The Single Best Way to Mask Hair in Photoshop!

[@chasebros4948]

Blend modes are one of the best ways to capture every strand of hair. However, the blend mode you use will depend on the color of the background. This technique works best if the background is solid grey, white or black. If the background is around 50% grey (as it was in this video) then hard light or overlay could work. However, if your subject/person is on a white or black background then you would use multiply or screen respectively. In my experience, having the subject on white background set to multiply usually yields the best results. Because for most types of hair, a white background will give the greatest amount of contrast. If a person has white or light grey hair then a black background set to screen would be better.

[@dekeNow]

True, all true. My challenge here was to come up with an approach that works with more casual. run-of-the-mill, generally plain backdrops. Doesn’t have to be gray. Low-color works fine, such as picture-free home or office walls. Bricks, tho, not so much. 😁

[@invade81]

Yes - following this step by step with an image with a very dark background doesnt work so well, as when you crank the contrast on the blending layer that dark area turns to black rather than lightening up and 'disappearing' to allow the background layer through.

[@paolovolante]

Interesting approach, thanks. In my opinion you should explain the method in a quarter of the time and demonstrate it on 3 other different portrait, with different, more intricate background. Same length, much more helpful.

[@electromoto6816]

you've been my teacher since photoshop cs2. i am glad i found your channel sir.

[@dekeNow]

Thank you!

[@ndvngv]

Old school photoshop is a thing now.Awesome tutorial

[@dekeNow]

Thank you!

[@eurossocial]

Great tutorial. Thank you. It has been a lot of years to watch a video tutorial by You.

[@dekeNow]

Awesome, excellent, thx!

[@MAX3D2]

OUTSTANDING!!! THANK YOU!!! I have a new favorite PS tutor!

[@dekeNow]

Excellent, thanks!

[@daniloledezma]

Amazing method... jawdropping results... So good...

[@dekeNow]

Thanks!

[@normst.landau9827]

This is nicely done: practical info but merged with explanations of how the tools work an why and when to try them. Great video.

[@dekeNow]

Thank you!

[@joannawheeler8441]

wow best tutorial on hair masking ive seen in such a long time thank you

[@dekeNow]

And my pleasure!

[@poeda6637]

Thank you! Would there be a way to keep the hairs on the left that turned Andy Warhol as they were one stage earlier? Just skip the refining brush there?

[@dekeNow]

Those left-hand hairs are not the most successful element of the composition-so far. They get much better at my Patreon, patreon.com/dekenow.

[@joannawheeler8441]

i appreciate the length of the video, it includes many helpful tips for newbies. thanks

[@dekeNow]

Thank you very much! (Always nice to hear.)

[@EricRenno]

What a great technique! Thanks Deke. (Can I retire the 1 pixel brush for good now?)

[@dekeNow]

Saying never to a 1-pixel brush would be like throwing away my last pair of tweezers. Sometimes, you just gotta zoom in and tweeze.

[@bala1000mina]

Helpful and informative tutorial! Thank you so much Deke! God bless and good luck!

[@dekeNow]

Excellent. Glad to be of service!

[@Nawazaahr]

I learned it the old way of using channels and overlay painting from you and enjoyed it. This is far too easy now with auto selections.

[@dekeNow]

Great news!

[@leuallen3000]

Good to see you again. I used to follow you religiously.

[@dekeNow]

Good to see you as well!

[@drewfl]

I tried it.. the best method to mask hair.. thank you so much

[@dekeNow]

Excellent news!!

[@pinakipratidin8301]

Excellent Tutorial Sir... I am Pinaki from India... Almighty God bless U

[@dekeNow]

Thx!

[@chguu]

OMG, I've been watching ur vids on hair masking since ur Lynda days. A very fascinating & complex subject, with ur your technique's it make it much more easier than usual. I am glad i found ur KZbin site. -PS i was waiting for the dreaded Calculation method, Suppose the new Improvements means that method is now redundent? Followed. Thanks again A*****************

[@dekeNow]

Great news! No way is obsolete-in fact, might have to visit calculations soon 😁

[@leifnorinder4932]

Great tip! Thank You!

[@dekeNow]

My pleasure!

[@emirjoshuaoyama]

Your work is professional and i like it, Thank you!.❤

[@dekeNow]

My pleasure!

[@sujiitkundu9843]

Excellent tutorial, nicely explained ❤

[@dekeNow]

Thank you!

[@vladepast4936]

Outstanding! Keep posting!

[@dekeNow]

Thank you!

[@saleemwp]

thanks Oldman >>>>greeting from Iraq-Baghdad

[@fjcphy]

in a short time he explained very well

[@dekeNow]

Thank you!

[@gerarddesilva5193]

Brilliant! Many thanks.

[@dekeNow]

My pleasure!

[@cindilu2]

Love this method! When I use the menu to add adjustment layer for Brightness/Contrast, it automatically added a mask to the layer, where yours didn't. Is that a preference I'm missing?

[@negz103]

he wasnt useing an adjustment layer but just an adjustment.

[@cindilu2]

@@negz103 I know, but when I use the menu Brightness/Contrast it is still adding a mask. That's why I asked.

[@dekeNow]

Yes, there is. From the Adjustments panel, click the flyout menu hamburger and choose Add Mask by Default to turn it off.

[@cindilu2]

@@dekeNow Thank you!

[@felipehenaovideo]

Great Deke short and substancial

[@dekeNow]

Thank you!

[@GusMcCrae01]

Excellent info!

[@dekeNow]

Thank you!

[@stevosd60]

Brilliant 👍

[@dekeNow]

Thx!

[@KingZero69]

great video, thank you 💪

[@dekeNow]

My pleasure!

[@gregwoolliscroft6255]

This is brilliant thanks so much, I subscribed...

[@dekeNow]

Well, that is great new, thx!

[@Daniel_Zalman]

This way is better than "The AI Hair Masking Trick Every Pro Needs to Know?"

[@dekeNow]

That’s what I get for using superlatives. 😄But seriously, they both have their uses!

[@alanm.6096]

Deke - just to confirm - did the refine brushing get rid of the halo? Some day Adobe will develop the Remove Halos Brush. Thanks for the detailed instructions. You can never be too detailed when presenting to rookies.

[@dekeNow]

At 12:06, you can see the halo around the shoulder is diminished, but not entirely eliminated. Agreed, it would be very nice to have a Remove Halos Brush-especially in the standard toolbox (i.e., not inside a workspace).

[@orionorion2405]

Excellent !

[@dekeNow]

thx!

[@josepbel8731]

Great !! Thnx a lot.

[@dekeNow]

My pleasure!

[@ziaulmonsur]

❤from Dhaka, Bangladesh 🇧🇩

[@dekeNow]

Cool!

[@rgarlinyc]

Very cool, thankya!

[@dekeNow]

My pleasure!

[@jensormslev9435]

Why is it in the last step remove background it dosen't do that, it shows the background from layer beneath that you desaturated but not the picture you wanted as background?

[@dekeNow]

At 9:32, I click the Remove Background button. At 9:39, Photoshop masks away the background from the active layer and reveals what I want it to, the images behind that layer. (It doesn’t remove the flat Background from the bottom of the Layers panel; you don’t need a button for that.) Does that help?

[@ricwilliams9922]

I've been watching your videos and reading masking books for about ten years. Why've I never heard of this method or known about it? Is this evidence of my unending stupidity with Photoshop?

[@dekeNow]

Nope. It’s because I just made it up! 😁

[@ricwilliams9922]

@@dekeNow Smart puppy!

[@PeveVisuals]

Will only work of the background if the original portrait is solid...

[@dekeNow]

No, doesn’t have to be solid. (My demo in the video is not solid.) Just has to be drab and in the gray range, as opposed to high-contrast.

[@PeveVisuals]

@@dekeNow so next to solid 😃 I tried it with a pic of my daughter I snapped in my living Room which has paintings on the wall. Doesn´t work...

[@dekeNow]

@@PeveVisuals Paintings sound like contrast. (That kind of busy background detail will generally interfere with foreground detail.)

[@nileshkumarghoghari6967]

amezing tutorial🛺

[@dekeNow]

Thx!

[@jbmedia8882]

Just get Evoto. Takes 5 seconds.

[@2424rocket]

Do you ever get to the point? You ramble on and on and on… Get to the point already.

[@HarrisAsefi]

Grandpa is talking too much, just wasting everyone’s time, this should’ve been a 6 min tutorial.

[@dekeNow]

Aw, poor baby. Perhaps my Short will better appeal to your tiny attention span: kzbin.infoNVZgdFtVeik

[@HarrisAsefi]

@@dekeNow Nah it's alright, every baby channel needs those hours of watch time.

[@2424rocket]

You got that right!

[@EverythingIzSomething]

@HarrisAsefi Jesus you're 100% right! I was like, hurry up and get to the point I will never watch a long-winded video from this dude ever again.

[@NeytJoris]

blabla to mutch