Restoration Critique

[blix]

OK, guys- Restorations are my least favorite thing to do, yet I always seem to get hit with them . This one took me about two hours and I realize there is more that I could have done. What would you have done differently or how would you improve it?

www.leonsandoval.com/Tutorial/Jones-0001-Final.gif

-B

[Scott]

Wow.. great work!

The main thing I see is the hand's bottom edge is pretty rough. I might define the shadow a little better

[blix]

Thanks, Jolt!

[Silky]

Very nice work, Blix! I agree with Jolt...the edges where the hands are resting on the arm are a bit dark and jagged. I'd maybe lighten the shadow just a bit and smooth out the edges. Other than that...FANTASTIC!

[blix]

Thanks, Silky. Funny how you focus on an image for so long and then someone walks up and says, "Hey, did you notice this?" and you totally missed it.

I had a heck of a time with the arms and fingers. There wasn't much there for her right hand and had to draw them in a bit. That and her watch. Actually drawing things in scares me... :eek2:

There was a network of hairline cracks that ran through the entire image. In the end, I just couldn't find a good technique to smooth them all out. Anyone have a good technique?

-B

[Dave]

It's hard to see as the image keeps flashing at me :) .... I'm too lazy to separate the frames. Have you tried a small Gaussian blur of 1px if the cracks are that small ?

[blix]

[QUOTE=Dave]Have you tried a small Gaussian blur of 1px if the cracks are that small ?[/QUOTE]

I didn't try that, but it gave me an idea! Median Filter and paint out the cracks with a Layer Mask!

Thanks, Dave!
-B