Transformations with the Content-Aware Move Tool in Adobe Photoshop CC (2015 release)

This excerpt references lesson files, which are available with the purchased book.

With the Content-Aware Move tool, you only needed a few quick steps to create a copy of the thistle that combines seamlessly with the background, and is also different enough that it doesn’t look like an exact copy of the original.

1. Open Thistle.psd in your Lesson05/Extra_Credit folder.
2. Select the Content-Aware Move tool ().
3. In the options bar, choose Extend from the Mode menu. Choosing Extend will duplicate the thistle; if you just want to reposition the single thistle you would choose Move.
   
   
4. Draw a selection marquee around the thistle, with a margin large enough to include the grass around it.
5. Drag the selection to the left and drop it in the empty area of grass.
6. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the dragged thistle and choose Flip Horizontal.
7. Drag the top left transformation handle to make the thistle smaller. If you think the copy of the thistle should be farther from the original, position the pointer inside the transformation rectangle (but not over the anchor point) and drag the thistle copy slightly to the left.
8. Press Enter or Return to make the transformations permanent, leaving the content selected so you can adjust the Structure and Color options.
9. Choose Select > Deselect, and save your changes.