Equalize reflection of photo of polaroid photo?

[ALK]

Hello all,

I'm still a beginner when it comes to GIMP, so I'm hoping that someone more experienced can give me easy to follow-instructions on how to solve this issue.

Recently I took a polaroid photo that got lost (probably just vanished in someone's pocket) and the person it was meant for got very sad. Luckily I took a picture of the polaroid with my digicam and now I'm trying to construct a "fake polaroid" by printing the picture out on shiny paper and glueing it to a real one.

The only problem is the reflection of myself holding the camera in the photo. I'm fairly sure it should be possible to make the "background" (=the photo) and the "foreground" (my reflection) the same color, but don't know which setting that would be. It should be doable since it's all black and white.

Thanks in advance for your help!

https://ibb.co/Trm6fdm <- here is the link to the photo, since attachment and embedding somehow  won't work.

[denzjos]

What I did (a fast edit):
Copy the photo to 2 new layers (let say layer 1 and 2)
Use layer 1 'Colours / Treshold' use the slider so you only see the reflection
Select the reflection (black) from the treshold layer 1 (use the 'Fuzzy Select Tool)
Select layer 2 and delete the reflection with the selection
Set layer 1 not visible
On layer 2 set layer mode 'Multiply' and use 'Opacity' to correct the color and lightness 
Use 'Colours / Hue-Saturation' to correct the color and lightness
Make a new layer from visible (layer 3)
Correct the edge of the reflection with the 'Healing Tool' on layer 3
Use the 3 picker pipettes from the 'Colours / Levels' to adjust the colours
   

[PixLab]

Dodge and Burn tool might be the tool you are searching for a quick "fix".
I recommend you made a selection of the area to fix to not bleed out.
You need to know that you can pass/drag over and over while moving the mouse with the same click even in the areas already done, but once you've released the click, the next click will affect the area already done.

   

There are many different ways to do it, which most of them are better, but require more work and knowledge (it's easy, though but it takes time).
Anyway, in case you're interested here is a tutorial, yes it's about Photoshop, but GIMP has those tools as well, but what's more interesting in this video is it will give you some understanding about light and shadows and a better way to correct them.
➤ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRMFYKiXB6U

[denzjos]

(07-10-2022, 05:39 PM)denzjos Wrote: What I did (a fast edit):
Copy the photo to 2 new layers (let say layer 1 and 2)
Use layer 1 'Colours / Treshold' use the slider so you only see the reflection
Select the reflection (black) from the treshold layer 1 (use the 'Fuzzy Select Tool)
Select layer 2 and delete the reflection with the selection
Set layer 1 not visible
On layer 2 set layer mode 'Multiply' and use 'Opacity' to correct the color and lightness 
Use 'Colours / Hue-Saturation' to correct the color and lightness
Make a new layer from visible (layer 3)
Correct the edge of the reflection with the 'Healing Tool' on layer 3
Use the 3 picker pipettes from the 'Colours / Levels' to adjust the colours

Convert the result to B&W : Colours / Desaturate / Desaturate :
   

[ALK]

(07-11-2022, 06:52 AM)denzjos Wrote:

(07-10-2022, 05:39 PM)denzjos Wrote: What I did (a fast edit):
Copy the photo to 2 new layers (let say layer 1 and 2)
Use layer 1 'Colours / Treshold' use the slider so you only see the reflection
Select the reflection (black) from the treshold layer 1 (use the 'Fuzzy Select Tool)
Select layer 2 and delete the reflection with the selection
Set layer 1 not visible
On layer 2 set layer mode 'Multiply' and use 'Opacity' to correct the color and lightness 
Use 'Colours / Hue-Saturation' to correct the color and lightness
Make a new layer from visible (layer 3)
Correct the edge of the reflection with the 'Healing Tool' on layer 3
Use the 3 picker pipettes from the 'Colours / Levels' to adjust the colours

Convert the result to B&W : Colours / Desaturate / Desaturate :

Thank you so much! I'll try to follow your instruction later this week, currently having finals coming up. Will report on how it goes.

[ALK]

(07-11-2022, 06:52 AM)denzjos Wrote:

(07-10-2022, 05:39 PM)denzjos Wrote: What I did (a fast edit):
Copy the photo to 2 new layers (let say layer 1 and 2)
Use layer 1 'Colours / Treshold' use the slider so you only see the reflection
Select the reflection (black) from the treshold layer 1 (use the 'Fuzzy Select Tool)
Select layer 2 and delete the reflection with the selection
Set layer 1 not visible
On layer 2 set layer mode 'Multiply' and use 'Opacity' to correct the color and lightness 
Use 'Colours / Hue-Saturation' to correct the color and lightness
Make a new layer from visible (layer 3)
Correct the edge of the reflection with the 'Healing Tool' on layer 3
Use the 3 picker pipettes from the 'Colours / Levels' to adjust the colours

Convert the result to B&W : Colours / Desaturate / Desaturate :

Hello, so I've finally come around to try out your instructions and it took two attempts. The first one actually had the reflection vanishing, but was way too dark/had too much contrast compared to yours, and for the second one I selected a higher threshold and the everything within the reflection borders turned out kinda crispy. So, think I've grasped the general concept now but went somewhere wrong with adjusting the sliders. I'd provide pictures but honestly just closed the program out of frustration lol. How high/low did you set the threshold for the selection in layer 1?

With kindest regards, ALK

[denzjos]

@ALK :
   

[ALK]

(08-08-2022, 06:46 PM)denzjos Wrote: @ALK :

you're a treasure denzjos...this is my end result:

https://ibb.co/GPzwz4g

I'm quite satisfied with this, since it's about the quality of a polaroid/instax photo. Gonna print it out now. Thank you so much, you instruction was a life and time saver!