COLORING HAIR-THE ROOTAMENTARIES by Shan Canfield aka Photoshop Mama©2003

Mama loves to color hair. I have several methods of doing this but will show you 2 simple methods in this tutorial. This project is specific to touching up roots. This comes in handy when someone's Photo Shoot has been scheduled before an overdue trip to the Hair Salon. What takes hours to fix in a Salon, take only a minute to fix Chez Photoshop Mama's!

Click icon for file "hair_101.jpg"

Click icon for QuickTime movie with additional tips! (5MB)

Download or copy the "hair_101.jpg" file to practice along with this tutorial.

Open the "hair_101.jpg" file. This file should be in the Adobe RGB 1998 color space, to match what you see here.

METHOD ONE: Toner = Airbrush on Soft Light Mode Layer

Step One: Create a blank layer above the Background. Set the blank layer's blending mode to Soft Light.

Step Two: Grab a Soft Round 65 Airbrush with the tools top Options Opacity and Pressure set to 100%. Use the numeric keypad to vary the Opacity percentage, if using a mouse. If using a Wacom Pen, set the Other Dynamics to Pen Pressure. Sample a lighter shade from the existing hair by [Mac: Option click on hair], [PC: Alt left click on hair] to sample the color, which will set the foreground color. With the Soft Light layer highlighted, start painting the dark roots in the image window.

METHOD TWO: Editable Toner = Solid Color Adjustment Layer/Mask in Soft Light Mode

Step One: Create a solid color Adjustment Layer above the Background with a Mask. Hold down the Option Key [PC:Alt key] as you select "Solid Color" from the Fill/Adjustment shortcut at the bottom of the Layers palette. When the Color Picker opens, move your cursor to the image window to sample (click) a lighter shade from the existing hair. Click OK, to close the Color Picker.

Step Two: Since you preset the mask the image will not look any different but next to the Adjustment Layer thumbnail in the palette the mask thumbnail will be filled with black. Set this layer's blending mode to Soft Light.

Step Three: Grab a Soft Round 65 Airbrush with the tools top Options Opacity and Pressure set to 100%. Use the numeric keypad to vary the Opacity percentage, if using a mouse. If using a Wacom Pen, set the Other Dynamics to Pen Pressure. Set the foreground color in the Tool box to White. With the Solid Color Fill/Adjustment layer still highlighted in the Layer's palette, begin painting in the dark roots in the image window. Don't worry if the color isn't exactly what you want—you can easily edit the whole thing by double clicking on the Color Fill thumbnail of the layer. This will open the Color Picker. Just click your cursor in the big color box, dial in a different hue by using the vertical gradient bar slider and/or drag your cursor to different saturations of the hue in the big color box. While you're doing this your image window will update with the new value. This is my favorite way to get the toner to match the roots perfectly with an existing lighter shade of the hair.

OPTIONAL: This may be used with Method One or Method Two. To tone down the newly dyed hair, just pop another Adjustment Layer, but pick Hue and Saturation. Slide the Saturation slider to the left just a tad. To change the tone hue or lightness, adjust those sliders. Click OK and Group this layer with the Solid Color Adjustment layer or the painted layer, by pressing [Mac: Command G], [PC: Control G].

METHOD 1

METHOD 2

COLORING EYES (Coming Soon)