Question

I want to make a good impression on someone via a photo, but I’ve developed a touch of middle-age spread. I’ll lose a few pounds before I meet my friend, but want to send them a photo now representing how I’ll look after the diet. Any tips on trimming the fat using Photoshop?

Answer

Diets are dull and liposuction sucks. You can lose weight the easy way with a digital nip and tuck courtesy of the Liquify filter’s Pucker tool. Follow the steps below to firm up with a Photoshop workout. We promise no sweat is involved!

Make a selection

In our example the stripes accentuate the shape of the stomach. Select the Elliptical Marquee tool (M). In the Options bar set Feather around 12 pixels. This helps make the blend between the edited pixels and their surroundings more subtle and therefor less noticeable.

Pucker up

Now go to the Filter>Liquify menu. Select the Pucker tool (S). Increase the tool’s Brush Size to cover the stomach area. Reduce the Brush Pressure so you can make changes in smaller increments. This gives you more control over the image-editing process.

Breathe in!

Gently click with the Pucker tool to push the bulging stomach inwards. To give the brush a softer edge, reduce the Brush Density value. This will help blend the puckered pixels with their neighbours. Finally. tidy up remaining curves using the Forward Warp tool (W).