Content-Aware Move Tool
Photoshop CS6 has some really amazing features; some of them are almost magical. If you are a ‘purist’, you may not appreciate (or may even dislike) using such features. But if you are a ‘digital artist’, then you are bound to love them. One such feature is the Content-Aware Move Tool.
Often times, due to one reason or the other, we may not be able to achieve the composition we are after. Or, it may be just that our composition needs a magical helping hand.
Here’s an example. In our picture, the crow is sitting at the lower edge of the structure and is looking out of the frame. You may like that, but let’s assume that you wanted the crow to be higher up on the structure so that its position follows the ‘rule of the thirds’. We can very easily achieve that by using the Content-Aware Move Tool in CS6. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that the background must be uniform in tone.
1. Open the image in CS6. Open the Layers Palette by clicking on the F7 key on the keyboard. 2. Create a new layer as shown in Printscreen 1. 3. The next step is to take the ContentAware Move Tool from the Toolbox (it is nestled with the Spot Healing Brush Tool) and draw a rough selection around the crow (Printscreen 2). I took care not to include the structure as far as possible because the texture on the structure at this point may slightly differ from where I finally set the crow. Note: Ensure that the Mode is set
to Move, and Sample All Layers is checked ( ticked). In the Adaptations box, I selected Very Strict as I wanted the greatest possible accuracy. 4. Now, using the computer mouse, drag and place the crow at its new position. As soon as you let go of the mouse, Photoshop will do its work. Don’t worry if you see the crow in two places for a while because as soon as the feature completes the job, the original crow will vanish in to thin air and the area behind it will be replaced by the background. 5. Finally, if some clean up is required, do so using the Spot Healing Brush. 6. Save the file using the Save As command. There are various new magical features that Photoshop CS6 offers and we shall try to bring them to you in future editions of your favourite magazine.