Specific Wedding photo help - Medication-related hair thinning

[RFEnglish]

Hey all, I'm a relative noob with Photoshop and I'm looking for help with a wedding photo. My wife has been on an intense medication that has caused her hair to thin substantially. There are a couple photos that are close up and highlight an extremely thin spot in her hair (right near her temple). I've had good results with photos from a further vantage point, but I've spent untold hours on this photo and haven't had any success with natural looking results. I would appreciate any help. Thanks in advance. I'm happy to answer any questions you have! Thanks so much.

 

[Rich54]

Here's my attempt.

 

[Liberty1976]

Here's my attempt.

View attachment 96802

That totally looks natural.

I can't even figure out what you did.

How did you do that?

 

[Rich54]

That totally looks natural. I can't even figure out what you did. How did you do that?

Thank you.
I used around 30 layers in all, trying to gradually fill-in the volume of hair. I started by copying all the existing hair from her ear to the large braid and moving it into position. Then I lightened it with Curves and warped it to shape it to her head, masking-out any obvious sharp transitions. Then I copied all of that a few more times and used the Move tool to fully cover the area of thin hair. Once I had that basic background I used the clone stamp a million times to better blend everything into the existing hair. I also manually drew my own wisps of hair to create lights and darks and to create the stray light hairs that are blown by the wind. I think the whole thing took about an hour.

 

[Liberty1976]

Thank you.
I used around 30 layers in all, trying to gradually fill-in the volume of hair. I started by copying all the existing hair from her ear to the large braid and moving it into position. Then I lightened it with Curves and warped it to shape it to her head, masking-out any obvious sharp transitions. Then I copied all of that a few more times and used the Move tool to fully cover the area of thin hair. Once I had that basic background I used the clone stamp a million times to better blend everything into the existing hair. I also manually drew my own wisps of hair to create lights and darks and to create the stray light hairs that are blown by the wind. I think the whole thing took about an hour.

Thanks for the info.

Awesome job.

 

[RFEnglish]

Rich54, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help. Your work looks absolutely amazing. I'm learning a bit of your technique as I play with a couple other photos that will make my wife's day to see.

Also, are you a beer drinker? I brewed a bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout that I aged on oak for 9 months as a gift for my groomsmen, and I'd love to send you a bottle as a thank you for your help. If you're comfortable with that, message me your address and I'll get it out to you.

Thank you so much!