TUTORIAL | FABULOUS EASY PHOTO FIX

Hello, Hello! Happy May! I'm over the moon we are in May! This year is flying by, but that means summer and warmer weather are in store for me! This is Jenn, aka jk703, here to share one of my most favorite photo fix! Photoshop comes with this tool, and it has made some of my favorite images so much better!  It is called Content Aware Fill.

Content Aware Fill is an option in Photoshop that allows you to replace a part of an image with what the images look like in the surrounding area. You don't have to do it, the software does, and MOST of the time, it does a heck of a good job! The fill option allows you to do multiple areas, and a larger area in your photo. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't solve all photo blunders, and you could come out with some pretty funny pictures, but it has saved a lot of pictures for me!

Here is my original image, my boys at the shore. We are there A LOT! :) My images for this tutorial are on the simpler side, but that is to show how easy it is. When working with a more detailed image, or many areas, you may have to take your time, and keep trying with small sections. It's nice picture, they are smiling, but my eye strays to the woman and child toward the side. Now... since I mention it, you have noticed her, and you can't unsee her! lol! (That's my point!)

So, we are going to remove her and her lovely child from the image. Now, I like to make a copy of my image, so that any work that I do, I can always revert to my original. They are copies anyway, so this is just a preference of mine. I've made a copy, and will work with that one. I right clicked, chose Duplicate Layer and then re-named them.

Next, you can use either the Rectangular Marquee tool OR the Polygonal Lasso Tool. They will both work, but the Polygonal Lasso Tool is better when you have funny shapes or need to get close.

I used the Rectangular Marquee and chose the area of the mother and child. You will get marching ants after you have chosen the part you will be filling.

Next, Choose Edit > Fill.

 A pop up menu will appear. Click on the first drop down and choose Content Aware. Then click ok. You image will be filled with content from the surrounding areas. Photoshop really has the ability to remove the area and replace it with details that really look good. No one would know, unless they were looking for it!

 Here is what I ended up with... where the marching ants are. Sort of hard to tell if it blends well.

 So, here it is without those pesky ants! Wow, right!?

Here is my husband and son playing in the water... my hubby is actually dunking my son and I caught him looking my way (probably laughing and yelling for help! lol). Plus, a random young woman in my picture off to ride the waves! Hmmm.....

Polygonal Lasso Tool Chosen, and then filled with Content Aware. Here is what I ended up with after using the Content Aware Fill 1 time. Not too bad, but I can see her shadows in the water, and the water splash looks a bit odd. So, I repeat the process.

And I ended up with this! Not too bad. Looks as if someone might have walked by and was settling down. I can see some color tone differences, BUT there is NO girl! Woo hoo! I honestly don't think anyone else would realize there was a person there before, unless I tell them how cool I was and I removed her! (giggle)

One last example. Shayne is off to boogie board. Another swimmer in the back.

Removed. Super easy, and super fast!

Hoping that you learned a new trick today, and it's something that will be useful for you and your photos! We would love to see the pages you create and the before and after images Content Aware Fill!
Thanks for visiting today!

Jenn Marione | jk703