PDA

View Full Version : Extending your canvas, made easy



Richard Peters
07-24-2009, 11:57 PM
I've just done a tutorial on my blog explaining how to add canvas to your image and fill it with the original detail from the photo - meaning you don't have to waste time messing about with the clone stamp tool. I expect a lot of people will already know about using this technique but for those that do not...

Quick and easy canvas extension (http://www.richardpeters.co.uk/blog/2009/07/24/easy-canvas-extension/).

I used the below image for the step by step tutorial, showing how I gave the duck more space to swim in to in less than 30 seconds, whilst preserving the texture in the water.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c22/richardmpeters/Blog%20Stuff/compare.jpg

Hope some of you find it useful :)

Joerg Rockenberger
07-25-2009, 12:38 AM
Very cool! Thanks for sharing. Much appreciated! JR

Jay Gould
07-25-2009, 01:11 AM
Thank you Richard; your tutorial has been copied and added to my grouping of BPN tutorials to be studied when I finish my CS4 course. BTW, I have enjoyed poking around in your website and the other tutorials.

Richard Peters
07-25-2009, 01:21 AM
You are very welcome guys, glad you found it helpful.

Jay, thank you, glad you enjoyed your visit to my blog - plent more content to come as and when I get the time...! :)

Dave Leroy
07-25-2009, 10:23 AM
Quick and easy is right Richard. Tks Dave

Axel Hildebrandt
07-25-2009, 11:40 AM
Very nice tutorial, Richard. Do you mind if I move it to the educational resources forum?

Richard Peters
07-25-2009, 03:30 PM
Thanks all :)


Very nice tutorial, Richard. Do you mind if I move it to the educational resources forum?
Absolutely not, got for it :)

Jay Gould
07-25-2009, 04:02 PM
Peter, do you know what the difference is between what you have suggested to add canvass and the Content Aware Scaling in CS4? Thanks,

Richard Peters
07-25-2009, 04:08 PM
Peter, do you know what the difference is between what you have suggested to add canvass and the Content Aware Scaling in CS4? Thanks,
I've not used CAS in CS4, although I believe it works in a similar way, by stretching areas of the image that do not have muh information. I think the good old manual way will give you more control though over exactly how much of the image you need to stretch and how far. That said it may well come down to an image by image basis to see which works best in each situation.

Kiran Khanzode
07-26-2009, 03:37 PM
My personal thanks for this , Richard !!!! It has indeed helped me recover a couple of images that needed some extension..and I was surely using the cloning tools till now...not anymore, thanks to you !

Kiran

Julie Kenward
07-26-2009, 08:35 PM
I am aware of that procedure and you did an excellent job explaining it. I've copied it down as a refresher so thank you so much for taking the time to do that!

Jay Gould
07-26-2009, 09:53 PM
Jules, I think this should be elevated to the Educational Resources. We have all learned from Richard; it will make it easier for others to find. I too copied it and added it to my growing list of .docz BPN Resources folder.

Ákos Lumnitzer
07-27-2009, 01:19 AM
Richard
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! One never stops learning the secrets of Photoshop. Awesome mate! :)

Fabs Forns
07-27-2009, 09:01 AM
Content aware scale moves the subject around and keeps the same amount of pixels. This method works well for web, but for printing you may run into trouble because you are diluting the pixels as you transform.

Ákos Lumnitzer
07-27-2009, 07:13 PM
in that case Fabs, what would be the best way? :) THanks

Ray Rozema
07-27-2009, 07:40 PM
Thanks for sharing

Fabs Forns
07-27-2009, 09:21 PM
in that case Fabs, what would be the best way? :) THanks

I use Content Aware Scale whenever possible. If not, I just extend canvas on the opposite side, duplicate the layer and move it, carefully woring at the seam. That way, I get no distorted pixels.

Mike Milicia
07-28-2009, 09:00 AM
Here's another variation that works well for adding canvas without "stretching" pixels.
Like the "free transform" method described above, it works best when adding to areas without alot of detail.

Let's say you have added canvas by adding width to the right side of an image.
Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to select the area on the right side of the original image that you would like to "duplicate" in the newly added canvas area.
With the selection active , use "Layer->New->Layer via Copy".
This will place the a copy of the selected area on a new layer.
With this new layer active, use the Move Tool to move the portion of the image that you have copied to the right until it is directly adjacent to the right side of the original image.
Depending on the image, at this point, the result may look pretty bad with an obvious "disconnect" at the point where the original image ends and the copied pixels begin.
In the vast majority of cases, this is easily remedied by doing "Edit->Transform->Flip Horizontal" with the "copy" layer still active. (Note that if using this method to extend the Height of an image, you would use Flip Vertical at this point.)
Again, depending on the situation, you may also have to do some manual touchup along the seam where the newly added canvas begins.
For cases where it applies, this method is fairly quick and gives excellent results without any loss of quality.

Dave Phillips
07-28-2009, 04:36 PM
to expand a bit on Mike Milicia's technique above;
After the blank canvas is added and the marquee selection made, simply
control/C, control/D, control/V....then move it where you want it.
The paste will automatically put it on a new layer

And might add that Fab's point is excellent item to remember

John Chardine
07-29-2009, 11:36 AM
Or simply select and control/command-J will put selection on new layer.

Gail Miller
02-23-2010, 09:27 PM
Ahhhhhhh, thank you so much! I am so excited to learn this!!!! :D (Still making it through the tutorials) Gail

Herb Houghton
01-11-2011, 08:48 PM
Thanks for this tutorial Richard, it will certainly save me lots of time rather than cloning in the extended canvas.

Roger Schmidt
11-08-2012, 12:29 AM
OK, I stumble across this three years after the post and glad I did. Wonderful tip. Thank you!

Rog~