Extending backgrounds in Photoshop

Sometimes, no matter how good your reflexes are, you don’t get a moving subject quite where you want it in the frame, writes Jon Adams. It can be too close to the edge, and that means your composition is compromised. Even with static subjects and scenes, we can still make the error of leaving insufficient space around the core detail, and other than reshooting with a looser composition, it seems there’s little you can do.

But in this easy Photoshop technique, Jon shows how you can create a bit more room around your subject by extending the canvas and stretching the existing pixels to fill in the gap. With a little judicious cloning work, you can disguise any obvious stretched pixels, and get a great result that recomposes your frame.