N-Photo

54 March 2016 Download the start image(s) at bit.ly/start-56

NIKON SKILLS CREATIVE PHOTOSHOP

 A

mong the most enticing

tools in Photoshop’s box of

tricks are those that give

you the power to reshape

objects, people or even animals.

Chief among these pixel-

pushing tools is the Liquify

command. It acts almost like

a mini-app within Photoshop,

coming complete with its own

toolbar, menus and shortcuts.

With Liquify, you can smoothly

nudge a shape into something

entirely new. The most common

–and controversial –application

of this technique is to reshape

the bodies of models for fashion

magazine photoshoots, but it

can be used for almost anything

• including creating a caricature
  of a rhinoceros!
  You begin by creating a rough
  cutout of the rhino and copying
  it to a New Layer, so that you can
  reshape it without this affecting

the pixels in the background.

Once this is done, you can

get stuck in with the Liquify

command. The trick here is

emphasise the natural shape of

your chosen animal, so that at

first glance you can’t quite put

your finger in why it looks a little

odd. Here’s how it’s done...

The mission

O Get to grips with

the Liquify filter

and transform

an animal photo into

a unique caricature

Time

O 30 minutes

Skill level

O Beginner

O Intermediate

O Advanced

Kit needed

O Photoshop CS4

or above

PROJECT SIX / CREATIVE PHOTOSHOP

Make animal magic

James Paterson explains how to re-shape photos of wildlife and pets

using Photoshop’s Liquify filter to create a playful ‘creature caricature’

With Liquify, you can smoothly nudge

a shape into something entirely new

BEFORE AFTER