While investigating Focus Magic-style deconvolution (which I like to use in tiny amounts to sharpen images) I came across 4N6site.com and the concept of color deconvolution.
When I saw the fine distinctions color deconvolution could make between different colors of ballpoint pen ink, I thought it might be a useful tool for hair masking. Verdict: so far, so good.
Granted with fuchsia hair against pale cyan I chose an easy example, but so far I'm pretty impressed with the plug-in's ability to drive one color to white and the other color to black.
Since hair and backgrounds contain many hues, the user can sweep out areas of interest and obtain the average color. Even with that ability, multiple mattes may need to be pulled and combined to do a precise job.
Maybe color deconvolution is already at the heart of other popular hair masking algorithms. I don't know. But I like the simplicity of this free (donation requested) plug-in.
More exploration to come.
