[PHOTOSHOP] Learn How to Change Hair Color in Photoshop

Hi guys, I’m back with another tutorial of the makeover series. Today I will show you how to change hair color in any image in a super easy and realistic way.

Details

Program:  Photoshop CS 5

Approximate time:  15-20 Minutes

Resources

• Model’s image

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Have a look at the final outcome.

Step 1

Open the image of which you want to change hair color in Photoshop.

Step 2

Duplicate the image to preserve the original one. For duplicating, click on the image layer and go to Layer> Duplicate layer. Now create a new layer by going to Layer> New layer. Label this layer as ‘Hair’ and reduce its opacity till 50% so that you can see the image underneath. Now we’ll apply ‘Soft round brush’ with 100% opacity on this new layer to completely cover the hair area. Use # 000000 color. Trace the outline of hair area first.

Now apply the brush over the rest of the hair. Use larger brush size for this to save time.

Once you are done with it, resume the opacity of ‘hair’ layer to 100%.

Now select ‘Soft round eraser tool’ with 80% opacity and clear all the brush strokes coming out of the hair area.

Change the blending mode of this layer to ‘Color’. This step will mask the original hair color and form a framework for further changes.

Step 3

One simple method to change color is of ‘Hue/Saturation’. Press Ctrl+ thumbnail of the ‘Hair’ layer to make selection of the hair area. And then click on the icon of ‘Create new fill or adjustment layer’ and select the option of ‘Hue/Saturation’. Use the given settings to give dark brown color to the hair. Don’t forget to check the ‘Colorize’ box in ‘Hue/Saturation’ window.

To adjust the color shade, press Ctrl+ Thumbnail of the ‘Hair’ layer to select it and then click on the icon of ‘Create new fill or adjustment layer’ and select the option of ‘Curves’. Use the given settings for it.

Now changing the settings in the ‘Hue/Saturation’ adjustment layer, you can bring out any color you want which would look pretty natural. Here are some of the examples.

Step 4

Next, I’ll show you how to give realistic blonde hair look. Hide or delete the ‘Hue/Saturation’ and ‘Curves’ adjustment layers for this effect. Press Ctrl+ thumbnail of ‘Hair’ layer to make selection of the hair then click on the icon of ‘Create new fill or adjustment layer’ and select the option of ‘Solid color’. Pick # d2c3a4 color and change the blending mode of this layer to ‘Soft light’.

Step 5

First select the ‘Hair’ layer and then make another ‘Solid color’ adjustment layer, use # b8ae93color here and change the blending mode of this layer to ‘Overlay’.

Step 6

Create ‘Curves’ adjustment layer after selecting the hair area. Use the given settings here.

Step 7

Lastly, to give hair more contrast, create a new layer, fill it with 50% gray by going to Edit> Fill. Change the Blending mode of this layer to ‘Overlay’. Now apply the ‘Burn’ and ‘Dodge’ tools one by one with 50% opacity and ‘Midtones’ range, ‘Soft round brush’. ‘Dodge tool’ create streaky highlights as shown below.

‘Burn tool’ will give darker shadowing effect as shown below.

Final Result