The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Removing Love Handles

This is a very handy body-sculpting technique, and you'll probably be surprised at how many times you'll wind up using it. It uses Liquify, which many people first dismiss as a "toy" for giving people "bug-eyes" and "huge lips," but it didn't take long for professional retouchers to see how powerful this tool can really be.

Step One

Open the photo that has a love handle repair just waiting to happen. (I know this is probably the last person in the world to need a love handle removal, but when you're looking through stock photos, finding a person who doesn't have a perfect physique is nearly impossible.)

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Step Two

Go under the Filter menu and choose Liquify. When the Liquify dialog appears, click on the Zoom tool in the bottom of the Toolbox on the left-hand side of the dialog. Then, drag out a selection around the area you want to work on to give you a close-up view for greater accuracy.

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Step Three

Get the Push Left tool from the Toolbox (it's the sixth one down from the top). It was called the Shift Pixels tool in Photoshop 6 and 7, but Adobe realized that you were getting used to the name, so they changed it, just to keep you on your toes. Then, choose a relatively small brush size using the Brush Size field near the top-right of the Liquify dialog. Now paint a downward stroke starting just above and outside the love handle and continuing downward. The pixels will shift back in toward the body, removing the love handle as you paint.

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Step Four

When you click OK, the love handle repair is complete. (Note: If you need to remove love handles on the left side of the body, paint upward rather than downward. Why? That's just the way it works.)

Before

After