Cool Paramount Photo...

[toobfreak]

This one has the names of everyone in the picture.

Google Image Result for https://www.onlyolivia.com/memorabilia/presscut/assets/80s/1987-04-01-us-life-01.jpg

images.app.goo.gl

Thanks! I was trying to trace the faces down by facial recognition and other means and at best, getting nowhere!

 

[katsteve2012]

Thanks! I was trying to trace the faces down by facial recognition and other means and at best, getting nowhere!

I remembered seeing it when it was originally published long ago. Definitely an iconic photograph.

 

[toobfreak]

Here is an alternate take of the same photo I found, lower resolution, but I believe it was taken first and many heads are now looking at the camera giving alternate or better views of their faces, revealing some of the mystery people.

The people are:

 

[buttercup]

you go to a "great" Mexican restaurant and the salad dressing is what you talk about?....

I didn't say the word 'great' lol. (I probably shouldn't have even called the place 'really good') It's been a while but IIRC the food was good. But what always stood out was their salad dressing… which they're kind of known for, because it's unique and a secret recipe that they never give out, haha. Btw, the place is called Lucy's El Adobe cafe.

 

[toobfreak]

I remembered seeing it when it was originally published long ago. Definitely an iconic photograph.

Over the past several days off and on, I've played with that original photo, first taking and attaching the names copy/paste style then going back and removing all of the former unknowns with the real actor's names. Then I went through the roughly 10-12 people whose faces were totally or partially obscured such that they could not be identified by the photo and took their faces from another, alternate shot of the group where the image quality is not as good but gives a better, identifiable view of their faces and judiciously worked in the better face shots integrating them into the original photo so that the best available shot of each actor are all in the same shot!

This involved extensive reconstruction of the background as well as various parts of people's clothes, arms and things to blend it all together contiguously sufficient to pass itself off as a real photo. It actually worked out well in all cases except Bob Hope, who is so identifiable that even looking to the side, he is easily recognizable, but despite his face being of less good quality looking face on at the camera, I stayed with that shot because it was necessary to get a clear view of Debra Winger's face--- keeping Bob's original side shot and aligned with his body would have covered half of her face up again.

I also just now re-EQed the image to compensate for the overly dark tone of the actors in the original shot because of the bright white stone in the Paramount wall, slightly washing the background out slightly for better skin tone, contrast and detail in the actors themselves.

At any rate, the effort yielded a B+ or maybe an A-; it looks photo realistic at 1:1 and can withstand 200-300% zoom before my work really becomes visible. Not bad for a quickie. Here is the outcome, combining the best of the original, better photo with the alternate take giving the clearest views of all the faces in one shot together--- changes were made everywhere except in the front row as despite De Vito looking to the side, he is still readily identifiable and it wasn't worth losing this clearer shot of his face just for a face-on profile.

If you are having a hard time seeing my changes, here are some comparos highlighting some of the major revisions--- the new is on the left and the original shot shown to the right:

In this one, I was able to expose Ali McGraw's face and Jane Russel's face while keeping the better shot of Shatner's, too.

Olivia Newton John and Cindy Williams revealed:

Another major problem area was identifying Buddy Roger's hidden face talking to Bob Hope as well as bringing out Debra Winger's face better.

Like I said, Winger was smacking her lips or something and is just easier to identify despite the lower quality of her face but it came at the expense of also using the less good shot of Bob Hope's face as well, but it worked. Enjoy. Another USMB Exclusive.

 

[katsteve2012]

Over the past several days off and on, I've played with that original photo, first taking and attaching the names copy/paste style then going back and removing all of the former unknowns with the real actor's names. Then I went through the roughly 10-12 people whose faces were totally or partially obscured such that they could not be identified by the photo and took their faces from another, alternate shot of the group where the image quality is not as good but gives a better, identifiable view of their faces and judiciously worked in the better face shots integrating them into the original photo so that the best available shot of each actor are all in the same shot!

This involved extensive reconstruction of the background as well as various parts of people's clothes, arms and things to blend it all together contiguously sufficient to pass itself off as a real photo. It actually worked out well in all cases except Bob Hope, who is so identifiable that even looking to the side, he is easily recognizable, but despite his face being of less good quality looking face on at the camera, I stayed with that shot because it was necessary to get a clear view of Debra Winger's face--- keeping Bob's original side shot and aligned with his body would have covered half of her face up again.

I also just now re-EQed the image to compensate for the overly dark tone of the actors in the original shot because of the bright white stone in the Paramount wall, slightly washing the background out slightly for better skin tone, contrast and detail in the actors themselves.

At any rate, the effort yielded a B+ or maybe an A-; it looks photo realistic at 1:1 and can withstand 200-300% zoom before my work really becomes visible. Not bad for a quickie. Here is the outcome, combining the best of the original, better photo with the alternate take giving the clearest views of all the faces in one shot together--- changes were made everywhere except in the front row as despite De Vito looking to the side, he is still readily identifiable and it wasn't worth losing this clearer shot of his face just for a face-on profile.

View attachment 769396

If you are having a hard time seeing my changes, here are some comparos highlighting some of the major revisions--- the new is on the left and the original shot shown to the right:

View attachment 769405 View attachment 769406

In this one, I was able to expose Ali McGraw's face and Jane Russel's face while keeping the better shot of Shatner's, too.

Olivia Newton John and Cindy Williams revealed:

View attachment 769410 View attachment 769411

Another major problem area was identifying Buddy Roger's hidden face talking to Bob Hope as well as bringing out Debra Winger's face better.

View attachment 769415View attachment 769416

Like I said, Winger was smacking her lips or something and is just easier to identify despite the lower quality of her face but it came at the expense of also using the less good shot of Bob Hope's face as well, but it worked. Enjoy. Another USMB Exclusive.

That came out very good. I have a photo editing app on my desktop computer that my son installed, (he's a web designer who majored in graphic arts) I may start playing around with it after seeing the results you got.

Nice Work!

 

[braalian]

Why are they all pointing up?

 

[The Duke]

Why are they all pointing up?

Probably NOT doin' teh Allah sign.

 

[toobfreak]

That came out very good. I have a photo editing app on my desktop computer that my son installed, (he's a web designer who majored in graphic arts) I may start playing around with it after seeing the results you got.

Nice Work!

Thanks. But unless a miracle has happened in the interim, what I did was pure manual editing skill, at times down to the pixel level based on decades of experience as an advanced image-processing/analysis technician using an $800 Corel editing program from circa 1998!

But I would welcome hearing about your experiences!

It really behooves me to wonder why the photographer even took the original photo when so many people were either blocked behind other people or not even looking at the camera to get a clear shot of their faces!

 

[toobfreak]

Why are they all pointing up?

I'm assuming maybe the photographer at the studio's request had them all signify "Number One" indicating Paramount was the best. You know, marketing, competition, and public image there in LA.

 

[katsteve2012]

Thanks. But unless a miracle has happened in the interim, what I did was pure manual editing skill, at times down to the pixel level based on decades of experience as an advanced image-processing/analysis technician using an $800 Corel editing program from circa 1998!

But I would welcome hearing about your experiences!

It really behooves me to wonder why the photographer even took the original photo when so many people were either blocked behind other people or not even looking at the camera to get a clear shot of their faces!

That's a very good point, since so many faces in the photograph that you worked on were obscured. Perhaps the picture was taken with very little planing in advance?

As far as I go, I'm not skilled or experienced in editing at all, however my son was/is fascinated by anything related to photograph/ image editing from an early age, and before he left home to start college, he had a side business editing and enhancing old photographs for people when he was in high school.

I'll keep you posted on my progress although it may be very slow...lol.

 

[toobfreak]

That's a very good point, since so many faces in the photograph that you worked on were obscured. Perhaps the picture was taken with very little planing in advance?

My guess was that these actors are like children used to being fawned over and was lucky to get this much cooperation. I actually thought the alternate photo was better posed and maybe was even taken first but only a lower resolution copy has been published because some exec from Paramount was present and came up with the idea of taking a second shot with everyone pointing their fingers, perhaps pointing up at the Paramount sign or symbolizing their being "number one" in the industry--- you can imagine how all those studios compete, and that became the official photo despite many of them all laughing and turning and saying things to each other in humor.

At least that's my theory, but since the pointy picture was by far the sharper more detailed of the two, I went with it using as little of the alternate as possible.

As far as I go, I'm not skilled or experienced in editing at all, however my son was/is fascinated by anything related to photograph/ image editing from an early age, and before he left home to start college, he had a side business editing and enhancing old photographs for people when he was in high school.

My image processing days began with processing complex layered astrophotos usually created by combining dozens or hundreds of short, stacked images taking out artifacts and such from the optics and the camera and I eventually got involved in criminal forensic study of tampered and forged documents, both very interesting pursuits.

I'll keep you posted on my progress although it may be very slow...lol.

Basic photo repair and correction is largely automated now and many programs have simple sliders and such to fix most any common problem, but where it begins to get more interesting is when you get involved in image repair and data extraction.

Here's a photo of a planetary nebula published last year by NASA taken by the Webb space telescope on the left and a reprocess of it I did on the right mining for additional detail buried in the background:

And some image repair and restoration I did for someone's damaged family portrait once:

The one on the right was made from the photo at left. All fun stuff, very rewarding and with practice and skill can be a very diverse, variegated and lucrative field as I'm sure your son can attest! And you have the perfect teacher at hand to give you tips along the way!