Advanced_Photoshop_141_-_2015_UK_

(Ben Green) #1

CREATIVE HAIR RETOUCHING TECHNIQUES


DISCOVER HOW TO MANUALLY PAINT LIFE LIKE


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.
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