Hair Edges Against a Bright Window
Hair against a bright window needs a few flyaways and a soft rim. A hard cutout edge means the head was pasted on.
Hair edges against a bright window are where pasted heads give themselves away. Real hair has a few flyaways and a soft rim where the light wraps. A dark outline, a white halo, or a perfectly smooth silhouette means the person was cut out and dropped on the room. Approve the still only when a strand or two crosses the bright glass.
Ask for flyaways
"A few loose strands crossing the window light" is a concrete edge. "Perfect hair" is the request that draws a helmet. You want the haircut you meant, plus the strands a room would lift.
No halo
Zoom the edge where hair meets the bright background. A pale fringe around the whole head is a mask, not light. Rim light hits the side facing the window, not a uniform glow all the way around.
Baby hairs are optional
A hard hairline with no variation reads as a wig, which reads as generated. You do not need a messy style. You need the edge to be hair, not a vector path.
A worked example
Host in profile to a bright kitchen window. Three strands light up. The rest of the edge is soft. A version with a grey halo is rejected.
Check the still
- A few strands cross the light.
- There is no halo around the head.
- Rim light comes from the window side only.
Where Scro fits
Lock the hairstyle with the face in Scro, then keep it. A pose or wardrobe change should not redraw the hairline. If the edge halos, the still is not ready for a talking clip.
Check the hair before you approve. Finished samples are on the examples page.
Related: Glasses Without a Fake Reflection.