Removing scratches on a ring.

[brokenangel816]

Anyone able to give me some tips for removing some of these major scratches on this ring? The ring really isn't that scratched in person but for some reason the digital camera he used to take the picture made it appear that way. Any help/tips would be great!! I'm attaching a couple photos for you. Thanks!


http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...7/talkring.jpg


http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...ty07/ring3.jpg


http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...07/ring2-1.jpg

[DAL]

I suggest you zoom in so you can see the area closely and use the Clone Brush to edit out what you dont want.

[soenda]

Sorry to delay in getting back to you. I hope this is still a topic of interest.

I found that for me, enlarging the photo, selecting the bits of metal band and running the Edge Preserving Smooth filter was the best way to remove the apparent scratches.

However, it bothered me that there was relatively little definition to the stones themselves and that's what sent me on a quest. Ultimately what worked best was to make a duplicate layer of the ring, add contrast through levels, then use a setting of Unsharp Mask I had never noticed. It's called "Increase Definition," although you can simply enter these values: radius 2.0; strength 210; clipping 4.

That over exaggerated the stones' various cuts and facets, so I blended the new layer into the original using the Luminance mode at a setting in the 40s. That brought back a few of the scratches in the metal, which I addressed with the Softening brush. I also used the Light/Dark brush to coax back the gleam in the metal. Finally I used a Clarify setting of 2 and after conversion from psp file format back to jpeg, I applied a light unsharp mask setting of radius 2; strength 40 and clipping 2.

To be honest, by spending more time and care you would certainly come up with a finer result. When I compare this doctored version with your original, it seems rather coarse, but on the right direction. Things like playing with the layer blending amount might make a big difference.

One more thing. I felt that the foam on which the ring is resting was competing with the sparkling of the stones and the gleam of the metal, so I blurred that with the softening brush.

Anyhow, here it is. I hope that this is useful to you. It was fun trying the various approaches.

[brokenangel816]

Wow, thats amazing! I messed with it for awhile and got too frustrated, lol. Thanks so much for the tips! I'll be playing around with that some more today!!