Removing shadows from hair

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kabalman

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I have become slowly accustomed to using the Clone tool in Photoshop to remove shadows, especially when I shoot indoors at night with the flash on. However there are certain areas where my method doesn't work very well, especially in the areas close to the hair etc. I tried to use the clone tool to remove them, but am not able to do it perfectly (I tend to chop off bits of the hair). It is especially more difficult with my toddler, who has curly hair and I tend to flatten out the curls, making it look really bad after the editing. Is there a more effective way of removing shadows for tricky areas like this using Photoshop? Any advise will be greatly appreciated.
 
I am no retouching expert but I was reading Scott Kelby's book "Professional portrait retouching techniques for photographers using Photoshop" last night and there is a section (pg 217-221) on hiding roots, although I would guess this might work for shadows too.

A quick summary:

1. create new blank layer
2. sample from brightest area of hair using eyedropper
3. in the new layer, use a medium-sized soft brush to paint over dark areas
4. blend this layer with "soft light"
5. Refine painted area as needed
6. OPTIONAL - sample from a darker area of hair and paint a few strokes over the newly lightened areas at low opacity (15% ish)
7. play with opacity of the new layer to taste

Hope this is of help. If you need more info PM me as I'll forget to check this thread.

Ian
 
Took quite a bit of practise though, but I can now get the shadows off a great deal. Realised the easiest way to fix this is to take pictures with minimal harsh shadows, like investing in a flash gun and bouncing the flash.
 
Possibly an easier way is to use the replace colour tool.

Open the tool and use the eye dropper on the colour you wish to replace.
Adjust the slider to a lighter shade
If the subject is wearing clothes similar to the background use the mask brush first on the clothing plus the skin tones, eyes and teeth.

Job done.
 
Try image > adjustments > shadows and highlights and move the top slider until it lightens the shadows to the desired effect.
You can lasso the bits that you want so it doesn't affect the rest
 
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