Hair extraction techinques in Photoshop?

[Sonny]

OK..I am pretty good at extracting subjects from a photo, buuuuuuuuuut when it comes to extracting a subject and their hair...well that's another story. Let's just say I really stink. I tend to give the girls a buzz cut and it's not very flattening.

I have found some tutorials about his subject but they are done against a color. All my photos have busy backgrounds and the aforementioned technique does not work for me.

Can you help a brotha out?
-Sonny

[*Mike*]

I hate doing this kinda thing... It's rarely worth the effort, since it's sooo hard to make it work well. But, my best suggestion is a program like On One Mask Pro. Awesome plugin!

[RaymondShay]

In my experience it's almost imopssible to do against a busy background. What I do, is do the best I can in a reasonable timeframe,then use the Smudge tool with a Dry Media Brush and draw the hair out so that it looks natural.

I believe that if you have a female with wispy hair against a tree or something, a guy could spend days on it and never get it perfect. But the smude tool works great for repairing the errors...

Good luck with it!

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by *Mike*

I hate doing this kinda thing... It's rarely worth the effort, since it's sooo hard to make it work well. But, my best suggestion is a program like On One Mask Pro. Awesome plugin!

I hate those programs. They claims to be so great. MEH! I've bought and used Corel Knockout 2 and Fluid Mask. What a waste of money. Nothing against On One Mask Pro...I'm just very cautious about spending more money on shotty software that claims to be so wonderful.

[*Mike*]

There's definitely a learning curve. But, like I said, I hate doing this kind of thing since it can be such a PITA. I've had a lot more success with Mask Pro than just CS2 on it's own... I am interested in exploring CS3's extraction tools.

[pmemories]

Thanks Ray, I tried out that smudge idea and it worked wonders for me!

[NY10DGirl]

I hope it helps.
http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/AdvancedMasking.mov

[jon_k]

Originally Posted by NY10DGirl

I hope it helps.
http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/AdvancedMasking.mov

Thats Mac OS 7.5 and looks to be photoshop 5.0

Still a great tutorial. I'm happy photoshop hasn't changed too much over the years, so this tutorial is still relevant. Lots of work to preserve the hair though. I'm happy I've never had to do it before.

[CSebesta]

Way Cool!!!

You can tell all your friends that you have made my life much better.

Thanks,

Charles

[thelegend1472]

Great tutorial...that guy drove me crazy...yes, I know what you're thinking...amazing but true!

[NY10DGirl]

I'm glad it helped I know it looks kinda old but hey PS is PS

[AndrewCCM]

Originally Posted by thelegend1472

Great tutorial...that guy drove me crazy...yes, I know what you're thinking...amazing but true!

Good GOSH.. I had to just turn it off..

YOU ARE SO RIGHT.

[katiexjo]

Can anyone help me figure out how to get rid of the hair around the woman's neck on the left? I've spent 2 hours trying to figure it out, and my brain is tired. I sooo appreciate your input.

Thanks,

~KJ

[AndrewCCM]

[IMG]file:///H:/DOCUME%7E1/ADMINI%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///H:/DOCUME%7E1/ADMINI%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpg[/IMG]

Originally Posted by katiexjo

Can anyone help me figure out how to get rid of the hair around the woman's neck on the left? I've spent 2 hours trying to figure it out, and my brain is tired. I sooo appreciate your input.

Thanks,

~KJ

Here is my attempt...


Actually, I think its going to be a very tough thing to pull off. Not enough area there for realistic cloning IMO.

[snidow]

Originally Posted by thelegend1472

Great tutorial...that guy drove me crazy...yes, I know what you're thinking...amazing but true!

I'm not big on photo shopping but I did watch this and learned a couple of new things that I could find useful and will probably try doing as well, but dang this guy drove me bonkers I'm pretty sure I left kindergarten behind me years ago.