Photoshop tutorial: How to cut out hair from a complex background & recreate hair using brushes

 

 

As Unmesh Dinda of PiXimperfect says in a new video, "As of recording this video, there is no easy way to cut out hair from a busy background." Fortunately, while challenging, it's not impossible and there are numerous techniques and tools you can use inside Adobe Photoshop to cut out hair from a complex background and even convincingly recreate hair using advanced brush techniques.

Before using the techniques Dinda outlines in the video below, you can download the images he uses by clicking here. Further, if you need to brush up on how to use the pen tool in Photoshop, you should refer to his pen tool tutorial. As you may have guessed, the first step is to make a selection using the pen tool. With hard edges in the photo, Dinda recommends going for an accurate selection using the pen tool. With softer edges around the hair, you want to cut in a bit because you will be painting hair back in later. After making the selection and creating a new "subject" layer, the next step is creating hair brushes based on the subject's hair. To see how to create and use a hair brush, watch Dinda's full 35-minute tutorial below. To see more of his excellent Photoshop tutorials, be sure to visit the PiXimperfect YouTube channel.

(Via PiXimperfect)