A bird that needs hair

[Donamai]

Keyword: Hair Extraction bird

Hello


I was wondering if there is a good exact way to extract this bird with all his hairs or at least some of them.

I have used the extraction tool but it does not work on me. I have tried creating a very detailed extraction line but no matter how I do it, it never comes out at least the way I want it.

I have tried also with the channels to see if I can come up with a good mask but no luck. I have not master the skill of using the channels for extraction so I still get bad edges.

I did a research here to see if some have posted something similar and I did found some info but it seems that the link given does not work any more.
Here is the thread:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...ght=extracting

What could I do to at least come up with some good image of it? Any good sugestions?
I will follow any good tutorials if there is a good one on how to extract things like this.

Thank you for your time.

[Arandel]

I do believe this tutorial could apply to your dilemma: http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161074.

[Donamai]

Hi,

Thank you Arandel for your the info. I tried to do it with the information in the link but I don't think the result is perfect. Maybe I am not doing it right.

Could there be anyother way to extract this?

Thank you

[Daviskw]

Hi Don

I did this real quick so not the best. I duplicated the blue channel. Then used apply to add to itself in the colorburn blend mode.

Then using black and white brushes I continued to separate the white foreground and the black background. When over the hair I used a brush set to overlay and 50 percent.

I then ctrl clicked to load the selection...clicked RGB and then to layers. I duplicated the background and applied the selection to a mask.

Then it is just a refine mask with levels or brushes set to black and white.


Butch

[mistermonday]

Don,
My approach was very similar to Butch's. I duplicated the Blue channel and applied a simple levels to it. Then just painted with black and white, and dodged and burned. I did a sloppy 5 min job to see the potential. If you take your time, you should be able to make a really good mask of the Bird.
Regards, Murray

[Donamai]

Hi you all!!

I have to thank DavisKw and MisterMonday for taking the time to post their help.

THANK YOU!!!

I spent some time trying it and I did see something I like to extract. Those hairs give you a whole lot of time to work with... don't they?

I would like to master this skill of extracting throught the Channels but as I see now, it is not easy.

I had some minor problems when trying to add the eyelashes of the bird but I did not mind that much. I could not help but see that the problem has to be taking care of with patience but it anyone has the time to add more on how to solve it please feel free.

I have posted the result with a different background to see if anyone could tell where I could add or extract some of the hair. Also, I marked where the eyelash needs to be masked I tried with the brush but you can still see the background through it and the blurry part of the brush I used.

Thank you again!!!

Again if anyone has more information on how to extract an object with hair please post it. Your help would me and others.

[Gary Richardson]

To fine tune your mask, try painting on the edges with a black or white brush set to about 5-10% opacity (finer if needed).

White will reveal a bit more, black will hide a bit. Useful when the difference between subject and background is very slight.

Another way is to click on the mask to make it active, then use levels on it. Adjust the centre slider to the left to enlarge mask a touch, right to diminish it a tad.