Going through a tut (from my DVDs) and the model's photo has her hair going across her forehead. I tried creating a channel to mask out the hair similar to a tut I found for getting hair from a background. But it doesn't seem to work in this instance.

Here's the hair:


Here's why I want to be able to isolate the hair:


(ew that skin color is all wrong)

Make sure your selection is active. Hope this helps

channel masking tut
http://photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/masking/masking.htm

That's similar to what I was trying to do. But I can't get enough contrast between the hair and the skin. I tried duping each of the different channels and then adjusting the new channel to get it but no go. I'm probably missing a simple technique.

Here's another one I tried (from memory and not step-by-step though).
http://www.photoshopsupport.com/elements/tutorials/extract-hair/masking-tutorial.html

can't help you much with so little difference between hair and skin colors, plus the high compression of the image you provided. I would:
a) blow up the image 4x
b) convert to 16 bit
c) scale down to twice the original size
d) mask most of the skin by hand
e) play with select color range to build a rough selection for the hair, save as a new channel, paint in the new channel with a soft brush (preferably with a tablet) to make a decent mask

The original is 3072x2048 and 1.31MB I just didn't think I should put up the entire pic (especially since I don't own it).

But here's a cropped portion and it's not compressed. Hopefully it's enough to work from.

I'm just wondering if anyone has a technique to get the hair separated from the skin tones. Doesn't sound like it.

Carrotgirl!

I'm sure I have no idea what you're referring to.

Isn't this tutorial of any use?

http://photoshopcontest.com/tutorials/9/masks.html

tofu try dup-n the image hide the original or uncheck. then apply b&w now move the blue and cyan down. adjust the red and magenta up to make the skin more orangey than the hair. now adjust the yellow so ya get the best contrast between the two. now make the layer an overlay. cntrl/com+ e to combine the b+w with the copy.now select the hair in the copy, turn the copy off and turn on the original. the hair should be selected with far better accuracy then again i'm no garphic artist or pro but i did'nt see anyone responding so i thought i would slide in my $.02

I'm afraid this is the best I can do via enhancing colors and using the color information to make a selection. All hair edges come out very rough. I would get better results masking the hair manually, perhaps using a tablet. I don't seem to be able to understand dewdew's workflow

Believe it not I think I understand what dew^2 has in mind. I'll try that.

basically just making as much contrast between the skin and hair. selecting to get the shape. then using that selection on the untouched original

sorry my ability to explain my steps are confusing, but thats the way they are in my head. and t/y tofu for the believe it or not comment . i know its like getting advise from YODA's retarded cousin off starwars.....able to help i am not.....<-----must read with yodas voice....and with you the force may be.

The concept I get (it's what I did for the image above) but my results were subpar. I don't get the step-by-step starting with "apply b&w now" all the way through "combine the b+w with the copy"

I'll try putting the Empire Strikes Back in the DVD to see if it helps