masking around hair in photoshop

Photoshop masks with Calculations and Overlay from Jeremy Bales on Vimeo.

Here's how I make masks in photoshop now. It works great when trying to mask around hair. AND you don't have to use the pen tool!

Watch the video above, then use the cheat sheet below. Let me know how this works out for you.

CHEAT SHEET:

Image - Calculations: Fiddle around with the channel colors, set blending mode to either add or subtract. You're looking for strong contrast between your subject and background around the edges.

Adjust levels on the new alpha channel to increase contrast. This will be your mask.

Paint around your edges with a soft brush in overlay mode. Black makes darks darker, white makes lights lighter.

Color in your mask with a hard-edged brush.

Color in your background.

If your mask is black on white, invert with Command+I.