Alibony Lessons for Photoshop Elements, Lightroom, and Digital Photography

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Photoshop Elements: Change Hair Color - Light to Dark

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Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 7

December 13, 2008

In this lesson, learn how to make a difficult hair selection and change the color from a light blonde to a dark auburn. This technique works when changing light hair colors to darker colors. To change hair color:

  1. Make a selection of the hair, being careful to select fly-away strands.
  2. Use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to color the hair.

Note: To change hair color from dark to light, see the video lesson, Lesson 9: Change Hair Color - Dark to Light.

Before After
Hair color before edits Hair color after edits

Select Fly-away Hair

To select fly-away strands of hair, use a Threshold adjustment layer:

  1. Open the photo that contains the portrait you want to change.

  2. In the Layers palette, add a Threshold adjustment layer above the Background layer. In the Threshold dialogue box, drag the slider to the right until most of the fly-away hair is selected and appears in black, then click OK. Don't worry if your selection has expanded to include parts of the photo other than hair. We will fix this in the next steps.

    Threshold dialogue Result
    Threshold dialogue box Threshold result

  3. In the Layers palette, select the Threshold adjustment layer, then use the Magic Wand tool to select the black hair. Make sure that Contiguous is unchecked on the toolbar.

    Select stray hairs

  4. On the toolbar, click Refine Edge to soften and smooth the edges of the selection. In the Refine Edge dialogue box, adjust the Smooth and Feather sliders as desired, then click OK:

    Refine edges of selection
  5. With the selection active, in the Layers palette, click the eye icon to hide the Threshold adjustment layer. The selection marquee will be visible on the photo.
  6. In the Layers palette, select the Background layer.

  7. Use the Selection Brush tool to refine the selection:

    1. Select the Selection Brush tool.
    2. On the toolbar, select a soft round brush and set the Mode to Selection.
    3. Click the Add to Selection icon on the toolbar and paint where you want to add pixels to the selection.
    4. Click the Remove from Selection icon on the toolbar and paint where you want to remove pixels from the selection.
    Refine selection

Change Hair Color

To change the hair color, use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer:

  1. With the hair selection active, create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer above the Background layer. Do not make any changes in the dialogue box and click OK. Because the hair is selected, a layer mask is created to ensure that only the hair color is affected by a Hue/Saturation change.
  2. In the Layers palette, change the Blend mode of the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to Overlay.

  3. In the Layers palette, double-click the layer thumbnail in the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to display the Hue/Saturation dialogue box again.

    Hue Saturation layer

  4. In the Hue/Saturation dialogue box, check the Colorize checkbox and adjust the sliders as desired. Then click OK.

    Hue/Saturation values

  5. If needed, edit the mask on the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to further refine the hair selection:

    1. Press D to set the default colors to black foreground and white background.
    2. Select the Brush tool and choose a soft round brush.
    3. Optionally, on the toolbar, lower the brush opacity to 80%, changing opacity as needed as you view the paint effects.
    4. Paint with black to hide pixels where the hue bleeds into surrounding pixels.
    5. Paint with white to reveal pixels where you want the hue to be visible.
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Updated on August 4, 2011