Pro methods of Retouching hair?

[mayday]

Does anyone have any advise on pro methods of removing crosshairs and stray hairs? To clone is'nt good and the healing tools not much better. I
've tried dodge and burn on a softlight gray layer, but that does'nt always work well.

I'd appreciate any tips or advice anyones willing to give!

[Ant]

Intensive, careful cloning. No healing. Sometimes utilizing darken mode. Often a nice piece of hair or curl is placed over trouble/rats nest areas. 81% of all the retouching I do is on hair campaigns of late.

If you are having trouble, you are not being careful enough or not putting in or willing to put in the time to do it right. Hair is just skin. It's all the same really. Critical time.

[mayday]

Thanks a lot for that information Ant. I really appreciate the advice from a pro like yourself. At least I now know the best method to follow

[edgework]

Originally Posted by mayday

Does anyone have any advise on pro methods of removing crosshairs and stray hairs? To clone is'nt good and the healing tools not much better. I
've tried dodge and burn on a softlight gray layer, but that does'nt always work well.

I'd appreciate any tips or advice anyones willing to give!

The cloning tool obliterates texture, the healing brush turns drastically different color and value combinations (like black hair on pale skin) into shapeless blobs. Combine the two, you get the best of both worlds. Clone out the drastic variations, then smooth over the transitions with the healing brush. It's never just a 1 or 2 step process. Sometimes you need to coax each small area back to where you want it to be. That's the problem with retouching, it's never dramatic, push-button stuff. Just small, simple moves, repeated over and over, building up the effect gradually.