Photoshop Tutorial: Isolating Fuzzy or Wavy Hair

Photoshop can be used for many things and is truly a powerful tool.� People and professionals have used it to edit pictures: getting rid of unwanted skin blemished, creating abstract art, or even placing people in places they've never been by editting the photo!

Almost anything can be isolated in photoshop so that it can be placed in almost any environment.� There are many ways to do this, such as using the selection tools or the pen tool.� However, when it comes to such things as hair, it becomes extremely difficult to preserve the natural feel and look.� There are many ways to do this, but I have found that this technique created the best results.� Using this technique will alow anyone to confidently isolate portraits of people with wavy or fuzzy hair.

This technique however requires that the background be a solid color.� It is possible to do it with a multi colored background, but it becomes more tricky and difficult.� For sake or length and simplicity, I will only cover what to do with a solid colored background.

Step 1.� Channels
Look at the Channels tab and look for the the channel with the most amount of contrast and texture.� Once you find the channel you want, duplicate it.� Using the "levels" or "curves" adjustment, adjust the channel so that there is a high level of contrast.� Don't push it too far or else you will lose a lot of the fine detail.� Push it enough so that the white is truly white and the darker blacks are truly black.

Step 2.� Color
After that is done (There should still be detail visible on the face, etc.), select out the parts of the portrait you want to keep minus the hair and color it black.� Then color the face black with a soft edge brush, this will create a nice transitition between the hair and the face.� Once that is done, change the brush type from "normal" to "overlay", decrease the opacity and gently go over the hair, slowly making it darker and darker.� Try and get it to near black as possible.