Dieting is easy on Photoshop

(Disclaimer: This post serves to explain the tool; keeping fit and healthy should still be part of your lifestyle. Also, this post serves to expose what Photoshop can do and remind you that what you often see in magazines etc. are not entirely true)

1. Open your image on Photoshop. Open Filter and select Liquify.

 2. Select the 'Forward Warp Tool'. Adjust your Brush Size and Brush Pressure. For the model below, I clicked and pulled inwards to make her look more skinny.

 3. In the image below, you can see that I have 'pulled in' her stomach. However, her right arm has not been edited yet.

4. After completing your edit, click OK to apply your changes. Once again, remember to add a layer mask. (If you are not sure what a layer mask is, you can refer to my previous post here!) Ensure your brush tool is coloured black and start painting over the distorted portions.

5. Although the distortion is minimal in this example, you can see the difference a layer mask makes.

Here is a more extreme example to illustrate the importance of layer masks to remove the unwanted distortion:

You can check out some of the most ridiculous photoshopped fails ever here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/elliewoodward/the-most-wtf-celebrity-photoshop-fails-of-all-time#1hc6kjo
Number 15 on this list is really... wow.

Let me know your thoughts about this! I would be glad to hear from you (:

Gyming is easy on Photoshop

(Disclaimer: This post serves to explain the tool; keeping fit and healthy should still be part of your lifestyle. Also, this post serves to expose what Photoshop can do and remind you that what you often see in magazines etc. are not entirely true)

1. Under Filter, select Liquify.

2. Select the Bloat tool, and adjust your Brush Size and Brush Pressure.

3. Click and hold to 'bloat' up certain body parts. It would be good to have some knowledge of muscle groups so that you can expand your model's muscle proportionately! If you 'over-bloat' the body part, just hit Command+Z or Ctrl+Z to undo.

 4. You can see that I have 'bloated' his arms, shoulders and trapezoids. Click OK when you are done to apply!

5. (***Here comes the most important step***) If you notice in the image below, other parts of the photo have also been distorted due to liquify. Hence, create a layer mask.

 6. Ensure that your brush tool is coloured black, slowly paint over the distorted areas.

7. This is a comparison of the image with and without the layer mask. Although the distortion is minor in this example, I am sure that you have heard of Photoshop disasters where models forget to erase the distortion spillover on the background. 

This is a popular example that some of you may be familiar with. You can see that the building in the background is distorted. So remember to use your layer masks!

Stay tuned for 'Dieting is easy on Photoshop' coming out next week!