a truly damaged photo!! My only suggestion would be to make it fully black and white and increase the contrast a bit. Here is my version: dannyg9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snuffleberries Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 I then had a go at colouring the photo. I started doing it before I saw that someone else had as well. Their version has much better colouring I think. I'll throw up what I got so far myself though. I think the colours are too light though. Smee Again and dannyg9 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smee Again Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 19 hours ago, snuffleberries said: I then had a go at colouring the photo. I started doing it before I saw that someone else had as well. Their version has much better colouring I think. I'll throw up what I got so far myself though. I think the colours are too light though. Add a gradient map instead of just painting over the area with a color . . . I'm sure there's a tutorial somewhere on the forum or open the afphoto sample I uploaded. Decide what you want to color, set your colors for the gradient map close then invert the mask by clicking <ctrl>+<i>. Paint in the area by painting on the mask with white, then make a final adjustment on your colors. Experiment with different "blend modes" like soft light, overlay, etc. Then tweak opacity. Also, sometimes "blend if" will help get you where you want to be. Just click on the little cog at the bottom of the gradient mask panel right next to the blend modes on the bottom right of the panel. One observation about the source photo: When doing restoration, we often rely too much on the clone tool. Try using the patch tool. Notice the difference along the door trim and the door. Those dark splotches stand out because they are a product of the clone tool. Using the patch tool instead will do a better job with some practice. Look at the door and trim and paneling in the attached image, then look at the difference between the clone tool and the patch tool results. The repeating dark/light areas are gone. The paneling color and the trim color use the overlay blend mode.while the door uses a soft light blend mode.You'll find that after you've painted in the area with white, you will definitely want to readjust the gradient map for that item. With a little patience (about 40 minutes here) you can get something that looks very realistic. I can't remember the other member's name, but there is someone on here who is much better at colorizing than I am and he did explain some of what he does. Keep having fun. If it isn't fun, forget everything I said. If it isn't fun, it isn't worth doing. dannyg9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snuffleberries Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 5 minutes ago, Smee Again said: Add a gradient map instead of just painting over the area with a color . . . I'm sure there's a tutorial somewhere on the forum or open the afphoto sample I uploaded. Decide what you want to color, set your colors for the gradient map close then invert the mask by clicking <ctrl>+<i>. Paint in the area by painting on the mask with white, then make a final adjustment on your colors. Experiment with different "blend modes" like soft light, overlay, etc. Then tweak opacity. Also, sometimes "blend if" will help get you where you want to be. Just click on the little cog at the bottom of the gradient mask panel right next to the blend modes on the bottom right of the panel. Thanks! I haven't ever used the gradient map tool before. I'll give it a go and see what I can come up with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyg9 Posted July 28, 2020 Author Share Posted July 28, 2020 On 7/27/2020 at 3:13 AM, snuffleberries said: You've done a great job of repairing a truly damaged photo!! My only suggestion would be to make it fully black and white and increase the contrast a bit. Here is my version: I agree. I like the Black and White better, but for whatever reason, the client wanted the sort of sepia tone. I actually think that the original is black and white and if I remember correctly, older prints had what seemed like a film over them (probably just the paper delaminating). I think the photo was yellowed with age and possible water damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 12 hours ago, Smee Again said: I can't remember the other member's name, but there is someone on here who is much better at colorizing than I am and he did explain some of what he does. I suspect you may be thinking of @EZeemering. Smee Again and dannyg9 2 Quote Alfred Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smee Again Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 2 hours ago, Alfred said: I suspect you may be thinking of @EZeemering. Yes, thanks Alfred. 2 hours ago, dannyg9 said: I agree. I like the Black and White better, but for whatever reason, the client wanted the sort of sepia tone. I actually think that the original is black and white and if I remember correctly, older prints had what seemed like a film over them (probably just the paper delaminating). I think the photo was yellowed with age and possible water damage. "Sepia" is easy. I like to use "Layer/New Fill Layer". Set the blend mode to "soft light" or "overlay" and then adjust the color (I prefer HSL color mixer). A good starting point for HSL color is 30/70/40 (Hue 30, Saturation 70, Luminosity or Lightness 40). Why a "New Fill Layer"? Because you can adjust the color until you get the desired effect. Kind of like using a "live filter". Alfred and dannyg9 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EZeemering Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Thanks @Alfred If I may give a tip. Objects have a local colour. But colour fades in shades and highlights. If done correctly it will give more depth. You can take it even a step further to make the dark shade a tad cooler/warmer and the highlight the opposite. This image has one heavy light source. So the highlights will be bitten out and the shades will go near black (well, not black but colourless). Smee Again and Alfred 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.