Photoshop can do wonders. One of those wonders is the ability to quickly change the hair color in a photo. In just a few steps, you can pick up and replace the hair color in a photo.
There are two types of photos where changing hair color is easy or difficult. Where the hairstyle is clean and the hair does not stick out, simply replace the color. But what happens if the tips of the hair develop in different directions due to wind or other factors?
In this tutorial, we have detailed how to replace hair color in complex photos. For those who deal with such photos, the rest can click like nuts.
The main tools used in Photoshop :
- Quick Mask
- Soft Brush
- Layer blending modes
- Refine Edges function
First select the desired photo
Let’s start with a quick lesson.
First, open the photo in Photoshop (CTRL+O). As an example, we have taken a picture of this beautiful girl. If you examine her hair, you will see that it is difficult, very long, and probably impossible to select each hair that sticks out with a simple selection.
Therefore, here another method is applied – a bunch of two functions – Quick Mask and Edge Adjustment.
The first function is used to select the general structure of the hair, and the second function is used to precisely match the selection to the smallest hair.
The first task is to highlight the hair using Quick Mask.
To display the Quick Mask function, press the Q key on the keyboard. The Quick Mask will appear in the tab you are working on (the picture is open in Photoshop).
You can use a brush to draw a selection in the QuickMask. Select the brush and set it as I did. The softness is 29% and the size is constantly changing. A small brush size is needed to highlight hard-to-reach areas. If you need to quickly select a large area, you need the opposite.
To quickly resize a brush, use the brackets on the keyboard. Also, you do not need to frequently call up the Brush Options menu to change the size.
Next, start painting with the brush on the hair. The mask will show the selected area with the brush in red. Paint all the hair as I did. Note the carelessness of the highlights at the ends of the hair. There is nothing to worry about here. You will see why. All we have done so far is to highlight the overall frame of the hair.
Now, to turn all of this into a selection, press Q on the keyboard. You will see the selection, but it needs to be inverted. To do this, press CTRL + SHIFT + I. Alternatively, go to the menu Selection – Invert. However, using the keyboard is much more profitable and saves time.
Selecting fine hairs, selection adjustment.
Adjust this selection so that it can be applied evenly to the hair easily without grabbing any extras, like at the moment.
To do this, click the Selection tool on the toolbar. At the top of the panel you will see the Adjust Edges button. Click on it.
There are many parameters here that need to be changed in extreme cases. For 90% of the time, they cannot be touched.
Just manipulate the brushes in this function. I circled the places that should be activated.
I indicated with arrows where I walked with the brush, but I had to use it several times in all places. This should be done naturally without closing the window on the function.
The essence of its working method is that you can review selected edges and highlight especially small details. Hair is exactly what you need.
Thoroughly work the function of the function to define the edges
After using the brush the image looked like this I am pleased with the result.
Note that I did not touch the inside, where the hair is in contact with the face. Using the brush on the quick mask allowed me to select a very high quality.
Next, in the Dialog box, click OK, and your selection is ready!
Click Ctrl+J to create a new layer and automatically place the selected hair. Working on another layer with the hair is much more productive. And we even recommend making a copy just in case.
Start changing the hair color.
You can safely proceed with the color change.
There are two best ways to change hair color
- With the help of tinting/saturation
- Use the adjustment layer on the hair.
Here is how the Tone/Saturation function works It can be called up using the Ctrl+U keyboard. Make sure you are working on the layer with the hair. Immediately put a box on the color parameters (coloring), you can twist the color tone and saturation parameters. This allows you to select the desired color.
Set the parameters as follows. Tone: 0, Saturation: 47, Brightness – 2. This makes it possible to create hair with a reddish tint.
A matter of taste – looks interesting. Blondes, brunettes, etc. – all the colors you need can be perfectly composed. An example is given at the end of the lesson.
The second method is the modification layer.
Suppose we have not yet changed the hair color. Create a new layer, click CTRL clamped to the layer with the hair, and click into the layered panel. A selection should appear.
If you do not understand the cause of the selection, you can perform the same operation differently. To do this, go to the hair layer and select the Selection menu item – Load Selection. Then go to the new clean layer.
Select a large brush, compose the color (we chose yellow) and paint on the new layer of the selection.
Next, set this layer to mix color (color) mix mode.
This allows the color to lie correctly on top of the hair layer and the hair color has changed. The effect is not a function of Tone/Saturation. At least it is much better for creating blonde hair.
And now I will show examples of using different colors and settings of color tones / saturation. They clearly reflect the fact that you can give your hair what you want with the help of the methods I have depicted.
And as a bonus, I will tell you a little unning secret.
Create two layers of different hair colors. With the help of a softly adjusted eraser, remove individual sections of the image, one higher than the other. This is how you can achieve interesting results.
The author of the lesson is Alexander Akimov