How To Cut Out Complex Hair In Photoshop

On this video tutorial Aaron Nace from Phlearn demonstrates how to make a perfect hair selection in Photoshop.

Just like anything else in Photoshop, there are many ways to perform accurate hair selections. On this video Nace demonstrates a way that uses channels and layer masks to make an accurate selection of hair from a pretty complex hair.

One of the most important steps after you actually cut the hair is to find a way to take care of the fringing that happens just around the hair (that thin white color around the edges). This can be done with blend mode “darken” and the clone stamp tool on a new clipping mask layer.

We have looked at how to make fine hair selections in the past on several different videos aimed at different levels of photographers/image editors – Photoshop senior product manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes had a very nice simple guide for beginners entitled “How to Make Fine Hair Selections in Photoshop” while both Jesús Ramirez with “Advanced Hair Selection Tutorial – Masking Hair In Photoshop” and Michael Woloszynowicz with “How To Quickly Remove Stray Hairs in Photoshop” had some more in-depth guides.

You can find many more Photoshop video tutorials on LensVid’s Photoshop section (and you can find a lot more Phlearn videos on our special Phlearn subsection).

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.