.FLYINGHEAD EXPLORING PHOTOSHOP
.TITLE Photoshop CS5’s great new Content-Aware Fill feature
.AUTHOR Scott Koegler
.SUMMARY Content-Aware Fill makes removing annoying lines like power lines and leashes, unwanted objects like cars and people almost too simple.
.TIP
Photoshop CS5 is chock-full of great new features. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be exploring five of our favorites. Here’s the second one, Photoshop CS5’s great new Content-Aware Fill feature:
.H1 Great feature #2: removal of elements
I don’t like showing the leashes on my pets. And I’ve been able to coax Photoshop’s clone brush into removing lots of leashes (and other unwanted items) over the years. The clone brush does a decent job, but it takes some practice and some decision making to pick the right areas and diameters to clone from/to. Photoshop CS5’s Content-Aware Fill makes removing annoying lines like power lines and leashes, unwanted objects like cars and people almost too simple.
In Figure A, you see Mac’s leash, and I’ve used Photoshop’s healing brush tool to highlight the leash.
.FIGPAIR A Mac’s leash is in the picture.
Before I made the selection, I chose the Content-Aware button for the brush option. I wasn’t too careful about selecting only the leash, but as soon as I finished my selection, Photoshop matched the background and filled in the area with what it thought should be there. There were a couple spots that I missed in my selection, so I simply used the same healing brush to select those spots, and Photoshop filled them in with a matching background, as you can see in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B The dog is free, free as the wind!
Content-Aware Fill can also be used to select a larger object. In Figure C, I wanted to remove the greyhound (Cody) from the photo.
.FIGPAIR C You can remove an object from a picture.
I used the lasso tool to select a rough area around Cody, then clicked the Edit menu Fill item, and the Content-Aware function. Photoshop filled the area with a matching background, as you can see in Figure D.
.FIGPAIR D The dog on the right is no longer in the picture.
This is scary stuff. It’s possible to use the Content-Aware Fill function to remove, replace, or simply move an item from one place (or photo) to another. But as far as functionality, the tools are easy to use and produce credible results.
Next week: Puppet Warp
.BIO Scott Koegler explores digital products and writes about them from his home in the foothills of North Carolina, and from his camper (as long as he has an internet connection. He has acted as CIO, editor, publisher, photographer, and wine taster, and enjoyed each role.
