Restoration Challenge 017: Baby Cheryl

[phyllis stewart]

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Restoration Challenge 017: Baby Cheryl

Download the original photo to your hard drive by clicking on the link under the thumbnail photo below.


http://www.pbase.com/image/32396819/original

Thanks to Rob Carter for contributing this baby pic of his Cheryl. Actually it doesn’t really need much in the way of “restoration” but rather suffers from a focus problem. This one is a real challenge, I’m sure you’ll agree, but let’s see what can be done with it.

If you’d like to add color to help bring out some missing detail, here is how it should look:

Fair curly hair
Bright blue eyes
Medium blue jacket
Light blue frock
Blue shoes
White socks
White shawl
Plain background

LEGAL NOTE
This photo not to be distributed or used for any purpose other than this challenge.

Attached are Cheryl's eyes, from a much later photo, of course. But, since eyes never change, only the skin around them, these will be accurate.

[phyllis stewart]

I have added Cheryl's eyes to the challenge to make that part easier. You might layer them over at a reduced opacity, after making them "look to the side" a bit more with some PS or PSP magic tricks!

I just installed Optipix, a rather costly program that does a lot in the area of sharpening, among other things. I am hoping it will help on this pic. But I have two outside orders to finish by Sunday right now, so I haven't tried this challenge yet. Hope some of our restoration specialists will give it a shot!

[Twerpy]

Phyllis, this one was murder.
To me there are few harder restorations
than out of focus ones like this.
I usually tuck my tail between my legs
and run the other way when I see one like this.

At 200 magnification I couldn’t see any retrievable detail
in the eye and mouth area. I don’t think any focus fixing
program can work on this photo, just not enough usable detail.

I used multiply twice on the dress, jacket and blown out areas.
This enhanced some faded detail. Then came selections and coloring.
Also did a lot of dodging and burning.
The face is still indistinct and blurred. Short of drawing new eyes and
mouth I couldn’t get sharper facial features.

Hope it’s ok, at least it’s colorful.
Matt

[Vikki Hansen]

Have to agree, out of focus is almost, if not impossible, to fix.
There is some detail in the eyes and mouth (I'm pretty sure the baby has teeth), but the image looked too strange when those where enhanced and brought out. I think that is due to the heavy shadows.
Also interesting, when experimenting with heavy sharpening in Neat Image, the baby looks like she's crying!
Anyway, here's a colored version, for what it's worth.
http://www.pbase.com/image/32658757/original.jpg
I also have the full version.

[PBru]

who asked for refocus black magic ?
this is just a test. it need to be reworked a lot.

Pierre.

[Tyeise]

Ok Pierre - what's the secret formula you used for your black magic?

[PBru]

the formula is not mine it's Optipix's one.
I downloaded the demo plugin a while ago but never tested it. as Phyllis talked about it, I gave it a try...

Pierre.

[Tyeise]

Wow - it sure did a great job on this picture! Thanks for the info.

[PBru]

found that mighty refocusing tool on the 'net. the only problem is that it only runs under MATLAB

Pierre.

[phyllis stewart]

Matt and Vikki, colorization REALLY helped a lot here! Nice work!

Pierre, I too tried Optipix on it and got a lot of improvement I think. I also gently layered in some new eyes...just a hint. That helped define the face a lot. I have yet to add color...just wish I had more TIME...grrr! I am soooo bizzzzzy right now...no time to play. But I WILL get to it...maybe next month.

[Gisela]

My try with baby Cheryl lovely baby but I had big problems trying to focus the photos. I played about with sharpen, curves, levels, then colourized the photos it's still blur but I did not want to mess up anymore with it. That was a hard one to tackle.

http://www.pbase.com/mstmart/image/121803698

[phyllis stewart]

Gisela, wonderful work! The coloring on the grass and shrubbery is well done and natural, as well as the coloring and increased sharpness on the baby.