Content Aware in a feature of Photoshop 4 and above. Content Aware seems magical when applied. One of the features of Content Aware is Protect Skin Tone function. This is just to make you aware of it. It works fine with some images, but should not be overdone. It can be done in just a few steps.
This is a free stock image which you will find it here
It belongs to kirill7117
You can see that there is a lot of space on the left as compared to the right. If you wanted to decrease it, all you have to do is use the Crop Tool. But here is where you can also use Content Aware.
Step 1 : Get rid of the Lock in the Background Layer by dragging it to the Bin at the bottom. The Layer is automatically renamed Layer 0.
Step 2 : Go to Edit>Content-Aware Scale.
Step 3 : In the top panel click the 'Protect skin tones' icon.
A selection has already formed around the image.
Step 4 : Drag the middle handle at the sides inwards. I have dragged the left middle handle. The figure remains unchanged.
I have dragged the middle handle almost half the way. Remember that too much of a good thing is not good. If you drag too far, distortions might appear. The 'Protect skin tone' has left the figure untouched and compressed the left side of the image.
Step 5 : I have now dragged the middle handle of the left side. The figure remains intact. Only the background has been compressed, but very unnaturally.
Step 6 : Press Enter and the Content Aware is applied. You will see this progress bar.
This is how the image look after applying Content Aware with Protect skin tone. The sides are all squished up and does not look natural.
This is way overdone and not the way to do it.
Dragging the sides inward a little bit looks better.
Press ENTER for the transformation to be applied.
Lastly apply a crop.
Other photoshop tutorials are here
