I have been doing a lot of restoration work for this lady and the other day she brought me in this one to have a copy made for her daughter. Well, after doing that I decided to play yesterday, since I had gotten caught up for the next 2 days, and try my hand at tinting an image. Well after I finished after 6 hours of constant interruptions from customers walking in I came up with this. The colors are close to actual since I quizzed her when she brought it in. This was kind of premeditated when I saw the portrait. I am giving her a copy of this framed for Christmas. And now posting it here for any suggestions ya'll might have. Thanks.. :) Doug

Figure I should show you the original I started with. Thanks again.. :)

Wow! Excellent work!

WOw! Wow! Expect she is going to love it. [I've never been able to make this sort of thing look natural. You are a Master!] I do like the original. As the photographer intended...

That's insane! I wouldn't even know where to begin with a project like that! Awesome job!

Would you mind giving some hints on how to do that? As some others around here, i don't have any idea on where to start .. Great work!!

Wow indeed! She can't help but love this. It is stunning.

Class job, Didgey - I know I for one would love to see the tones used here, coz mine always look so damn artificial.

Would you be willing to flatten the tone layers off and post it as an image with a white background? It would give us a great guide to the tones needed to get it looking this proffessional.

Cheers!

(",)

That is nice work, Doug! Really clean tint work. Can be tough. I've only really tried this type of thing once before (tinting a black and white image). I was happy with it, but I think I also needed to work on the technique more. Never did though ... hmmmm, now I can't remember why I didn't keep doing it. -=>Donald

Ummmm, thanks everyone. Not sure what to say now. Ya'll have left me speechless. I found that I really enjoy doing it. Thinking I will be bugging my mom for the old family photos to practice on over the winter now that I have one under my belt. For all those who asked I will post the colors and layer info in a new thread. I hope it helps. Donald, I love that shot and the way you colored it. A most excellent job. Thanks again.. :) Doug