Restore

[Rob1955]

I want to colourise, a photo, but first, it's needs some repair. A lot of the repair, will be easy but there is one area, I'm not sure about. I've attached the photo, showing the problem area. Because of the difference in shades, I'm not sure what to do. I'm sure I've seen, somewhere, where you can select an area, and have it match up to the area next to it, but don't know how to do it.

[rich2005]

The difference in shades is actually not that great although there is a lot more noise in the lighter area.  Just my two euros worth but I would despeckle first. Then it is into pixel levels with clone and healing tools and a small fuzzy brush, more artistic than technical.

   

...and without spending too much time on it, more of an overview. The background is as much a problem as the subject. Since it is for a recolour, consider going in to grayscale mode for the repair, then back to RGB. 

   

[Rob1955]

Thank you for the advice, and great idea about the greyscale. Thanks again.

---

Sorry, another quick question. Is it easy to change to greyscale, and back? I thought, once you changed to greyscale, that was it.

[denzjos]

What rich mentioned to change the photo to greyscale is the best to work with. What I did is make roughly 2 selections on the cracks from the photo and made a new layer from each one. Then I corrected with : colours / Exposure / , using the exposure and the Black level. The right upper corner from the mid selection was a little to dark and I made a mask to blend it out. It is just a rough example to show how it can be done. The rest is mostly cloning work.    
   

[rich2005]

Quote:Sorry, another quick question. Is it easy to change to greyscale, and back? I thought, once you changed to greyscale, that was it.

My thoughts were, maybe easier to 'heal' the defects in pure greysale. Then back to RGB for the re-colour. It has by then lost the old very light colour cast, remains grey.

It is just a possibility. All sorts of ways.

[Rob1955]

(11-24-2020, 06:19 PM)rich2005 Wrote:

Quote:Sorry, another quick question. Is it easy to change to greyscale, and back? I thought, once you changed to greyscale, that was it.

My thoughts were, maybe easier to 'heal' the defects in pure greysale. Then back to RGB for the re-colour. It has by then lost the old very light colour cast, remains grey.

It is just a possibility. All sorts of ways.

You were right, it was far easier. I've repaired it best I can. The problem is the colouring now. It's not as easy, as I thought it would be. All tutorials I've seen, have just been colouring plane material. Don't know what I'll do about the patterned dress.

[rich2005]

Just a possibility, the gmic plugin http://www.gmic.eu has an interactive colouring tool. https://i.imgur.com/v0VfxhG.jpg

On one hand easy to use, on the other hand, does need practice to get the best results. (I need more practice, missed more than a few spots)  https://i.imgur.com/yFAHIeP.jpg

edit:

Quote: Don't know what I'll do about the patterned dress.

Ohhh.. I see what you mean. No easy way to apply a pattern fill to conform to a body shape.

[david]

Making a selection of the dress and then filling the selection with the desired colour on a new layer in overlay mode may give an acceptable result.