60th wedding anniversary retouch

[naeno]

This couple is celebrating their 60th anniversary shortly. They have ONE picture from when they got married. It had been a bit abused over the years, so they gave it to me to touch up. I was fairly happy with the results.

Before:


After:



This was actually a fairly simple fix. I color corrected to get a true B&W, then used the clone and healing/repair tool to clean up the rest. (Just FYI, stripes are really a pain to try and clone). I blurred the background to make some of the wrinkles look like they were just part of the backdrop. It took about 30 mins to complete. What do you think? Any suggestions?

[jujitsu1]

Your after image is not available

[naeno]

Originally Posted by jujitsu1

Your after image is not available

I'm not sure why it did that, but it should be corrected now. Thanks!

[CiiVii]

I think you did a fantastic job! To get picky, I think you lost some of the tonality, especially in the skin, in your processing. The end result is a little too washed out and bright for my taste. Of course, I could be missing something because I'm viewing this on a laptop... On the whole though, really nice It looks like new.

[omni]

idk if it is my computer monitor or what, but it seems that your post-processed picture has lost a bit of contrast. It seems a bit washed out.

[Dangelica]

The percieved "wash out" is because of the loss of the sepia stain on the photo. It may need a touch of adjustment but as long as the black point is set on the darkest part of the photo and the white point on the lightest you are pretty much at an original photo. It also helps being on a calibrated monitor Nice job.

[naeno]

Thanks Ciivii, omni, and Dangelica. I appreciate the feedback. I did go back and do a few adjustments. Thanks!

[tennie]

I'm just curious...is the after above with your additional adjustments? The lady's face seems 'flat'. There are no 'highs or lows' of light as there are on the man's face.

I played with this a bit...actually like it best reconverted to sepia. They are lucky to have you help reconstruct their wedding photo.

Hope you don't mind....I'll take this down if you do.