I have a photo where the subject's black hair doesn't really stand out from the dark background. I'd like to add a hair light and have managed to isolate the subject from the background onto a layer of its own.

How can I create the hair light? What I did so far was use lighting effects to create a soft omni behind the subject, but this appears to only lighten the background, and it doesn't give me a halo around the fringes of the subject's hair.

Hi, there!

Would you be able to post a sample of the image you are attempting to "light up"?

Here you go:

http://tn3-1.deviantart.com/fs25/300W/f/2008/042/f/3/Checkmate_by_Sausage69.jpg

The image is really too small to do anything with. If you could post a larger image file you it would be helpful.
~Nancy

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www.PhotoArt123.com

U can get the mask of lights from the channels and use them as mask of a screen layer and U can change the "color ballance" -masked as well in a layer- at the shadows to eliminate the hair from the bckgnd

Paint in highlights with a white brush on a layer above. Use an opacity of about 30 for the brush and set the blend mode to Overlay with layer opacity about 12-15 or adjust to taste.

I used the dodge tool set to highlights on her hair then added a color fill layer filled with a light blue. Used a hide-all layer mask and revealed only the hair. Blending mode set to color. You can use the Hue/Saturation adjustment to change the color if you want it warmer.