Rescued from fire, in need of repair

[puterman]

Just wanted to let you know that this is going to be a couple of weeks. It is very slow going and I can only spemd 4 or 4 hours a day on it. Attached a small sample of how it is going.

[willow154]

Hi Puterman,
It looks very promising - how nice of you and the others to repair it I am sure it is greatly appreciated. Look forward to seeing the end result.
Nice to have you join rootschat; I hope you enjoy it as much as I do - I'm sure you'll be a great asset.
Paulene

[Tricia_2]

Yes, that does look very promising.

I really will have to learn how to use my photo-editing packages to their best advantage.

[Tor6869]

Thany you so much puterman for your time and effort.....it will be very much appreciated 

[puterman]

It's my pleasure. I enjoy a challenge!

You could answer on thing perhaps? Did you recover the photo, and if so do you know if there was another on top? The reason I am asking is because the brown damage mark on the left hand side of the porch (facing it) does not appear to match the shadows, or anything else, in the photo. I think I can just make out a feint line of the l/h side of the entrance so I propose to rebuild this along that line. As for the bush, I really could not do anything with that so I hope you don't mind but I have replaced it with part of a hedge from my garden shrunk down to about 1/3 the size and toned down to try and match the photo.

Just keep this topic marked as it could be a few weeks before I get this finished - it is very time consuming.

Regards, David

[PaulaToo]

I take my hat off to you, puterman. Welcome to the Restorations department, I can see you will be well entertained here.

Well, I'm having a go, but it isn't coming out too well. I keep trying different ways and then chucking them out. Each time seems to get a bit better, but 'things' seem to keep coming out of the darkness that I don't understand, so I have to start trying to work it out.

I'll manage something...eventually....but it isn't going to be all that good...

[puterman]

Hi Paula, what software are you using? If it has layers try cloning the original photo, set the opcaity to 50% and the blend mode to 50%. This can help removing some of the 'clutter'. Viewing as a greyscale can also help determine shapes.

I'll manage something...eventually....but it isn't going to be all that good...

I am sure you will get there...eventually...and it will be fine!

All the best with it. David

[puterman]

opcaity

And that might even be opacity!!

[PaulaToo]

I'm still learning, puterman, which is the main reason why I like the difficult ones now and then. Your brain goes to sleep if you just do the easy ones, and at my age, my brain needs a kick start every now and then.
Thanks for the tip about the layers.