I’ve been struggling to get clean, natural-looking masks around hair when compositing portraits. Using the standard quick selection tool often leaves harsh edges or weird halos, especially with flyaway strands. I tried refining edge with the “Select and Mask” workspace, but it still feels a bit clunky and takes a lot of trial and error to get right.

Are there any tips or workflows to speed this up or improve precision? I’ve heard about using channels and blending modes for better masks, but I’m not exactly sure how to implement that efficiently. Also, is it better to work with masks as vector shapes in some cases, or does that just make things more complicated?

Appreciate any advice from folks who regularly deal with tricky hair selections and want to keep things looking professional without spending hours on masking.