Expert: LizaL - 5/11/2006

Question
I'm fixing pictures for a yearbok and I want to make someones face look
not so fat. What is the best way to do this? Is the clone tool the best way-I
can make more of hte background over her cheeks, which is the fattest
part of her face. this is the only way I know. Maybe there is a plugin?

thank you
pete

Answer
Hi Pete,

Actually I would steer away from the clone stamp if I were you. Sometimes it's easy to get carried away with it and make your stamping noticeable, so it's best to rely on other methods.

Sure, there are plug-ins for what you're suggesting -- that is, slimming people down -- but I've always found the easiest way is to use the Liquify filter.

Open your image, and select Liquify from the Filter pulldown menu. Your image will appear in a large dialog box, with the options at the right side:

http://little-works.com/all_experts/liquify_options.jpg

To get used to this filter, you might try using the options at their default settings.

Take your brush tool, within this dialog box, and gently push at the sides of the person's chin and neck. I've found too that it helps slim someone's face to raise their cheekbones a bit, too. But be gentle with this tool -- a little pressure goes a long way! Experiment a bit at first until you get used to it.

When you commit to your editing by saying OK, you'll exit the Liquify dialog box and go back to your image, only now you'll see the edits you made.

Like this:
http://little-works.com/all_experts/liquify.mov

Since this is such a big dialog box I made a little movie of the 'before and after' states too:

http://little-works.com/all_experts/before_after.mov

But remember, the key here is to be gentle with Liquify and someone's face. It's really easy to get carried away and make it look fake! This is, though, one of the easiest and most natural ways of slimming someone.

When you get used to using Liquify, you can change the settings to make more accurate edit in your images. But for now, just experiment and work with keeping your images looking as natural as possible.

Hope this helps --

Lisa