Photo Restoration. Before and After.

Haven't used "Corel Photo Paint", Mart so can't really comment.
I agree, that layer looks bad, as you say.
As long as the end result looks OK.

 

I like playing around with Gradients, for a bit of fun,too.
I like bright colours.

 

That's a good splash of colour Dougie. The image might look good printed, framed and hung on a wall.

I coloured the picture with the colour layer made mostly transparent so I could more or less see what difference the colour was making as it was applied. It was only when making the colour layer fully opaque that I realised how scrawly the colouring looked. But still, it is the end result that counts as you say.

Since you like to play with images too, it can be good to keep a few programs that are capable of doing it. I've been into it for a while now, so have a few of them. One that works well with mixing photo and vector drawing effects is Xara Photo & Graphics Designer. Sold at a price that doesn't break the bank (£50). I recently upgraded to the Pro version because Xara made an upgrade offer I couldn't refuse. The Pro version is 64-bit program and I hope this will overcome the occasional crash that can happen when doing lots of complicated effects without saving the work once in a while.

Inkscape (free) is not so intuitive but very good once you get into it. Following a few tutorials soon shows what pictures and effects the program is capable of.

I sometimes use the Home & Student version of CorelDraw (includes Photo-Paint). This is another good program for those who enjoy creating geometric colourful pictures, text effects etc.

 

Thanks for the tips on those programs, Mart.
I did try Inkscape, however I found it pretty limited, as you found.
That is a good idea making some of those Gradients for my office.
I want to change four as they are getting dated.
Each Gradient is original and can't be repeated exactly.
Photoshop lets me do this. Better than the boring normal gradients.

I did try colouring a Black and White Image.
Will post soon.
Don't throw rocks, as it is my first effort.

 

Wouldn't dream of it Dougie!

As regards Inkscape, I couldn't get it to do much at first, especially coming from Xara that I'd been using for a while. Then I tried a tutorial or two and kept thinking, "That's good" time and time again. All the tools and effects are there but maybe just not as user friendly as some programs I suppose.

 

This is the Black and White Photo, I am colourizing.
See how you go with this one,Mart.
Thanks for your tips.

And PSE Frank if he isn't too busy.
Anyone else would be great as well.
Frank gave me some hints, which were most appreciated.
We learn from each other.
This is a whole new ball game for me.

 

Didn't quite get the hairline right but had a go:

 

I had a go as well. I kept the buttons and badges and leather original.
What do you think for a first effort?
What software programs did you use, this time?
I used different colours for the shirt and tie. That was a PITB.
Your colourization looks great, Mart.

 

Looks good Dougie. I didn't know the hair colouring, so just hazarded a guess at at it being black. Also the brass buttons on his uniform. Is this handsome fellow a relative of yours?

Edit: Sorry, forgot to mention that it was done using Corel Photo-Paint.

 

Suppose the hair, eyes and uniform can be any colour of our choosing. Doesn't have to be authentic, IMO.
This one was good practice.
I found out who this guy was.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Second_Lieutenant_F_C_Aulagnier.jpg

 

I like both of the colourised images. Although the different shades of colour are mostly down to personal taste, although sometimes when doing
this for a client, they insist on accurate colouring of uniforms. This often involves dating the original images. This in turn can lead to
establishing what the hex codes are for any particular uniform. I think it's worth the effort though.

 

Hi Frank.
Glad you like the colourization.

I spent a lot of time, googling where this guy was attached, to try and find the correct colours.
Found this one, at this web address, however I don't know how authentic it is.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2d/8c/8a/2d8c8a6e63b5140256d997e3223e8c43.jpg

I can understand a client wanting originality.

 

I looked up the hex value for Khaki and used that but by the time I'd carried out a few adjustments with the layers merged, it turned out somewhat different. In retrospect, the Sam Browne belt should have been darker too.

When colouring a photo for someone you can talk to, it might be best to have several layers to work with. I did with this photo. There was a layer for hair, one for the uniform, one for skin. There could have been more ..maybe one for the Sam Browne. This way it would be possible to alter one colour of the photo without affecting the rest. Keep at it until the photograph's owner is happy with with the shadings.

I've done some restoring and colouring of photos for other people but mostly done them because it's interesting to do once in a while.

 

Hex codes do vary between different computers and monitors.
I get two different Hex codes with the one colour, on my monitors.
No clue as to the correct Hex codes, but shades are very close.
I think if you were restoring photos professionally, you would need to have your monitor colour calibrated.
Frank knows more about this, than I do.

PS. If I apply the suggested Hex code and I don't like it, I drop the opacity slider till I am happy with the shade, especially the skin colour.

 

This is another one if anyone wishes to try and colourize.
He was L.M. Arnold, Ships Surgeon, in the British Royal Navy, first World War.
Can't find anything on his uniform colour, so use your imagination.
The image is showing signs of age, quite sharp otherwise.
Good practice.

 

Hello Dougie - I'll have a go at this soon, just sorting out a few things in the home. I'm guessing the uniform would be Navy Blue. I think this colour is retained throughout all ranks ..except in hot areas where they all wear white of course. I'm also thinking that braiding is always gold.

 

Hi Mart.
No hurry in doing this colourization.
I have taken many age imperfections out so far, that's all I have done.
To me, looks like he is wearing some sort of a band around his waist, maybe because he is a Surgeon.
I am really not sure.

 

I took out dozens of spots and imperfections, including repairing the background.
This may be a better image to start the colourization with, Mart.

 

Another program I have is Serif's Affinity Photo. I thought I'd see how the procedure went using this when I try adding colour to the photo. It will do the job using colour transparency method but a couple of other ways have been shown on the Internet. The photo could end up keeping the depth/contrast in the photo that can get lost when colouring using the transparency/opacity method.

 

Hi Mart.
I will have a look at Affinity, and see how good it is.
Thanks for posting Links.