Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

Other Creative Madness

The retouching techniques you’ve learned thus far are relatively benign. Save for the Liquify filter, you haven’t really done anything drastic to your images…until now. In this section, you’ll learn how to use the Content-Aware Move tool to make objects bigger, smaller, taller, or shorter, or to move them around within in an image. You’ll also find out how to reshape pixels using the Puppet Warp command. Read on for some serious image-changing voodoo!

Repositioning with Content-Aware Move

The Content-Aware Move tool lets you ever so slightly change the height, width, and position of a selected object. It uses Photoshop’s Content-Aware technology to match up any lines or patterns in your selection so the changes look realistic.

To scoot an object around, pop open an image and create a new, empty layer (this is where you’ll do the actual pixel moving). Then activate the Content-Aware Move tool by choosing it from the Tools panel—it lives in the Healing toolset—or by pressing Shift-J until you see its icon appear (it looks like two arrows overlapping to form an X). In the Options bar, set the Mode menu to Move and turn on Sample All Layers. Then, mouse over to your image and drag to create a selection around an object, like the left-hand soapbox racer in Figure 10-25, and then drag it elsewhere in the image. Now, before you deselect, click the Options bar’s Adaptation menu (its icon is a tiny gear) and adjust the new Structure and Color fields until the change looks ...