Wispy Hair: follow-up
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Tip #107
Wispy Hair: follow-up
Lonnie sent (via clandjop.com) this follow-up to last month's "Whispy Hair" piece in PST&T
In response to Ken Church's request for help with selecting hair I refer to a tip that can be found in the March 98 issue of Image Club. Here it is verbatim:
- 1) Make a rough selection that includes the hair.
- Copy and paste this to a new layer.
Name it Multiply Layer.
Then copy this layer again, and name it Hair.- 2) Chose the dodge tool.
- For dark hair on a light background, set the tool to Highlights and about 50% exposure. Dodge over the hair strands until the background of the selection is completely white.
- 3) Turn off the view of the Hair layer.
- Command-click (Windows: control-click) the Multiply layer to select all the pixels on it.
Fill this with white using the paint bucket or by choosing Edit>Fill>White.- 4) Select the Hair layer, and choose Multiply as the layer option.
- Then make the Multiply Layer the active layer, but leave the Hair layer visible.
Using the eraser tool with a soft edge, erase the white portion just into the main body of the hair.- 5) You now have hair that will be sharply defined over any background.
- Add any intermediate layers- such as backgrounds or colors blends- over your bacground layer but beneath the Hair layer.
This technique works very well.
The exposure of the dodge tool will have to be adjusted according to how dark or light the hair is. In effect you will be creating a contrasting mask that will allow the hair to show through but block out all unwanted areas when the blending mode is applied. Kind of like using quick mask mode but much more precise.
Hope it can help Ken.
A big thank-you goes out to Lonnie for sending this one in!