The Content-Aware Fill technology was introduced into Photoshop CS5 and has been incrementally improved ever since. Its latest version found in Photoshop CC is absolutely amazing.

The Content-Aware Fill technology can be found in a variety of Photoshop’s tools, including the Spot Healing Brush, the Patch Tool as well as the Content-Aware Fill and Content-Aware Move tools. It can, and should be used, to remove distractions and flaws from your images. When used, the Content-Aware technology will analyse the image and decide upon the best way to repair or remove the unwanted content you have selected. Any of Photoshop’s selection tools can be used to select the part(s) of the image you want to repair or remove.

Prior to the introduction of the Content-Aware technology, the traditional way to repair an area of an image, or remove parts of an image, would have been to use the Clone Stamp. The Clone Stamp works by copying similar pixels from other parts of the image and placing them over the pixels you want to change. The Clone Stamp tool is still a valid and extremely useful tool, but the introduction and refinement of Content-Aware means the Clone Stamp is no longer the best tool for the job. More often than not, you will get far better results by using one of the tools that employ Content-Aware technology.

To use the Content-Aware option in any of its forms, you only need to make a loose and rough selection around the area you wish to remove or repair. This makes it very easy to use as well as being quick and accurate. If you’ve never used Content-Aware, I think you’ll be surprised by how well it seems to work on a wide variety of images and situations.

Have a look at our video below for a detailed look at how to use Content-Aware Fill, the Patch Tool and the Content-Aware Move Tool. As always, please comment.