Looking for tips to change human ear shape and size. Liquify? Warp?

[lloydpdx7]

I've done extensive searching, and I can't find ANY pointers (here or on the bigger and many internets  😉 on how to specifically liquify or warp ears that stick out "too much" (client preference, but I see his concern.) Maybe I'm missing something in Liquify, as I've only dabbled with it, but otherwise baffled as to why I can't find some tutorial or tips somewhere about this seeemingly important aspect of a portrait.

[Mylenium · Accepted solution]

Without actually seeing the image (or at least the relevant section of it with the ear) nobody can really advise. That aside I can't see why e.g. a nose beautification tutorial wouldn't be appropriate here. the techniques are pretty much the same, after all. The only real caveat may be that an ear due to its complex curvature, partial transparency and surrounding hair may be require a lot more work to make it look good.

Mylenium

[lloydpdx7]

Thanks. I think you're probably right; since posting the question I went deeper into masking and the forward warp tool, which did what I needed. I'll look at nose tutorials though for further info.

[Trevor.Dennis]

I'm guessing you don't want to share an example image, and if it is of a client you absolutely shouldn't do so.  So I have found this lad who is known to his pals as Wing Nut.  It's a cruel world out there!

You should definitely make the layer you are going to use Liquify on a Smart Object, which effectively means you are working non destructively.  You can step back through the changes you made and redo them which avoids moving the same pixels more than once which would lead to blurring.

The secret with Liquify is to use a large brush and make lots of small adjustments with the Forward Warp tool (uppermost icon).  You can undo with the Reconstruct tool (second icon from the top).  You can also try the Pucker tool (5th icon from top) with a brush that encloses the entire ear, but yopu'll find this pulls the ear away from the face while making it smaller, so you'll still need to fine tune with the Forward Warp tool.  And that's really all there is to it, but do remember to make the layer a Smart Object (via right clicking the layer).