Learning photo manipulation programs can take a long time. The first thing is learning to work with layers.
You are probably better trying to work at repairing scratches etc first by using the scratch remover and clone tools, and then working at replacing damaged areas. It is always worth getting the picture in the best possible condition before starting to color it.
Once you master that and get the hang of it, you should move on to coloring.
With coloring, it is best to have the highest resolution scan, and then convert the picture to grayscale before converting back to color and starting to color it.
Coloring a picture can often take 3-4 hours, and with practise you will learn the colors to use for faces/skin, gold buttons etc. To start with, it comes with trial and error.
There is no quick fix when learning photo manipulation. It takes a lot of time and practise. Why not try having a go on some of the pictures posted on the board.
There are some good tutorials on You Tube.
By the way - For a first attempt at coloring your picture, you have done really well and should be pleased with yourself.
Steve
Good advice there from Steve and not much to add other than i personally use Photoshop CC or PS6. I also very much do everything manual down to using the selection tool rather than lasso - then i refine the edges (refine selction option). As Steve says layers is key, and dont be afraid to add more layers to one selection - especially as your learning colours. Again echoing Steve, it takes time and practice and playing to get a trained eye for colour sets.
Once you have layers in place and dont forget to group all your layers. So if your working on a few people/figures group everything Person1 / Person 2 / Furniture / Background etc and add your individual layers into those groups. Manipulating each layer will then mean you can easily go back and change/modify set portions of the restore.
With high quality photos the colour process is far easier than old grainy/noise ladden photos, so the results are dramatic with colouring jobs based on the quality of photo.
I also agree your attempt at restore is great for first time, you should be proud - most old photos have a limitation so accept that you can only do so much with remove noise, blur etc once you have cleaned up as best as possible then you can spend hours and days even trying to retouch skins, textures etc.
One final piece of advice is when retouching skin and tones - you can use smudge but only on very low opacity other wise it will take out the texture of skin.materials etc. If you want to lighten an area use "dodge" and to darken "burn" again watch the opacity levels.
Another tip is in Photoshop at least you have a mixer tools, this is good for hairline and skin lines when you want to blend together the shades. On this tool remember to reset the swatch after each use as it can affect the colour your using to blend.
Most of all just try every tool in Elements or Photoshop whatever your using and accept that time and patience is needed. We all have different outcomes on every single picture, you will see on here from all restorers some do great on one and not so great on others...This is the time aspect.
Have fun learning and dont be scared to share and contribute on here - we are all still learning.
Regards
Martyn
