Content-Aware Fill in CS5

If there is one feature of Photoshop CS5 to deliver the wow factor, it is the Content-Aware Fill option. This little stroke of genius allows you to roughly select a part of your image and then make it disappear. You can make the selection by either brushing on with the Spot Healing brush, or by making a selection and then using Edit>Fill. This is the option we are demonstrating here. It isn’t 100% accurate all of the time, but it is still enough to make your mouth fall open with surprise. Click here to download the start image

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Step 1

Make your selection
The seagull looks quite amusing but the railing and metal overhang isn’t doing anything for this picture. No worries – we can make them disappear. Pick the Lasso tool and make a very rough selection around the area to delete. Don’t go too close to the edges – you need a bit of information around the area for it to work.

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Step 2

Make the fill
With the selection made, go to the Edit menu and pick Fill. If you go to the Use drop-down menu, you will now see a new option – the Content-Aware one. Pick this and then click OK.

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Step 3

Ta-da!
After a bit of processing, your selection will be erased. Pretty good, huh?! Photoshop has done a pretty good job of replacing the selected area with information but there is a little glitch in the promenade. That’s easy to fix.

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Step 4

Our old friend, the Clone tool
Pick the Clone tool and zoom in to the hickey area. Select from further down the promenade and brush over the dodgy bit. It’s as if the seagull never existed!