A Look At The Content-Aware Fill In Photoshop CC 2019

On this video tutorial, Aaron Nace from Phlearn demonstrates how to use the new content aware fill tool in Photoshop CC 2019.

We have previously covered the (then) upcoming functionality of the content-aware fill tool which was finally released in Photoshop CC 2019 (which has been around for a good few weeks now).

We have been getting quite a few questions about how to use this new tool and Nace’s video might help. What the new tool allows you to do is to choose where you want the content aware fill tool to sample from and you can also scale, mirror and choose color and rotation adaptation for the result.

This is all pretty cool but it is also a bit confusing and requires some trial and error (and keep in mind that some ways might work for some images but not for others). Also, Adobe didn’t replace the older content aware fill it basically just added another option.

To use the new content aware fill just go to edit>content aware fill. You can see that there is a new preview image (which changes in real time as you change your options). By default the green is going to be the area where Photoshop will look in order to sample for the fill – by choosing minus (you can choose plus or minus on the top left of the screen).

Some other options include the opacity of the overlay and color adaptation and rotation adaptation (if you have something round for example) – Nace recommends to keep these on default but you can play with them and see what they do.

The scale is another option which allows you to work with smaller and larger in a pattern and mirror is pretty self-explanatory as well. The best way to use this is to create the result in a new layer (always work in an unrestrictive way).

In the final part of the video Nace takes a look at a simple example and a more complex example and goes over each of these options and shows what works (for that image) and what does not.

The final thing Nace shows in this demo is the new spot healing brush tool which now has a content aware option which seems to work really well so definitely check it out the next time you need to remove something from your image.

Bonus video: Adobe video on the new Content-Aware Fill in Photoshop CC 2019

You can find many more Photoshop video tutorials on LensVid’s Photoshop section (and you can find a lot more Phlearn videos on our special Phlearn subsection).

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.