Cutting Out Images With Hair or Fur - Photoshop Tutorials | Photoshop Contests

Dookie · 03-06-2008, 02:26 AM

This tutorial demonstrates an easy, fairly quick way, to cut subjects with hair, fur, or any other stringy matter from a background.

We will also cover a very basic way to improve the quality of a small image increased to about twice it's original size.

Additionally, I'll show how to make said cut-out blend easily with just about any color background.

Giving Peppers Hair

I chose the legendary Brian Peppers as the subject of this lesson, but feel free to follow along with any other hairy image.

Unfortunately the only pic of the Pep-dawg we have is a low-res, pixelated one.
Being as such, it is a prime candidate for our Hair Restoration tutorial, chiefly because it makes blending our faux hair in with the real deal a snap.

The original image was 250x282, much too small to use in larger backgrounds. Our first step is to enlarge it to a more workable size by going to Image\Image Size, and with the Constrain Proportions box checked, type in 512px as the width.

As always, I duplicate the Background Layer (Ctrl+J or Right Click while on the Layers Palate), and hide the original. Then create a Layer Mask from the menu or by clicking the icon in the Layers Palate (see below).

Select the Brush Tool (B) with the above settings to mask around Peppy, adjusting the size (the bracket keys [ ] do this with a quickness) as needed to get tight areas. Don't worry about the hair detail so much, just try to mask around the cow-licks and make sure to remove all of the lighter colored areas.

I find creating a black layer under the one being masked helps greatly with this (select the Background Layer, then click the New Layer button on the Layers Palate, or do it from the Layers menu).

When finished, go ahead and right click the masked layer and select Apply Layer Mask.

Next, since the enlarged image is a little rough, we'll touch it up a bit. A quick way to do this is to duplicate the layer (Ctrl+J), then go to Filter\Blur\Surface Blur, with both the Radius & Threshold set at 5.

Now set the Blending Mode to Soft Light, and drop the Opacity & Fill levels both to 80%.

Next, go to Image\Adjustments\Brightness/Contrast and use the following settings:

If you put a black layer under the Peppers cut-out, you'll notice the edges of the hair got a little bright on us. This is easily enough remedied using the Burn Tool (O) on it's default settings. I used a small (10px) brush on the very edge of the hair on the Adjustment Layer (the one we set to Soft Light) and the bottom cut-out layer. Be careful not to stray too far into the hair on this bottom layer, I used a soft (0% Hardness) brush and just grazed the edges.

Now merge the two cut-out layers (Ctrl+E). Create another new layer above the cut-out, & make sure that all background layers are hidden. Select the Smudge Tool (R), and apply the settings below:

You'll notice in the screen shot above that I've used the Smudge Tool (R) to streak the existing hair outward from the head. Do this as randomly as possible (especially since Mr. Peppers has bed-head) for a more natural look. Don't worry if you get too crazy, just switch to the Eraser (E) with a soft (0% Hardness) setting to remove any exuberant stragglers.

To get your new hair to match Peppy's nappy head, duplicate (Ctrl+J) this layer, merge it down (Ctrl+E), then apply a Gaussian Blur (Filter\Blur\Gaussian Blur) set at 0.5 pixels.

If the rest of Pep-dawg doesn't blend well or has rough edges, simply duplicate the cut-out layer (Ctrl+J), select the Blur Tool (R), and using a small, soft brush, blur only the edges.

Next, Hold Ctrl and click on the BOTTOM cut-out layer's thumbnail, selecting just him. Invert the selection (Ctrl+Shift+I), and on the TOP layer, hit Delete, removing the faint edges.

This is what I ended up with:

Finally, if needed, use the Smudge Tool (R) on about 15% and using small strokes (and a tiny brush), blur the new hair with the old in any places that don't quite seem to match up. This works much more effectively than the Blur Tool (R) for me. Note that this step may not be necessary in higher-res images.

There you have it. It should now fit into just about any color background you choose. If you used Peppers to follow along, be sure to put him in some outlandish situation & submit it here!

This technique works very well with any subject that has hair, such as women and tigers and bears. It actually will work better if a higher resolution source image is used, since the Brush Tool (B) doesn't get any smaller than 1px. Adjusting the hardness accordingly is key to getting the desired effect.