The Liquify Function could easily be called Photoshop’s Funhouse Tool.  Applying this feature to an image can be likened to standing in front of a wavy mirror at an amusement park.  The reflection ends up completely distorted in the most unusual ways.  To illustrate this we’ll open up the fudog image from the chapter004 folder and modify the statue’s face.  Once you have the image in your workspace select Image/Liquify from the Menu.  The Liquify dialog box appears.

The Liquify Dialog Box

Down the left hand side you will find the various effects that can be applied to an image and down the right hand side you will find the options for the Tools and viewing the image.  Let’s take a look at what you can do with this particular feature.

As you can see there is a broad range of unusual effects that can be applied to an image. Many of them are self explanatory. The Freeze Tool allows you to designate areas of an image that you want to avoid modifying.  It does this by applying a red mask not unlike a Layer Mask .  The Thaw Tool, logically, removes that mask.  The options on the right hand side allow you to change the size of the brush that you use, revert to your original image, and modify your view.

Below you will find some example of the various Tools at work.

If at any time you want to return to your image’s original state simply {Click} on the revert button. 

The Liquify Function demands a certain amount of experimentation before convincing or realistic results can be achieved.  Try applying the various Tools to different images with a range of different option settings.