Adobe Photoshop has had so many features added in the last few years that it's easy to miss some that could be helpful to your work. The Puppet Warp tool is one that I regularly forget exists, but for compositing and more artistic post-production, it can be superb.
When I started using Photoshop — a depressingly long, 20-years-ago — any substantial editing, digital art, or image manipulation required lengthy written tutorials and painstakingly slow, manual steps. As the years roll on all too quickly, many of the cumbersome and time-consuming tasks are replaced with automation and A.I. This is the way of the world and no industry gets away from it, and while the skill ceiling may lower, the results of what is possible for the average person raises.
This video by photoshopCAFE is more of a demonstration of that progression than perhaps even the presenter, Colin Smith, realizes. The Puppet Warp tool is a brilliant want to manipulate elements of your photo to be more aesthetically pleasing if you're that way inclined, or create better composite artworks, but what struck me was just how damned easy the selection of that flamingo was. With a few quick clicks, he had a perfect selection on the subject, presumably based on Adobe's algorithms determining what is and isn't in focus. From there, the subject's form can be altered effortlessly. The flamingos are a whimsical use of this, but you never know when a shot of multiple people at a wedding or event is ruined by an innocuous limb!
