Tutorials > Photoshop
Turn that Frown Upside Down
How to add a smile with the Liquify tool
May 16, 2007
Sometimes people just don't have the same light and festive attitude as you do. (Sigh) I mean, why can't everyone just be happy?
Case in point: My husband accompanied me to the Heaven and Hell concert last night to see my favorite band in the known universe: Megadeth. He wasn't originally supposed to go but his other buddy bailed last minute. To his credit, he sucked it up and went purely out of sympathy (or marriage obligation, maybe both) and didn't whine or complain too awfully much.
Miraculously, I convinced him to wear an extra Megadeth concert shirt from a couple of years back (when yet another buddy of his bailed on me--what's up with that?!). He dutifully set up the tripod and turned on the auto timer to capture the moment and get a picture of us together. IMPORTANT NOTE: Metal concerts are the *only* time it's acceptable to wear matching attire. Seriously. There's a law somewhere that says that.
The picture would have turned out *great* had he smiled. Luckily, that's easily fixed in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Let the smiling begin!
Step 1: Open the offending photo in either Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. In Photoshop, choose Filter > Liquify.
In Elements, choose Filter > Distort > Liquify.
Step 2: Grab the Liquify tool (circled in red below) and press the right bracket key, ], to increase the brush size of your cursor. You want it large enough to affect the cheek area because when someone smiles, their cheeks move too. Position the crosshair just above the corner of the mouth and gently tug upward and out. Repeat on other side of mouth.
That's it! Nothing to it to. Here's our before and after:
Okay, maybe he's not "happy" but he looks slightly less miserable. I think it's a nice improvement over the original. Now, if only I could slip some teeth in there too...
Until next week, don't let anybody bring you down! You can always fix 'em in post :)
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