Things start to get tricky when there’s no contrast between the subject and its background. In the real world, your source photographs aren’t always conveniently shot against a perfectly lit studio backdrop. Activate the RGB channel to bring back the full colour image in order to copy/paste onto a new layer or apply a layer mask. Hold the CMD key (or CTRL key on Windows) while clicking the new channel thumbnail to load its selection. The remainder of the subject can be quickly painted over with a black brush to complete the black and white mask. Paint around the subject to safely darken the edges of the face and body, without needing to accurately trace the outline. Select the Burn tool and set the option to Shadows in the top toolbar. The shadows can then be clipped to darken the hair, but don’t go too far, otherwise it will leave a white outline around the hair selection.Ī silhouette of the subject needs to be created for the mask to make a full selection.

Use the Levels or Curves tools from the Image > Adjustments menu to set the background as the white point. Make a duplicate of the channel by dragging it onto the ‘New’ icon. In this example of A Happy Guy in Spectacles from Shutterstock, the hair is darkest in the Blue channel. In the Channels panel, find the channel with the most contrast. Longer hair has so many fine strands it’s impossible to draw a selection of them all, but as long as the subject is against a clean background, the Channles method will generate perfect results.

Paint over the hair outline to make a cleaner clipping.

If there isn’t enough contrast for the Quick Selection tool to work, manually add to the selection with the Polygonal Lasso tool.Īpply the selection as a Layer Mask, then right click the mask thumbnail and choose Select and Mask to bring up some advanced options to refine the clipping.Īs well as the various sliders that allow you to fine tune the outline as a whole, the Refine Edge brush is ideal for perfecting hair selections. Follow the subject’s outline closely to allow the mask to snap to the edges.Ĭorrect any mistakes by holding the ALT key and paint with the Quick Selection tool to add portions of the subject back in, that might have been missed.

Begin by tracing the subject with the Quick Selection tool. If you have a subject with relatively short hair or fur that has good contrast with the background, like this photo by Ayo Ogunseinde, Select and Mask tool is a reliable tool to produce a clean clipping. Subscribe to the Spoon Graphics YouTube Channel Cutting out short hair or fur

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