Advanced_Photoshop_141_-_2015_UK_

CREATIVE HAIR RETOUCHING TECHNIQUES

DISCOVER HOW TO MANUALLY PAINT LIFELIKE

HAIR FOR YOUR PHOTO COMPOSITIONS

CREATIVE HAIR

RETOUCHING

I

n this tutorial you will learn how to paint realistic

hair into a composite in order to create a life-like

final image. Often painted hair can look

completely flat and unrealistic, this is usually

down to the image being too difficult to mask

properly or just simply because the artist didn’t have

the right skills and knowledge.

Knowing how to paint hair realistically is an

essential skill when it comes to compositing images,

as it enables you to add life to your creation.

Discover how to use masking, adjustment layers

and brushes to manually paint hair onto an image of a

lady as we take you through all of the steps you need

to achieve this creative image. We took this technique

to the extreme by using Photoshop CC and a digital

tablet to re-create a modern-day Rapunzel.

Once you have mastered the skills required for

painting believable hair, you’ll be surprised at how

effective it can be and how you’ll be able to adapt your

new skills to other difficult objects.

FROM CONCEPT TO

FINISHED IMAGE

WORK IN

PROGRESS

Progress 1: Create the

environment and background

Progress 2: Roughly paint

the shape of the hair

Progress 3: Check all

details and make final edits

LEO ROSAS MORIN

leorosasphoto.com

@leorosasphoto

OUR EXPERT

Leo is a professional photographer

with more than ten years of

experience, his main influences are

urban sports and young lifestyles.

He is currently based in Austria and

is the head photographer at an

international agency providing

photography, post-production and

training services.

SOURCE FILES

On http://www.filesilo.co.uk/

advancedphotoshop you will find

the original image of the model and

the different images used for

composing the environment.

SKETCH, PLAN AND EXECUTE

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE IMAGES NEEDED OR SHOOT YOUR OWN

01

SKETCH YOUR IDEA

It is always good to sketch your ideas out

before you begin, this way you will be able to

organise your idea and better understand what you

are trying to achieve. It also helps if you are working

with models or assistants as having a sketch will

help you to give clear directions.

02

MATCH THE LIGHT

Whether you are shooting your own images

or you are using existing images for your

composition, it is extremely important to analyse the

direction and quality of the light. In general a soft and

neutral light will always be easier to work with and

will give you flexibility to affect shadows and

highlights in Photoshop manually. Here we have

decided to have our main light coming from the top

right of our image, so the main light during the shoot

was placed accordingly and the images used for the

composition were selected to be either neutral or

with a similar lighting setup.

03

MAKE RAW ADJUSTMENTS

It is recommended that you shoot your

images in RAW. This means you have access to all of

the information that your camera is able to capture,

giving you the flexibility to make non-destructive

adjustments. Make any necessary edits to exposure,

white balance and anything else that needs to be

tweaked. Avoid pushing sliders to the extremes,

especially Clarity, which can result in bad quality.