Hello

Trying to create a mask of the girl in the photo. Have tried using the "quick mask" tool and have got OK results would like to know how the "experts" here would tackle it.

The area I am having the most diffiuclty with is the girls hair against the tree trunk.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi BBBS, don't think you'll get too many takers on this one.

Hair is difficult at the best of times, but when it is against a very similar coloured background, and a textured background at that, then the selection becomes realistically untenable.

You asked how the experts would deal with it. Well most of them would'nt of got into that situation in the first place. If you really wish to do an extraction, shoot your subject against a contrasting background.

If anyone does manage a good selection with this image, I'll be very interested in how they did it.

Gave it 10 minutes.

Layer Mask
Paint on the Layer Mask to block it out
Smaller brush with reduced Opacity
paint some more

Once mostly happy with the Layer Mask, clip a new layer to it and paint some of the halo out.

Not the greatest, but not bad for the time I gave it.
Remember, especially for something like this, have the new background in place before you get seriously into the mask.

BTW, it is rather hard to see her hair against that tree.
Liberty and poet license and stuff.
ack

Thanks for all of your help, as Gary says it's not a great photo for this, unfiortunately it's the only one i have for this project.

Thanks again.

Looks like your only real option with this one is to do a manual select. Quick mask would be my first choice. Do your selection on the generous side and copy to another layer, then apply a layer mask and refine your selection using black and white brushes, its easier to correct mistakes this way. Try varying opacity and hardness of brushes when working close to fine hair areas.

Lastly, to get some of the stray hairs back, try using the smudge tool, and flick "hairs" out from the edge of your selection, taking care to note the direction the hair lies. If done carefully, it can sometimes give realistic results.

Best of luck with your effort.

Hi BBBS,

Stroker did a very good job with the hair mask!

What I did is a combination of Stroker's and Gary's methods ...

What Stroker said :
BTW, it is rather hard to see her hair against that tree.
Liberty and poet license and stuff. ... and here is what I managed to do ...

Really nice selection round the hair Flora, I suspect you've been using some of your custom "Hair" brushes again. They really do work well.

Hi Gary,

thanks for your feedback!!!

I wouldn't call what I used a 'hair brush' as it consists of a few dots only ... here (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15741) you can see what it looks like .....

They really do work well
Did you manage to 'translate' the CS only hair brushes? .... If Yes, how? .... I could use the technique to 'translate' the lashes brushes as well ....

With the CS brush, I saved the image you posted, opened in PS7, cropped to see just the brush pattern, then did an Edit/Define Brush. Haven't had chance to use it properly yet to see how effective it is.

Did the same with your eyelash brushes, and they work beautifully.