Select and extract fine details such as hair.

L
Posted By
Lycanthrope
Feb 15, 2008
Views
1297
Replies
6
Status
Closed
Hi,

Ive scanned the Photoshop Groups and havent found a conclusive answer to my problem.

Any help / advice / opinions much appreciated.

Ive got CS3 and think its the best software purchase Ive ever made!!

I consider myself a reasonable user of it, and have many books with tutorials, but for the life of me some things I cant get that Pro result from!

I shoot in a home studio, with coloured backdrops and various lighting options.

The main problem Im having is selecting and extracting fine hair from the background. Ive used the extract tool and channel isolation with mixed results.

What methods do you use and would you kindly help the community?

Many thanks,

Cal.

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B
br
Feb 15, 2008
"Lycanthrope" wrote in message
Hi,

Ive scanned the Photoshop Groups and havent found a conclusive answer to my problem.

Any help / advice / opinions much appreciated.

Ive got CS3 and think its the best software purchase Ive ever made!!
I consider myself a reasonable user of it, and have many books with tutorials, but for the life of me some things I cant get that Pro result from!

I shoot in a home studio, with coloured backdrops and various lighting options.

The main problem Im having is selecting and extracting fine hair from the background. Ive used the extract tool and channel isolation with mixed results.

What methods do you use and would you kindly help the community?
Many thanks,

Cal.
Here’s some links to start you off.
http://www.graphic-design-employment.com/hair-cutout-in-phot oshop.html http://www.gurusnetwork.com/tutorial/replace_background/ http://www.photoshopsupport.com/elements/tutorials/extract-h air/masking-tutorial.html http://www.devcustoms.com/hair-extraction.dev
J
Joe
Feb 16, 2008
Lycanthrope wrote:

Hi,

Ive scanned the Photoshop Groups and havent found a conclusive answer to my problem.

Any help / advice / opinions much appreciated.

Ive got CS3 and think its the best software purchase Ive ever made!!
I consider myself a reasonable user of it, and have many books with tutorials, but for the life of me some things I cant get that Pro result from!

I shoot in a home studio, with coloured backdrops and various lighting options.

The main problem Im having is selecting and extracting fine hair from the background. Ive used the extract tool and channel isolation with mixed results.

What methods do you use and would you kindly help the community?
Many thanks,

Cal.

Hair isn’t a simple way to extract, but you will need of of masking skill plus many different tricks to hide the error.

– For displaying you can get around with some dirty trick, but for printing (especially large print) then you will need lot of pratice and different skills.

– The commercial video tutorial Lynda Mask & Channels covers many different techniques, and pretty well. Because I have developed my very own technique and been using for many years, so I don’t use any of the Mask & Channels, but I saw several clips and they are pretty good.

– There are pretty good Masking plug-ins called EZ-Mask and Fluid Mask. They are pretty good in general, but you still need to use your own skill’s to hide some error.

– Learning to paint, or using Hair Brush as well as layer trick to hide the error. IOW, you will need to use multiple tricks to deal with hair (especially flying hair which I rarely do).

Yes, I have seen quite afew video tutorial but most of them ain’t worth the time, or most try to show off (for displaying not for printing)
K
KatWoman
Feb 17, 2008
"Joe" wrote in message
Lycanthrope wrote:

Hi,

Ive scanned the Photoshop Groups and havent found a conclusive answer to my problem.

Any help / advice / opinions much appreciated.

Ive got CS3 and think its the best software purchase Ive ever made!!
I consider myself a reasonable user of it, and have many books with tutorials, but for the life of me some things I cant get that Pro result from!

I shoot in a home studio, with coloured backdrops and various lighting options.

The main problem Im having is selecting and extracting fine hair from the background. Ive used the extract tool and channel isolation with mixed results.

What methods do you use and would you kindly help the community?
Many thanks,

Cal.

Hair isn’t a simple way to extract, but you will need of of masking skill plus many different tricks to hide the error.

– For displaying you can get around with some dirty trick, but for printing
(especially large print) then you will need lot of pratice and different skills.

– The commercial video tutorial Lynda Mask & Channels covers many different
techniques, and pretty well. Because I have developed my very own technique
and been using for many years, so I don’t use any of the Mask & Channels, but I saw several clips and they are pretty good.

– There are pretty good Masking plug-ins called EZ-Mask and Fluid Mask. They
are pretty good in general, but you still need to use your own skill’s to hide some error.

– Learning to paint, or using Hair Brush as well as layer trick to hide the
error. IOW, you will need to use multiple tricks to deal with hair (especially flying hair which I rarely do).

Yes, I have seen quite afew video tutorial but most of them ain’t worth the time, or most try to show off (for displaying not for printing)

russellbrown advanced masking tutorial
watch and follow along step by step
not simple but can be done

example is guy with cowboy hat
on a plain gray backdrop

uses a combo of channels pasted and dodge and burned
not quick not that easy
but it works

http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html
at bottom of this page

http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/AdvancedMasking.mov
L
Lycanthrope
Feb 27, 2008
Many Many thanks for the info.

I have upgraded my backgrounds for shots taken where the client wants me to extract them and put onto other types of background, mostly wacky type shots!

Also invested in Mask Pro software which Im finding very powerful.

Cheers and respect.

Callum (UK)

On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:35:25 -0500, "KatWoman" wrote:

"Joe" wrote in message
Lycanthrope wrote:

Hi,

Ive scanned the Photoshop Groups and havent found a conclusive answer to my problem.

Any help / advice / opinions much appreciated.

Ive got CS3 and think its the best software purchase Ive ever made!!
I consider myself a reasonable user of it, and have many books with tutorials, but for the life of me some things I cant get that Pro result from!

I shoot in a home studio, with coloured backdrops and various lighting options.

The main problem Im having is selecting and extracting fine hair from the background. Ive used the extract tool and channel isolation with mixed results.

What methods do you use and would you kindly help the community?
Many thanks,

Cal.

Hair isn’t a simple way to extract, but you will need of of masking skill plus many different tricks to hide the error.

– For displaying you can get around with some dirty trick, but for printing
(especially large print) then you will need lot of pratice and different skills.

– The commercial video tutorial Lynda Mask & Channels covers many different
techniques, and pretty well. Because I have developed my very own technique
and been using for many years, so I don’t use any of the Mask & Channels, but I saw several clips and they are pretty good.

– There are pretty good Masking plug-ins called EZ-Mask and Fluid Mask. They
are pretty good in general, but you still need to use your own skill’s to hide some error.

– Learning to paint, or using Hair Brush as well as layer trick to hide the
error. IOW, you will need to use multiple tricks to deal with hair (especially flying hair which I rarely do).

Yes, I have seen quite afew video tutorial but most of them ain’t worth the time, or most try to show off (for displaying not for printing)

russellbrown advanced masking tutorial
watch and follow along step by step
not simple but can be done

example is guy with cowboy hat
on a plain gray backdrop

uses a combo of channels pasted and dodge and burned
not quick not that easy
but it works

http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html
at bottom of this page

http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/AdvancedMasking.mov

J
Joe
Feb 28, 2008
"KatWoman" wrote:

"Joe" wrote in message
Lycanthrope wrote:

Hi,

Ive scanned the Photoshop Groups and havent found a conclusive answer to my problem.

Any help / advice / opinions much appreciated.

Ive got CS3 and think its the best software purchase Ive ever made!!
I consider myself a reasonable user of it, and have many books with tutorials, but for the life of me some things I cant get that Pro result from!

I shoot in a home studio, with coloured backdrops and various lighting options.

The main problem Im having is selecting and extracting fine hair from the background. Ive used the extract tool and channel isolation with mixed results.

What methods do you use and would you kindly help the community?
Many thanks,

Cal.

Hair isn’t a simple way to extract, but you will need of of masking skill plus many different tricks to hide the error.

– For displaying you can get around with some dirty trick, but for printing
(especially large print) then you will need lot of pratice and different skills.

– The commercial video tutorial Lynda Mask & Channels covers many different
techniques, and pretty well. Because I have developed my very own technique
and been using for many years, so I don’t use any of the Mask & Channels, but I saw several clips and they are pretty good.

– There are pretty good Masking plug-ins called EZ-Mask and Fluid Mask. They
are pretty good in general, but you still need to use your own skill’s to hide some error.

– Learning to paint, or using Hair Brush as well as layer trick to hide the
error. IOW, you will need to use multiple tricks to deal with hair (especially flying hair which I rarely do).

Yes, I have seen quite afew video tutorial but most of them ain’t worth the time, or most try to show off (for displaying not for printing)

russellbrown advanced masking tutorial
watch and follow along step by step
not simple but can be done

example is guy with cowboy hat
on a plain gray backdrop

uses a combo of channels pasted and dodge and burned
not quick not that easy
but it works

I have looked at Russell Brown’s Advanced Masking and it’s kinda ok, and still have lot more to go yet. Like I mentioned in other message that if anyone wanna learn more about Masking, and many different techniques then Lynda Mask & Channels is a very good video tutorial product.

I usually don’t like Total Training and Lynda video tutorial because about all of them kinda cheating, using low-rez image and fool newbie with some dirty quick repairing technique. But the Mask & Channels does cover many small detail of many different masking technqiues.

The video tutorials covers different techniques like, Channels, Channel Mixer, Select Color, Dodge/Burn, and quite afew more, and many different combinations.

http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html
at bottom of this page

http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/AdvancedMasking.mov
K
KatWoman
Feb 29, 2008
"Lycanthrope" wrote in message
Many Many thanks for the info.

I have upgraded my backgrounds for shots taken where the client wants me to extract them and put onto other types of background, mostly wacky type shots!

Also invested in Mask Pro software which Im finding very powerful.
Cheers and respect.

Callum (UK)

YW
nice you came back to report
such politeness is rare here

SNIPPED

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