Let’s begin with the easiest smart filter option. You can even apply the Liquify filter to Smart Objects, and it will function as a non-destructive Smart Filter.

This mesh also allows you to apply all the distortion effects non-destructively, which means that while you’re in the Liquify workspace, you can modify and adjust the results without losing your original image quality.

The end result is that your pixels act like a flexible gel or liquid instead of being stuck in a rigid pixel grid, which is obviously where the name comes from. Without getting too technical, the tool places an invisible mesh over your image and then tracks the distortions you make to that mesh using the various warp tools. The Liquify tool, which is also known as the Liquify filter, allows you to push, pull, distort, warp, bloat, and pucker your pixels to your heart’s content. Note: the model photos used in this tutorial for the face-aware section are provided by Mika on Unsplash.

Instead, I’ll take you through the basic Liquify tools and then we’ll dig into the more advanced face-aware tools that still amaze me. Usually, in these tutorial articles, I’ll give a quick introduction to the subject and then follow it up with a more detailed step-by-step explanation, but that doesn’t really fit in this case. Watching it develop over time into the astonishing tool that it is now has been a fascinating experience, and I want to share the results of that experience with you. My name is Thomas Boldt, and I’ve been working with Photoshop since way back before the Liquify tool was available. The ability to completely distort and rearrange pixels within an image while still maintaining a photorealistic appearance almost seems like magic when you first use the Liquify tool, but it can also be an overwhelming experience. Photoshop’s impressive array of image-editing tools can manipulate images in ways that you often have to see to believe, and few tools show off this power better than the Liquify tool.

Photoshop liquify tool not working