Not sure if photo manip but...

[Madhatter]

Not so much a manip as a restoration but,

took a pic of my Great Gma & did some restoration (with the help of my cousin, cant take full credit on this part) and recoloring (this i did do all on my own) Some spots still need some work, like her hair, cut it short, and other spots but this brought tears to my Grandma and well i'm happy with it

[cc.RadillacVIII]

This is a manip indeed

You did a great job on most of the face with the shadows and all, except the right cheek (right for the viewer). It's supposed to be a highlight, not shadow. See her shoulder and hair highlight.
And as you said, the hair needs work and looks like plastic atm.
You did really great with the cleaning, I love the new background.
*takes of his hat and bow* great works so far and now keep polishing, restoration takes time.

[Madhatter]

Why thankyou kind sir/ma'am yea this was a homework assignment (got an A) a year or so ago for one of my classes, and i was very proud of it. I haven't really touched it since but i wanna fix her hair (add the part i cut off and fix that "plastic" look you pointed out) and her cheek, idk why i thought it shouldave been darker =X then print it out on glossy paper and mail it to my grandma.

Any suggestions on hair to get a more realistic look for her hair?

[cc.RadillacVIII]

Increase the highlights of the hair since it looks like you either burned it or painted it with grayish tone. Same goes for the dress highlight, make it brighter.
The hair is a really hard nut to crack but you could also try to add some sort of texture to make it more realistic and detailed.


ps. I'm a male, see my profile.

[KroniiK]

Not bad but Rad already told you what needs to be done...I've done a similar project before also...with my Grandma...it was a Black and White torn off....image...restored it fully...and colored it in ...It's actually fun doing this kind of work.

[Madhatter]

I agree KroniiK, i enjoyed doing this (as well as other one's i've done) might give this some touchups if i get some free time on Sunday

[Distello]

It pretty much is a manip, I guess you could say anything that changes the original image is a manipulation. I would zap out a bit more colour (not too much =P) and maybe add a bit more in the way of light areas with the dodge tool to match it more with the original photograph (looking mainly at the right cheek area here) and just general places where its very bright on the original.

Aside from that, its extremely well done, almost to a professional standard, you've managed to remove the ageing paper from the original brilliantly and the colours look pretty realistic. Well done man, really well done. =D