On this extensive video tutorial Aaron Nace from Phlearn demonstrates how to retouch hair in Photoshop.
According to Nace the best tool to remove stray hair in Photoshop is the Content Aware Healing Brush Tool. Start by creating a new layer and choose “Sample All Layers” from the top menu and than start removing stray hairs in your image.
Problems start when you try to clean up the edges of the hair. The healing brush can get confused and so making a selection is the right idea. Nace suggest using the Pen Tool to trace an edge around the hair in your photo and choose “Make Selection” and make a new layer.
Now using the Clone Stamp Tool (with sample “Current and Below” selected) hold ALT/OPTN (PC/MAC) to sample outside of the hairline and paint inside of the selection to remove stray hair.
The next steps that you can watch in the video include adding more hair with the brush tool and finally filling gaps in hair – if needed of course.
This isn’t the first time we look into advanced hair selections in Photoshop. We have looked at how to make fine hair selections many times in the past on several different videos aimed at different levels of photographers/image editors – including “How to Cut Out Complex Hair in Photoshop” and “How to Cut Out Hair in Photoshop with the Brush Tool” with Nace, Photoshop senior product manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes had a very nice simple guide for beginners entitled “How to Make Fine Hair Selections in Photoshop” while both Jesús Ramirez with “Advanced Hair Selection Tutorial – Masking Hair In Photoshop” and Michael Woloszynowicz with “How To Quickly Remove Stray Hairs in Photoshop” had some more in-depth guides.
You can find many more Photoshop video tutorials on LensVid’s Photoshop section (and you can find a lot more Phlearn videos on our special Phlearn subsection).