gadget wrote:
> I shoot a lot of high-key work and always try to get my background
> (studio) absolutely white. Sometimes it doesn't always happen and
> I find myself retouching the image. I have various ways of doing
> this, however, hair (especially curly locks) always proves very
> time consuming and makes me wonder why I don't just leave the
> background an off-white.

White and off white to me is best. The background can easily be isolated and replaces by creating a mask. Place the new background on top of the image add a layer mask using the mask you created. If the mask is not perfect you can normally pop the hair through by changing the blend node to multiply white will not add to the image but dark hair will.

Creating the mask I normally try using the approach in this tutorial http://www.gurusnetwork.com/tutorials/photoshop/replacebg.html which uses a channel copy does apply image with mask and invert checked followed by a levels adjustment. Also when I paint on the mask edges to touch it up I set the brush mode to overlay and lower the opacity seems to help refine the edges.
--
JJMack