Refine Brush Help

[M1Storyteller]

Working with 21.2.4. Attempting to refine hair. The following steps previously worked for me:

1.) Select > Subject

2.) Create Layer Mask

3.) Select > Select & Mask

4.) Using Refine Edge Brush Tool, I feather out to the edges from inside the hair.

5.) Output To: Layer Mask

For whatever reason, when I do this now, I get a whitened, almost grey hair look to the subject's hair instead of a refined edge on the hair. What am I missing? Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

[didiermazier]

Try to check this box at the bottom of the panel which will decontaminate edges

[davescm]

Hi

Make sure you keep the refine edge brush small - it is for edges and if you make it too large you can end up taking pieces out of the wanted area.

Note , if you do get contamination, I would not use Decontaminate colours. It is destructive and does not work well.

Instead , add a new layer abobe the masked layer from Select and Mask. Set the blending mode of that new layer to "color" then clip that layer to the masked output layer (Alt click on the border between the two in the layers panel). Take a soft brush and pick up the hair colur (Alt click ) and brush on that new layer. It will colour the edges without going outside the mask.

Dave

[M1Storyteller]

Hi Dave,

I appreciate the reply. I did try your suggestion. The problem is that the hair I want to reveal/refine is still currently outside the mask.

Forgive me if this goes against etiquette, as I'm new here. I previously used this YT tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSXKTXQI3HI&list=PLpzWhOWVMAYLvW4Tao9TOacfvIuNmzPed&index=4&t=234s

At the 4:38 mark is what I'm trying to do. In a previous release of Photoshop, I was able to do this without issue. This time around, I cannot duplicate the result to save my life - even when I keep the brush tool small, as you suggested. In a new project, for example, I'm trying to pull out fine details in the hair and the beard, and I'm getting the same problem. It doesn't reveal those fine hairs.