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I want to expand this image to the right using Photoshop Elements:

So far, the results are not that impressive. I copy/pasted bits of the image and tried various things with the clone stamp and dodge/burn, but I feel like I'm just throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks.

How would you enlarge this image? Any advice on avoiding obvious symmetry effects, visible borders and other unwanted artifacts?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Have you tried content-aware fill? \$\endgroup\$
    – jrista
    Jul 9, 2012 at 18:38

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You can use Content-aware fill which is available in Photoshop Elements 9 and above (see here for an example of how to use it). Basically what will happen is that Photoshop Elements will try to fill the empty space from the surrounding pixels, so in theory it should do what you want.

Also if the link above wasn't enough for you, this Google search could help

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I haven't worked with the Spot Healing Brush before, but I noticed that when I stroke the transparent pixels to the right of my image with Content-Aware Fill enabled it just fades the corners. Am I using the tool incorrectly? \$\endgroup\$
    – Pieter
    Jul 9, 2012 at 19:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Pieter: Content Aware Heal is different from Content Aware Fill. Content Aware Fill usually requires you to mask off the area you wish to fill, and either delete it with ca-fill enabled, or explicitly fill it with ca-fill. It will then generate full content for the entire area. You might need to start with a bit of cloning so your not working with a transparent area, but the ca-heal is not the same as ca-fill. \$\endgroup\$
    – jrista
    Jul 9, 2012 at 19:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ Cloning to transparent pixels gives weird results unless I do it at 100% opacity, so I thought I might as well do some old-fashioned copy/pasting. Would you recommend this workflow? Before, healing context and after. I'd then try to use the cloning stamp to eliminate some of the more visible quirks. \$\endgroup\$
    – Pieter
    Jul 10, 2012 at 13:08
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enter image description hereI used your original image in photoshop cs5 expanded the canvas size, selected the blank area using the magic wand tool and used content-aware fill (shift+5) and it filled the image in perfectly.

I've never used photoshop elements, what version do you have? A quick google search show elements 9+ has content-aware fill. Anyway I tinkered with it for about 2 minutes using only basic tools and came up with this:

New Image

A little detail/texture is lost, however if this is acceptable I first expanded the canvas, then used a rectangular marquee to copy a section the same size as the addition, I used free transform to stretch the copied portion until the main lines/shapes basically matched, I then feathered the edges of the copy and stretched it to blend with the original, there will still be a border at this point. So I flattened the image and made two copies of the background. on the middle image apply a gaussian blur, on the top image a mask go through with a very soft brush on 100% and blur the border. You can change the opacity of the middle layer to find the best balance between too blurry and a brderline, if a small amount of birder can still be seen use the clone tool with a large soft brush at a low opacity and clone here and there. Hope this was remotely useful :)

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    \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for showing me the result of content-aware fill in Photoshop. I should buy that upgrade someday. In the meantime, do you know any good Photoshop Elements plugins that do what you just showed? \$\endgroup\$
    – Pieter
    Jul 10, 2012 at 13:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ I edited my answer to do what you need only using the basics \$\endgroup\$
    – ABPhoto
    Jul 10, 2012 at 21:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Pieter: You don't need to upgrade to the full Photoshop to get content-aware fill. It is available in PS Elements 9 and on. \$\endgroup\$
    – jrista
    Jul 10, 2012 at 22:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ I can't find it. Are you sure that you're not referring to content-aware healing? I'm using Photoshop Elements 10. \$\endgroup\$
    – Pieter
    Jul 11, 2012 at 9:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ No its content aware fill--in photoshop it is shift+5 or under the drop down menus edit>fill>content-aware (on a pc) \$\endgroup\$
    – ABPhoto
    Jul 11, 2012 at 17:45

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