Sky behind hair

[CanonGirl]

I just read this tutorial http://www.damiensymonds.net/replace-background-hair and decided to try it out, but I keep getting lost (I have hard time with written PS tutorials in general, so nothing against your writing).  Do you by any chance have a video tutorial of it?

[Samantha LaRue]

Not at this time.

What part of the tutorial are you getting stuck on? 

[Anna-Lena Ström McGrath]

Can you also show which image you are using?  I think you will get stuck if the person has blonde hair for example.

[CanonGirl]

I read through the tutorial, and I can't comprehend it completely in my mind, so I do it or see it done by somebody else (visual learner), so I start reading a little and carrying out that step, then read and do next step.  But somehow I keep skipping something, so I go back and correct it, and I miss some stupid things like that you are supposed to change a blending mode on one layer but not the other.  So I kind of kept going back and forth fixing this, correcting that.  So it's not one thing I am getting stuck on, I just have hard time putting it together (again, not you, just the way I process information).  I'll try it again later, when I have less caffeine in my body :-)

[CanonGirl]

28 minutes ago, Anna-Lena Ström McGrath said:

Can you also show which image you are using?  I think you will get stuck if the person has blonde hair for example.

Is this too light of hair? 

[Anna-Lena Ström McGrath]

8 minutes ago, CanonGirl said:

Is this too light of hair? 

I'll let Damien answer that...

[Samantha LaRue]

I think it might be. Can we see the SOOR? (all raw editing done, but no photoshop work)

[CanonGirl]

1 minute ago, Samantha LaRue said:

I think it might be. Can we see the SOOR? (all raw editing done, but no photoshop work)

That's SOOC, I didn't do any raw editing on it (it's a JPG out of camera), I just pulled it out to practice the sky replacement tutorial. 

[Christina Keddie]

1 minute ago, CanonGirl said:

That's SOOC, I didn't do any raw editing on it (it's a JPG out of camera), I just pulled it out to practice the sky replacement tutorial. 

OK, so go ahead and do your raw processing and post it again.   I *think* the hair might be too light (not enough contrast with the existing sky), but do the raw processing properly first and Damien can help you see if this method will work for this image.

[CanonGirl]

4 minutes ago, Christina Keddie said:

OK, so go ahead and do your raw processing and post it again.   I *think* the hair might be too light (not enough contrast with the existing sky), but do the raw processing properly first and Damien can help you see if this method will work for this image.

I'll just find a different photo to practice on (with dark hair).  This one is an outtake, not worth wasting that much time on it, especially if I am not sure if it will work for this tutorial.

[Damien Symonds]

3 hours ago, CanonGirl said:

Is this too light of hair? 

It would be ok as long as you are replacing the sky with another very light sky.  But yes, if you were wishing to replace it with anything much darker, it won't work.

[CanonGirl]

2 hours ago, Damien Symonds said:

It would be ok as long as you are replacing the sky with another very light sky.  But yes, if you were wishing to replace it with anything much darker, it won't work.

Oh, I see, you are relying of the multiply blending mode to make the darker thing (hair) to show through.  Got it, I know what I am doing now.