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Extracting images from their source photographs, manipulating them, and then
placing them into another document is a widely used function of Photoshop, and a
staple of graphic professionals in many different creative positions. As
the experts will tell you, however, this task is not as easy as merely using the
'Extract' tool, especially when human hair or animal fur is involved. This
tutorial details an simple yet devious workaround for times when you need to
mask out hair/fur, but don't want to spend lots of time with your image and/or
splash out on expensive dedicated plug-ins.
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Step 1:
Open up your source image in Photoshop and zoom in to a comfortable
magnification - you will need to get rather close to the image for this
entire tutorial. Duplicate the background (i.e. image layer)
and make it active in the layer palette. This will give you a
backup to go back to in case you have any problems later.
As you can see, we have lots of stray hairs against a blue background. Nasty
stuff really, and to use the Eraser Tool or quick mask mode to select each
hair would take forever, giving us a result that would still look poor even
after all that effort. |
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Step
2: Whip out the Pen Tool with the 'Paths' option set and begin
tracing the character outline, making sure that you exclude all areas of
background color. Don't worry about leaving the stray hairs outside -
that's ok, as we'll be making new ones later. |
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Step
3: Once you've finished your tracing and have a complete geometric shape
(i.e. the path end and beginning are connected), click with your right mouse
button inside the path and select ”Make selection” from the mini-menu
that appears. This should give you a selection around your image that
resembles something like the image to the left.
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Step
4: Now delete the selection and create a layer directly beneath your
image layer filled with a sharply contrasting color. In my example I've
chosen black because it contrasts well with the blonde hair. Now pick up
your Smudge Tool and set the tip to a hard 2px brush, with a strength
of 85%, 'finger painting' unchecked, & blending mode set to
Normal.
TIP: Using higher Strength values make hairs longer and more visible,
while lower values make them shorter and more transparent). I usually use
values between 80 and 90%. If you have a pressure sensitive tablet and pen
you simplify this process greatly. |
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Step
5a: Now place the cursor just inside the hair, press and hold your left
mouse button, and pull out a ”stray hair”. You should create something that
resembles the image to the right below - It's not much, but it all adds up
in the end! The real trick is to make the single hairs look like they
are actually part of the whole and not just 'stuck on frizz'. This can
take a bit of practice, but is easier if you have the original image nearby
for reference. Remember to use higher Strength values to make
longer and more visible hairs.
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 Step
5b: Continue smudging hairs and details into the image.
To the left you'll see a part of the image before smudging, to the right the
same area after being smudged. A world of difference isn't it? The
best part of this technique is that you recreate the blurry edges on hairs
also present in the source photos, giving them a superior sense of realism.
Another bonus is that you can change the background to any color and still
get great results. |
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Step
6: After a bit of work you should be able to hide your color contrast
layer and end up with something that resembles my image to the left.
To make the hairs you created more visible you can use the layer via copy
command (Layer > New > Layer Via Copy) - Since the hairs are
semi-transparent, adding more layers will make them more and more visible. |
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Step
7: Now all you have to do is add a new background beneath your cut out
image, and you are done! Quick AND believable - two words you
don't often see together in a sentence! ;)
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- Tutorial written by Little T
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User: mary (#45633)
Date: Fri Oct 26, 2007. 09:06:57 | Post #17 of 17 |
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Now the hair looks a bit weird...
maybe just a little touch up will do.. |
Reply to this post |
User: pshopper (#40188)
Date: Tue Apr 03, 2007. 16:00:49 | Post #14 of 17 |
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I'm sure this kind of work would be much easier with the aid of a graphics tablet. |
Reply to this post |
User: khierl (#39321)
Date: Tue Mar 13, 2007. 19:10:05 | Post #13 of 17 |
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great tutorial, a good combination of masking and the smudge tool can get you a long way in a short time. |
Reply to this post |
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