can any one please tell me a good method for masking hair ready for a colour change.
edwinwrg

Welcome aboard, Ed.

There are many forum threads on this if you will search the forums on HAIR. Many of them will recommend the RUSSELL BROWN tutorial. Here's the LINK (http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html) and the masking tutorial is at the very bottom of the page.

Welcome EDWINWRG
Just some food for thought, no one button fix or method but you might find this discussion interesting:
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/photo-retouching/21510-hair-masking-flyaways-etc.html

Someone needs to police this (and probably other) forums to eliminate those who qant to advertise their business for free. I would not include photography or processing of photos in this request. I did not become a member here to find out where I could buy gold!

Dan, I've seen this post in several threads, and I'm sure the mods will delete it when they come across it. I've seen single entries such as this once in a great while, but this is the first time I have seen this in more than one thread here on RTP.

I'm not apologizing for it, I hate it as much as you do, but this is not typical.

XXXX YES, WOW gold.


Edited for language. Please remember this is a family forum.

Gary

Thanks for the link to the Russell Brown site. It was most helpful!

Malefic

Difficult hair selections are all time consuming procedures to pull off convincingly. There are no real shortcuts and there are a variety of techniques to mask hair in PS CS2-3. Depending on what the background is, the color of the hair and the style, all these factors will determine the workflow. Sometimes it takes 2-3 different techniques to get a good hair mask.

I know a guy who is a journeyman pre-press operator who has been given some nearly impossible hair jobs that had to go to press on high end magazine covers. Sometimes two artists work the same file, especially if it is one of the nearly impossible types, such as a dark/Afro hairstyle against a dark gray background. Very hard to get good separation. But the job has to be successful.

Fortunately the average hair masking job isn't going to press nor is it going to be that difficult to pull off. I had one masking job that was shot against a green screen and the knockout was fine, except the green screen bled into the blonde hair and then I had to deal with how to get the color right. There is always something which holds things up in a hair mask.

Learn to use the Extract Tool, Pen tool, channel masking, Apply Image, High Pass/Levels masking, Calculations, Channel Mixer.

And yes, Russell Brown's hair masking techniques are some of the best tutorials out there. I study them myself and apply them to my own workflow

Hey guys, great thread and some great tips. Can anyone please explain the calculations technique? I didnt hear about it before and I dont know what it means. And also The "apply image" one. If someone can just show me the right direction where to start, that would be really great.

I usually use select color range tool to select the background and than play around with curves on the mask, to get the selection right.

Does anyone know what is the "calculations technique" ?

Just google "Apply Image-photoshop"

Dont know if its proper to suggest special products...but I use Vertus Fluid Mask to be able to get individual fine hair cutouts with no halo's and minimal artifacting. I have used channels for years...but this software has a special blending brush that is able to work at the pixel level...and it doesnt need a special green or blue screen... although it does make things more challenging when you have complex hair next to a complex background obviously. Their website has video tutorials on the cutting techniques and a 30 day demo. I am able to see between individual strands of hair in the cutouts. It does cost money...but if you have enough volume or are doing any commercial applications...then the cost is very reasonable.

Thanks for the recommendation of Vertus Fluid Mask. I've heard others comment about it. I'll give it a try.

Thanks again.
Malefic