This is the first time though that I will be using Photoshop CS3 on Mac instead of CS2 on Window-based PC. (Hehe…recently switched to a 20-inch iMac). Not to worry, this tutorial can be applied with other Photoshop versions, and Windows users just need to remember that Mac’s keyboard keys Command (Cmd) and Option/Alt (Option) mentioned here are the same as Window’s keys Ctrl and Alt respectively.

Here, I intend to share how easily you can add borders/frames to digital photos or images, using Layer Styles, specifically applying borders inside your photos, rather than outside which can also be done but will not be covered in this tutorial. This process is most ideal for photos with a lot of unwanted background or unappealing areas that you want removed, yet not wanting to retouch or crop but retain the image size as is. Simply applying a single Layer Style effect or combination of effects to create an attractive frame inside the image will automatically hide the undesirable areas, as seen in these ‘before and after’ images of Christmas Palm fruits.

In my opinion, framing photos this way is by far the most versatile and easiest. You can choose the many marvelous and fascinating effects available to customize your own Layer Styles to suit your photos. And, the best part is you get to see the styling effects straightaway on your document as you’re adding them. This helps tremendously to better determine your choices and settings. The effects are extremely variable and so user-friendly that any newbie to Photoshop can easily apply them in a breeze. Moreover, you can save any combination of the effects you have applied as a new Layer Style to be reused on other layers/documents. Great, huh!

THE TUTORIAL: CREATE ATTRACTIVE PHOTO BORDERS/FRAMES, USING LAYER STYLES

(Copies of photos used here are 800 x 600 pixels, reduced from original sizes of 1600 x 1200 pixels)

Step 1. In Photoshop, open the image that you want to use – press Cmd+O (Window: Ctrl+O) or go to File > Open to browse, choose and open your image. A simpler way is to drag your image from iPhoto Library or Finder and drop it onto the Photoshop icon in the Dock at the bottom of your screen.

Step 2. Duplicate the Background Layer (Cmd+J). Photoshop will automatically name it Layer 1 in the Layers Palette. Double-click on the name and rename it if you wish. Then, click on the Eye icon to the left of the Background layer to remove visibility as not needed anymore.

Step 3. Now, to spruce up the image with a simple yet captivating frame, by applying Layer Style special effects to the targeted layer. Easily done by following these steps :-

(a) Open Layer Style dialog box -
Start off by selecting the layer that you want to work on in the Layers Palette, which is Layer 1 (Background copy). Then, bring up the Layer Style dialog box in any of the following ways:

• double-click to the right of that Layer; or
• click the Add a layer style icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette and select Blending Options from the pop-up list; or
• go to Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options.

(b) Apply Layer Style effects -
As a guide, here is an image of the Layer Style dialog box with Blending Options as default.

You can use any one of Photoshop preset styles by clicking the word Style at the topmost left of dialog box and a collection of them will be displayed for you to choose. A single click on any of the preset styles is all it takes to add that style to your targeted layer.

Otherwise, you can create your own Layer Style by choosing a single effect or combination of various effects as listed in the left column.
Before you start, see that the Preview box on the right side is checked, to enable the effects to be seen right away on your document as they are being applied.
To apply any individual effect, click on its name (not the checkbox) to enable it, and its options for your choice of settings will be displayed in the center column. Try experimenting the many fantastic variables available to better determine what best suit your picture and your taste. Do the same for the next effect and so on if you want more. If you change your mind, just uncheck the box to the left of that named effect to disable, or check to enable again. To edit any effect already applied, simply click on its name and adjust settings as desired.
When you are finally delighted with the results seen on your photo (document), simply press OK to apply the set of effects and options chosen and exit the Layer Style dialog box. Better still, before exiting, save your customized effects as a new style by clicking the New Style button on the right column and it will be stored in the Styles Palette for future reuse. If you forget here, you can still do this in the Layers Palette: select the layer having the style that you want saved as a preset, then click the Create new style icon in the Styles Palette.

Should you change your mind after exiting and want to edit layer effects already applied, just return to it by double-clicking on the Layer effects icon (letter fx) or the specific Layer effect name in the Layers Palette, to bring up the Layer Style dialog box and make the desired adjustments.

The layer effects commonly used to create borders and frames inside an image are the Stroke, Inner glow, Bevel and emboss, even Inner shadow. Their options are so varied that a single effect or a combination of effects applied can present such captivating results.

Presented below, are just a few examples of photo frames/borders created with Layer Styles, including the effects and options/settings selected.

EXAMPLE #1 – stroke and inner glow effects

BEFORE FRAMING

AFTER FRAMING

Image of Christmas Palm fruits (Veitchia merrillii).
Here, 2 solid-colored borders were drawn, a black to complement the red fruits and a beige for contrast. The result – a simple yet attractive frame to cover the undesirable left foreground and bring focus to the fruits therein. (Tip: you can even type in your signature, copyright or greetings on the black border, and if it isn’t broad enough, just increase the Stroke size).
Effects and settings applied were as follows:

(1) Stroke: Stroke size – 60px, Position – Inside, Blend mode – Normal, Opacity to 100%, Color – black #000000.
(Note: opting for Blend mode – Dissolve, and reducing the % of Opacity will result in a dotted or patterned rectangle border. Even, for Fill Type, choosing Gradient or Pattern instead of Color will present fabulous variations. Try it!)

(2) Inner Glow: Blend Mode – Normal, Opacity – 100%, Color – #f8f0e6, Technique – Precise, Source – Edge, Choke – 0%, Size – 75px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 1%. (Tip: these settings for Inner Glow always result in a solid color, so if you want another distinct color besides applying a Stroke effect, this is it.)

EXAMPLE #2 – inner glow effect

BEFORE FRAMING

AFTER FRAMING

Image of Annona squamosa (Sugar or Custard Apple), from our tropical garden.
Only a single inner glow effect was applied to hide unappealing areas seen at top corners. Applying this effect with the following settings would usually result in an uneven outline which I find rather appealing and quite arty. Placed on a white background, it would appear as if the image had shrunked.

(1) Inner Glow: Blend Mode – Linear Dodge (Add), Opacity – 80%, Color – light yellow #ffffbe, Technique – Softer, Source – Edge, Choke – 0%, Size – 68px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 40%.

Another example, with Inner Glow
Modifying the options slightly as follows will reap this lovely appearance, as seen in our Lantana camara image – with softer rectangular edges and roundish corners.

Inner Glow: Blend Mode – Normal, Opacity – 100%, Color – white #ffffff, Technique – Softer, Source – Edge, Choke – 0%, Size – 35px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 35%.
(Note: choosing Technique – Precise will result differently, try it out!)

EXAMPLE #3 – stroke, inner glow, bevel and emboss effects

BEFORE FRAMING

AFTER FRAMING

Image of Hippeastrum ‘Mrs Garfield’, from our tropical garden. A combination of 3 layer effects to create a fancy frame with wonderful color contrast to enhance the beauty of the gorgeous blooms.

(1) Stroke: Stroke size – 25px, Position – Inside, Blend mode – Normal, Opacity to 100%, Color – pink #f492bc.

(2) Inner Glow: Blend Mode – Normal, Opacity – 100%, Color – #6f2d3e, Technique – Softer, Source – Edge, Choke – 0%, Size – 100px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 20%.

(3) Bevel and Emboss: Style – Inner Bevel, Technique – Smooth, Depth – 80%, Direction – Up, Size – 23px, Soften – 0px, Angle – 120 degrees, deselect Use Global Light, Altitude – 30 degrees, Gloss Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Highlight Mode – Screen, Color – #ea97bb, Opacity – 100%, Shadow Mode – Multiply, Color #430f1c, Opacity – 100%.
Ending here will produce an elevated beveled-border as seen in the right image, giving an overall 3-D look. Lovely too!

Or you can continue to apply a contour to the bevel, which was done for this example (effects seen in the after-framing image above) – click the name Contour on the left column, and select Contour – Sawtooth 1 (click on the drop-arrow to open the Contour Picker to make your choice), deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 50%. Do experiment with the various contour styles available and play with the range glider to see their wonderful effects – you will be amazed! Or you may want to customize your own style – click on the contour image to open the Contour Editor which will enable you to make variations, and don’t forget to save for future use.

EXAMPLE #4 – stroke, inner glow, inner shadow, plus bevel and emboss effects

BEFORE FRAMING

AFTER FRAMING

Image of Euphorbia milii’, from our garden. Applied the following combination of styling effects to create an interesting 3-D frame, just to share further the amazing power of Photoshop.

(1) Stroke: Stroke size – 12px, Position – Inside, Blend mode – Normal, Opacity to 100%, Color – green #3d7532 (selected from the image with the Eyedropper tool).

(2) Inner Glow: Blend Mode – Normal, Opacity – 100%, Color – white #ffffff, Technique – Precise, Source – Edge, Choke – 0%, Size – 55px, Contour – Ring-Double, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 10%.

(3) Inner Shadow: Blend Mode – Multiply, Color – #a7b98c, Opacity – 83%, Angle – 45 degrees, select Global Light, Distance – 31px, Choke – 0%, Size – 13px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased. (Tip – There’s an easier way to set the Angle and Distance options. Simply click anywhere inside your image and drag your mouse around. As you drag the mouse, you’ll see the inner shadow being created and the values for Angle and Distance changing dynamically. Stop dragging when you’re pleased with the results).

(4) Bevel and Emboss: Style – Pillow Emboss, Technique – Smooth, Depth – 100%, Direction – Up, Size – 57px, Soften – 0px, Angle – 45 degrees, select Use Global Light, Altitude – 30 degrees, Gloss Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Highlight Mode – Screen, Color – #85d823, Opacity – 100%, Shadow Mode – Multiply, Color #497a14, Opacity – 57%.

That’s it. Enough examples to start you off. Do try out the many fantastic variables, do not be afraid to experiment. You will be stunned to know how creative and artistic you can be. Frankly, applying layer effects is such an easy and quick method to draw fanciful, artistic and beautiful frames/borders to your images. In fact, this is my favorite way of framing my pictures for Flickr photostream.

GO, HAVE FUN! BE CREATIVE!

View previous photo framing tutorials: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, if you wish.

Better still, select photoshop tutorials from gallery of thumbnails.

Last edited: Jan 24, 2010>

This is how it looked when I have finished creating this fun collage, an illusionary image displaying 3 lovely butterflies but in reality there was only one garden visitor that morning! Lovely, isn’t it?
If you’d like to make a photomontage like this, read on!

Basically it was extracting the main object which was the green-spotted butterfly with the leaf, from two cropped images and merging them into a chosen background picture to create a lovely collage. There are many ways of extracting, but here I chose to do it with the Eraser Tool, which is simple and uncomplicated.

Let us begin this collage tutorial, using the Photoshop CS2 -

Step 1. Envisage a theme for your collage, then select your photos and make copies of them beforehand as it is unwise to work on originals. Then, in Photoshop open those copies – Choose File > Open and browse to select the images that you want.

In this tutorial, the following 3 pictures were used. All have the same measurement of 1200 x 1600 pixels with a resolution of 96 dpi and straight out of camera.

Step 2. Click anywhere on Picture #1 to activate it. This will be the Background image for the collage. Then in the Layers Palette, duplicate the Background layer – right-click on the layer and select Duplicate Layer or press shortcut keys Ctrl+J and you will notice a Background copy is created in the Layers Palette which Photoshop has named it Layer 1. You can double-click on the name to rename it if you want, I chose to rename it ‘Collage’. Then, click on the Eye icon to the left of the Background layer to remove visibility.

Step 3. Next, activate Picture #2 to crop out the butterfly and leaf.

To do this, select the Rectangular Marquee Tool from the top left of the toolbar (if it is unseen, click and hold down the icon until a fly-out appears and choose your tool), and drag to draw a selection border over the area of your image that you want to keep.

This is illustrated in the right image.

Step 4. Now, you’ll need to drag the selection border from Picture #2 to the Collage Background image (Picture #1). First, select the Move Tool from the toolbar (or tap V to activate this tool), then click inside the selection border and drag to the Collage image. Observe that as the cropped image is being added to the Collage, a new layer named Layer 1 is produced in the Layers Palette. You can rename the layer or leave as is, I chose the later. Meanwhile close the window of the Picture #2 as you’ve no more use of it.

Reactivate the Collage image window to continue the process. You would have noticed that the newly dragged in butterfly and leaf are not proportionate to those in the Collage. So, that need to be rectified.
First, target Layer 1 by selecting it in the Layers Palette. (Note – Always make sure the correct layer is targeted in the Layers Palette before making any changes). Then tap Ctrl+T (or go to to Edit > Free Transform) and a bounding box appears around the edges of the layer with anchor points on all the sides. You can then resize the image. Holding down the Shift key as you drag from a corner handle will maintain the proportions and would not distort the picture. When desired size is achieved, double click inside box (or tap Enter key or click the check sign at top options bar) to accept transformation, otherwise tap Esc (or click the circle with slash) to cancel it and start all over again.

Step 5. Now, to remove unwanted areas and leave behind just the butterfly and the leaf. This can be easily achieved with the Eraser Tool.

First, remove visibility of the Collage Layer in the Layers Palette by clicking on the Eye icon to the left of it, as illustrated in the right image. That leaves just the Layer 1 visible and makes it easier to work. You would also need to magnify the image to a suitable working size by gliding the Zoom Slider at the Navigator Palette at top right corner (select Window > Navigator if not displayed yet). You can use this Palette to quickly change the view of your image, using the thumbnail display. Drag the colored box within the image thumbnail to view a specific area or click inside to designate the viewable area. Alternatively, you can use the Move Tool (tap V to activate), click and move your image around to see where needs smoothening or removal. Select the Eraser Tool from the toolbar and set to a large brush (about 50px) with 100% hardness (reduce the % if may prefer a softer effect) at the top options bar. Then drag it over large unwanted areas to erase them, gradually changing to a much finer brush size (right-click to change) as you get nearer to the outlines of the butterfly and leaf. If wrongly erased, just press Ctrl+Z to undo or jump to any recent changes made in the History Palette.

When all unwanted areas are removed, leaving behind only the butterfly and leaf, toggle back the visibility of the Collage Layer by clicking to the left of its thumbnail.

Step 6. Next, to rotate the extracted butterfly to a more appealing angle and blend with the overall broader picture. First, select the Layer 1 in the Layers Palette again and then press Ctrl+T to bring out the free transform bounding box around the image. Then position your cursor just outside the box and when it changes to a curved double-headed arrow, click and drag to rotate as desired. Next click inside the box and move the image around to see what looks better where. When you’re satisfied with its positioning, just double-click in the box to accept the transformation.

Step 7. Now, you will need to work on Picture #3 basing on Steps 3 to 6 above. The four images below give you an idea of the process taken. To sum up briefly:

• First photo shows the rectangular selection border created on Picture #3 (refer Step 3).
• Second photo shows the cropped selection already dragged to the Collage (it will appear as Layer 2 in the Layers Palette) and will be resized, basing on Step 4. Here, the image will be flipped horizontally to give a more pleasant outlook and to hide the unsightly straightened edge of the leaf. To do this, right-click inside the free transform bounding box to bring forth the fly-out list (as seen in image), then select Flip Horizontal and double-click in box to accept.
• Third photo shows the flipped image and areas to be erased, using the Eraser Tool as outlined in Step 5. The Layers Palette was included to give you an idea of the current status. Remember to toggle visibility of the other layers when extraction is completed
• Fourth photo shows the final repositioning of the extracted butterfly and leaf (refer Step 6).

There you are, a fun collage of 3 butterfly pictures blended together. Beautiful, isn’t it…as if seen and captured in a butterfly farm or in their natural habitat!

Wouldn’t you like to enhance its attractiveness? Photoshop has such powerful tools and features to do that. I just know some basics but even the basics can produce such gratifying rewards, I think.

Here, I would like to continue sharing with you the steps taken and you may want to give it a try yourself. Have a look again at the top most picture of this article and if you’re game, read on!

Step 8. By just applying a combination of a few layer styles to the Collage, you can create an arty and fancy border or frame, adding depth and beauty, as well as presenting a lovely 3-D (three-dimensional) effect to the picture.

With the Collage Picture window still activated, start off by selecting the Collage Layer that you want to work on in the Layers Palette. Then, bring forth the Layer Style window – you can either double-click to the right of the Collage Layer or click on the Add a layer style icon (letter f within a circle) at the bottom of the Layers Palette and select any option. You can even go to the top menu bar, choose Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options.

Step 9. Here is an image of the Layer Style window as it appeared with the Stroke effect selected to start with.

On the right side of window, check that Preview is selected to allow you to view the styling effects on your image as you make your choices. On the left side are the various Layer Style effects available. Click on any name to bring on its options for you to select and click on its left box to toggle off and on the effects. Go ahead and play around with the various styling effects to learn and test to see what each does and what combinations work best for your photo. Really fascinating!

In this tutorial example, I’ve applied a Stroke, Inner Glow, Inner Shadow and ended with a Bevel and Emboss. The following effects and settings were applied:

(a) Stroke – selections made were: Stroke size – 30px, Position – Inside, Blend mode – Normal, Opacity to 100%, Color – green #4ba41c. Do not close the Layer Style window as yet since there are 3 more layer style effects to be applied.
(b) Inner Glow – set: Blend Mode – Normal, Opacity – 100º, Color – #fbfbdb, Technique – Softer, Source – Edge, Choke – 0%, Size – 250px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 12%.
(c) Inner Shadow – select: Blend Mode – Multiply, Color – black #000000, Opacity – 100%, Angle – 30º, select Global Light, Distance – 7px, Choke – 0%, Size – 70px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased. (Tip – There’s an easier way to set the Angle and Distance options. With the Layer Style window open and set to Inner Shadow, simply click anywhere inside your image and drag your mouse around. As you drag the mouse, you’ll see the inner shadow being created and the values for Angle and Distance changing dynamically. Stop dragging when you’re pleased with the results).
(d) Bevel and Emboss – choose: Style – Pillow Emboss, Technique – Smooth, Depth – 100%, Direction – Up, Size – 140px, Soften – 0px, Angle – 30º, select Global Light, Altitude – 30º, Gloss Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Highlight Mode – Screen, Color – #6ffc3f, Opacity – 100%, Shadow Mode – Multiply, Color – Black #3d7c10, Opacity – 78%. Also, click on the word Contour on the left side of window, and for Contour – pick Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 50º.
(e) Acceptance – View Collage Background image to see the overall effects of the Layer Styles applied. If you’re satisfied with all the styling effects made on your photo, you can first (this is optional but advisable) save your current styling settings as a New Style for future use by clicking the button displayed on the right side. When its small window pops up, name your new style, select Include Layer Effects and Include Layer Blending Options, then click OK to save and close.
Finally, to accept all the styling effects applied and exit the main Layer Style window, click OK. Should you change your mind again after exiting, just return to it by double-clicking on the Layer Style button (letter f with a circle) to the right of Collage layer in the Layers Palette and make the desired changes. That’s all!

Haha…almost forgot! A gentle reminder to save the completed Collage – save file as jpeg as well as psd formats, making sure that the photoshop (psd) format is saved as layers, just in case you’d want to make some changes later on!

FINISHED! HERE’S THE FINAL PHOTO COLLAGE (PHOTOMONTAGE) AGAIN!

Hope you’ve enjoyed following this tutorial which took me about 4 days to accomplish! Creating a collage is so much easier than doing a tutorial! The former was fun, the latter was serious fun, so to speak!!
Anyway, there’s greater joy in sharing, yes?

GO, HAVE FUN AND BE CREATIVE!

If you’re interested, here is another fun tutorial, a photo collage of doggies!

Here’s presenting another very simple and quick way to spice up your digital photos or images, by using Photoshop CS2 to add borders.

Let’s begin:

CREATE A PHOTO BORDER, BY USING A QUICK MASK AND FILTERS

Step 1. In Photoshop, open the image that you want to use – press Ctrl+O (or go to File > Open) and browse to choose and open your image. For this tutorial, a 800 x 600 pixels image of Tradescantia spathacea ‘Hawaiian Dwarf’, captured from our garden was chosen.
(A gentle reminder: don’t ever work on your original image, get a copy done instead. And, you may want to reduce your image size beforehand to the recommended image size for web publishing which is 800 x 600 pixels or vice versa).

Step 2. Now, choose either a Rectangular Marquee Tool or an Elliptical Marquee Tool from the top left of the toolbar (if it is unseen, click and hold down the icon until a fly-out appears and choose your tool), and drag to draw a selection border over the area of your image that you want to keep. You can either do a free-hand drawing by first setting Style to Normal at the top options bar, or set Style to Fixed Size.

Here, the Rectangular Marquee Tool was used and I’ve opted for Fixed Size and set Width: 760px and Height: 560px. Next, click inside the top left of image to place the prefixed rectangular selection border. You can then reposition the selection by clicking anywhere inside it and drag, and/or use the keyboard arrow keys to nudge slightly if necessary. To undo, press Ctrl+Z or click inside it to deselect and start all over again.

Step 3. Next, press Q or click on the Quick Mask Mode icon at the lower end of Toolbar to apply a quick mask.

Step 4. Then, apply some filters to the area that you have quickmasked. Go to Filter > Brush Strokes > Sprayed Strokes, and a dialog window appears for your selection. For this simple example, I’ve set the following:

• Stroke Length: 12
• Spray Radius: 15
• Stroke Direction: Right Diagonal

Before you click OK to accept and exit window, do try out the numerous filter effects available in Photoshop CS2, you’ll be spoilt for choices! It’s really user-friendly. The preview on the left of window will assist you as you play around with your selections, and at the right bottom there are 2 buttons: clicking on the New effect layer icon will present further choices of a specific selection, and the Delete icon to remove the unwanted.

Click OK to accept a single selection, and repeat if desired. Applying a combination of Filters, one after another, a few more times with the Quick Mask still on, will result in cool, arty and funky frames. Be creative, you have a lot of options.

Step 5. Press Q to return to Standard Mode. You’ll notice a dotted line encircling the selected area.

Step 6. Now, invert your selection – press the shortcut keyboard keys Ctrl+Shift+I or go to Select > Inverse and you’ll find another set of dotted line outlining your image. The area between the two sets of dotted lines will then form the filtered frame.

Step 7. Now, to color the frame – use the Eyedropper Tool from the toolbar to choose the color from the image itself or click on the Set foreground color box to open up the Color Picker palette for other colors.
Then, press Alt+Backspace on keyboard to paint in the foreground color.

In this example, I’ve painted it white. Painting white or black is easy. Look at the two color boxes at the Toolbar – just pressing D on your keyboard will reset the default foreground color to black and background color to white. To paint the foreground color, press Alt+Backspace, or press Ctrl+Backspace to paint the background color.

Step 8. To end, press Ctrl+D to deselect (remove the dotted lines) or go to Edit > Deselect.

Voila! Here’s the final result. Clicking on the image will link to its larger version. I like the overall angled and sprayed effect created by the Brush Stroke filter here, giving the photo frame a painterly look. Especially lovely too when set against a white border and placed on the website’s white background, giving a look of infinity!

There are great possibilities in Photoshop, just let your creative instincts surface!

Presenting a different outlook here -
Enhanced with Stroke: A double border can be added to the same image above, using the Stroke command as seen in the right image.

To do this:

1. undo the Deselect that was done in Step 8 above, by pressing Ctrl+Z or click on the action before Deselect in the History Palette.
2. go to Edit > Stroke and make your choices when its dialog box appears. Here, the following were set: Width – 3 px, Color – #040001, Location – Center, Blending mode – Normal, and Opacity – 100%.
3. And, to finish off, press Ctrl+D to deselect.

Cool, huh? The added stroke effect gives the image an attractive burnt-edge look, don’t you think so?

Rounded rectangle frame:
I’m excited to share this here as I’ve discovered recently that it can be done with the Filter options too. Hehe…it was worthwhile playing around in the Filter gallery. Click on image, if you’d like to see it large. Anyway, this isn’t the only means to accomplish smooth rounded corners for your image.

Simple process, chiefly basing on steps taken in creating a photo border, using a quick mask and filter as detailed above:

Step 1. Follow Steps 1. to 3. from the top. The only difference being an image of our Garden Crotons was selected here and the Fixed Size of this Rectangular Marquee border was set to 780 x 580 pixels for a narrower margin.

Step 2. Here too, apply filter (though a different one now) to the area that has been quickmasked. Go to Filter > Artistic > Palette Knife, and a dialog window appears for your selection. For this simple example, I’ve set the following:

• Stroke Size: 50
• Stroke Detail: 1
• Softness: 3

Click OK to accept and exit window.
(Note: You can even get a similarly rounded rectangle by selecting Paint Daubs instead of Palette Knife in the Artistic section of the Filter gallery, and move the sliders to test the results.)

Step 3. As Steps 5. to 8. above, with the exception of border color to be changed to #abf907, a vibrant green.

The completed photo looks fabulous, I think, with appealing rounded corners and wonderfully framed with a brilliant contrasting border. What say you?

Hope these processes have enriched you in more ways than none!
HAPPY CREATIVE AND ARTISTIC FRAMING!!

View more of my Photoshop Tutorials

Here are two more very simple, easy and quick ways of drawing frames and borders to your digital photos or images, using Photoshop CS2.

Let’s begin the tutorial!
Basic images used here are copies of my original photos and have been resized to 800 x 600 pixels.

1. CREATE A PHOTO BORDER, BY ADDING A NEW LAYER(S)

Step 1. In Photoshop, open the image that you want to use – press Ctrl+O (or go to File > Open) and browse to choose and open your image.

Step 2. Then duplicate the Background layer – press Ctrl+J and you’ll notice a Background copy is created in the Layers Palette which Photoshop has named it Layer 1. Double-click on the name and rename it Photo, so as not to be confused with new layers created later. Then, click on the Eye icon to the right of the Background layer to remove visibility.

Step 3. Next is to add a new layer below the Photo Layer, increase its canvas size and fill it with color or pattern, which will become the border. To do this, with the Photo layer still selected in the Layers Palette, hold down the Ctrl key whilst you click on the Create a new layer icon at the bottom. This brings forth a new layer below the Photo layer and will be automatically named Layer 1.

Then, increase its canvas size – with Layer 1 still selected, press Alt+Ctrl+C or go to Image > Canvas Size, to open its dialog box and key in your desired increase in pixels and select Relative as illustrated in image. The greater the increase, the broader the border will be. Click OK to accept and exit window.

Now, to color the border – use the Eyedropper Tool from the toolbar to choose the color from the image itself or click on the Set foreground color box to open up the Color Picker palette for other colors. Then, paint the extended canvas with the Paint Bucket Tool (or press Alt+Backspace on keyboard to paint in the foreground color).

Ta…da!…you’ve now drawn your photo border, was not that easy?

You can now move on to add a second border, third and so on, if you want a more creative and impressive frame. Just add new layers by repeating Step 3 a few more times, filling each new layer with a different color, or alternating between two colors.

However, bear in mind that each subsequent new border layer is created below the previous one as illustrated in the image on the right. So, see that the correct layer is being selected in the Layers Palette before adding a new layer.

Posted below are the final results of drawing photo borders with added layers – first picture of flowers of Java Rose Apple was framed with two alternating colors, whereas the next image of Dendrobium orchid has 3 borders of varying colors.

A COMBO EFFECT:

Sometimes, just applying a combination of simple photo border techniques to an image can produce fabulous results. That was what I did with the image below, of a flowering cluster of Bauhinia Kockiana.

Here, you just need to recap what you’ve learnt above. First create a photo frame by adding a new colored layer and then apply a Stroke effect.

Try this combo technique, if you’re interested :

Step 1. Create a single new layer, then increase its canvas size and color it by following Steps 1 to 3 above. In this example, canvas size was increased by 80 pixels for Width and Height. And, a very dark brown color (#220404) was selected from the image with the Eyedropper Tool to fill the new layer. This in itself has presented a photo frame for the image. However, you can be creative and enhance it by applying a simple Stroke effect.

Step 2. Apply a simple Stroke that will spread over some parts of the newly colored border. To do this, first select the Photo Layer in the Layers Palette, then go to Edit > Stroke and make your selections when the dialog box pops up.

As I envisaged to cover most parts of the newly added layer with a contrasting color and leave behind a thin dark brown margin all round, I’ve selected the following:

• Stroke Width: 34 px (the larger the number, the broader the border will be)
• Color: #fbb221 (here again, chosen from the image with the Eyedropper Tool)
• Location: Outside (this will spread beyond the image and result in lovely angled corners)
• Blending Mode: Normal
• Opacity: 100%

Do play around with the options in the Stroke dialog box and you’d be amazed at what Photoshop has to offer! Just Ctrl+Z to undo previous action, each time you want to try out a new one.

That’s all – it was easy, wasn’t it? Just scroll up to see the finished image again!

2. CREATE A FANCY PHOTO FRAME, USING THE CROP TOOL

Step 1. Open the image that you want to work on – press Ctrl+O (or go to File > Open). Press Ctrl+- to zoom out the image so that you have some working space (grey areas around) to enlarge your canvas area. Next, set the background color for your canvas area which will become the border, it can be black, white or whatever. (Tip: look at the 2 color boxes at the bottom of the toolbar, you’ll notice that pressing D will reset the default foreground color to black and background color to white, and pressing X will toggle between the 2 colors). If you want other colors, just click on the Set background color box and the Color Picker palette opens up for your selection. In this example, I’ve chosen red (color #f40b0b) to complement the image depicting Valentine’s Day.

Step 2. Next, select the Crop Tool from the toolbar (or tap C) and drag a cropping marquee border on your image. It need not be precise. Now, drag the side or corner handles of the marquee border outside the image area and into the grey area to increase the canvas size. Adjust and properly position the border as you envisioned. If you need to nudge minutely any side, hold down the Ctrl key as you drag that side. When done, press Enter or double-click inside the cropping marquee. Immediately, you’ll notice the grey areas outside your image change to the background color you’ve set at Step 1 above, to become the border you had wanted. If for any reason, you’re unsatisfied with the result, press Ctrl+Z to undo and start again. In this example, I’ve given a thin border on 3 sides with a larger text space at the bottom as shown on the left image below. The right image shows the newly added border.

Here on, you can add text (refer to Step 9 of my Greeting Card tutorial), titles or copyrights. You can even draw another border to your image, using the Stroke command. To do this, you have first to unlock the Background layer at the Layers Palette by double-clicking the layer, then click OK when the New Layer dialog box pops up. Next, go to Edit > Stroke and make your choices when its dialog box appears. In this example, to complete the project, I’ve applied a thin 4px stroke in black to frame in the final image and typed in a Valentine’s Day greeting, as well as drawn 2 tiny custom-shaped hearts (use the Custom shape tool from the toolbar).

Sharing below is the final result. Isn’t it cool and classy?
Adding borders not only easily make images look more attractive and glamorous, but also gives easy placement of greetings, titles and copyrights!

Hope this tutorial had been helpful!
HAPPY FRAMING AND ENJOY YOUR CREATION!

View more of my Photoshop Tutorials

Last edited: 2008-06-15

Here, I aim to share three very simple and easy ways of creating photo borders or frames, using Photoshop CS2, especially for beginners. Some methods are easier than others, some are more suited to certain photos, and some need a combination of techniques to produce the best results. By practicing more often, you’ll know which method to apply to yield better outcome.

Let’s get started with the tutorial!

Sharing a few pointers first:

• Never use your original photo to work on, always use copies of photos. Use the same method as you would copy a file in Windows Explorer (copy and paste)…it’s that easy!
• This is optional, but try to reduce image size to 800 x 600 pixels or vice versa, which is the recommended size for web publishing – in Photoshop, open the photograph, then go to Image > Image Size and key in the dimensions as you would want the approximate final output to be. In this tutorial, all images used are 800 x 600 pixels.
• Visualize what border/frame color(s) work best with the image.
• Envisage what you want to accomplish.

1. CREATE A PHOTO BORDER, USING THE STROKE COMMAND

(This is by far, the simplest and easiest way!)

Step 1. In Photoshop, open the image that you want to use – press Ctrl+O (or go to File > Open) and browse to choose and open your image. Then, select image – press Ctrl+A (or go to Select > All).

Step 2. Next, go to Edit > Stroke (or right-click on image with the Marquee Tool – tap M, and select Stroke). A dialog box (as shown) opens for your selection of border width, color, etc. Note that the more pixels added, the wider the border will be. For a thin border, any number below 5 pixels will be perfect. Location can be either inside or center but not outside, otherwise it would be invisible. Feel free to experiment with the Blending modes to yield various interesting effects. To undo previous Stroke effect, just press Ctrl+Z and retry. When done, press Ctrl+D to deselect image. Then, save your finished project.

A single thin stroke border will work great for macro objects or subjects that fill almost the whole image. However, if your image has too much background and you want it covered, then a thicker border with multiple strokes would be more appropriate. In such a case, do not deselect image as yet but repeat the Stroke as many times as you want. Just bear in mind that each subsequent stroke effect will be on top of the previous one, so the innermost border should have the largest width, with the subsequent ones gradually decrease.

Shown below are photo borders done, using this method. The left image with our garden flower, Wrightia antidysenterica, had the Stroke effect applied twice. First stroke is the luminous green inner border based on selections shown in the image above, and the second outer dark green border had the same selections except that width was changed to 54 px and color to #091605.
As for the right image, alternating between white (#ffffff) and black (#000000) strokes, with varying width starting from 60px, then 20px, 10px and ending with 3px will produce this lovely photo frame. Clicking on the right image will lead you to a larger one for better view.

2. CREATE A PHOTO FRAME, USING THE BORDER SELECTION

(Another simple and easy method, most suited for image that has large areas of plain and light coloured background. I quite like this way too as it gives an elevated effect for the image)

Step 1. Open the image that you want to work on – press Ctrl+O (or go to File > Open). Then, select image – press Ctrl+A (or go to Select > All). Here, I’ve chosen an image of our tropical orchid, Dendrobium Diang Suree.

Step 2. Next, go to Select > Modify > Border. A window pops up for you to fill in your desired border width, then click OK to exit. In this example, I typed in 40 pixels.

Step 3. Now to fill the border with color. Go to Edit > Fill (or press Shift+F5) and a window opens for your selections. Click on the drop-down list to make your choice. If you select color, the Color Picker palette will pop-up. Here, I’ve chosen Color #213f09 from the image with the Eyedropper Tool and then click OK to close. Next, choose Blending Mode – Normal and Opacity – 100% before hitting the OK button to close the Fill window. If you change your mind, just press Ctrl+Z to undo previous action and try again. Play around with patterns and other blending modes for more interesting effects. When done, press Ctrl+D to deselect image. That’s all…remember to save your completed job!

Can you notice a slight difference in this next image?

In this example, the frame appears to have two distinct sections. Well, you just need to follow Steps 1 and 2 above, then apply a Stroke before proceeding to Step 3. To ‘travel that extra mile’, go to Edit > Stroke and select the following options in the pop-up window:
Width – 10 px
Color – Black #000000
Location – Center
Blending mode – Normal
Opacity – 100%

3. CREATE A PHOTO FRAME, USING THE MARQUEE TOOL

(Another simple and easy method, for variety!)

Step 1. Open the image that you want to work on – press Ctrl+O (or go to File > Open).

Step 2. Next, choose either a Rectangular Marquee Tool or an Elliptical Marquee Tool from the top left of the toolbar (if it is unseen, click and hold down the icon until a fly-out appears and choose your tool), and drag to draw a rectangle or ellipse over the area of your image that you want to select. To undo, press Ctrl+Z or click inside it to deselect and start all over again. (Tip #1: to reposition the selection border as you draw it, hold down the spacebar and drag it to a new position. Then, release the spacebar to continue dragging and adjusting the selection border, and repeating these actions if necessary. Release the mouse button only when you’re finally done. Tip #2: To move the selection border after it is created, click anywhere inside the border and drag. Or, if need to nudge the selection border slightly, use the keyboard arrow keys.)

An Elliptical Marquee Tool was chosen in this example. Instead of the normal free-hand drawing, in the options bar at the top, I’ve set Style to Fixed Size, with Width – 750px and Height – 550px, since I’d wanted a 25px minimum margin at opposite sides of an original 800 x 600px size image…(simple mathematics – for width: 800px – (25×2) = 750px and height 600px – (25X2) = 550px ). Then, click anywhere at the top left corner of the image to place the prefixed elliptical selection border. Next, reposition it by clicking anywhere inside it and drag, or use your keyboard arrow keys to nudge it if necessary.

Step 3. You will then need to invert your selection to create the border outside and fill it with color.
First, press the shortcut keyboard keys Ctrl+Shift+I or go to Select > Inverse and you’ll now notice a new set of dotted lines outlining your image as seen in the photo on the right. The area between the two sets of dotted lines will then form the border or frame.

Step 4. Next, fill the border with color. To do this, use the Eyedropper Tool from the toolbar and click the color you’d want from your image (color #95287b was taken from this example image) or click the Set foreground color box to open the Color Picker palette to choose, and click OK to exit. Then, press Alt+Backspace to color the border. Alternatively, you can go to Edit > Fill to fill with color or pattern. To end, press Ctrl+D to deselect.

This is the finished result.

Optional: Step 5.

You can opt to draw a second border to your image, using the Stroke command. To do this, undo the deselect that was done in Step 4 above, by pressing Ctrl+Z or click on the action before Deselect in the History Palette. Next, go to Edit > Stroke and make your choices when its dialog box appears. In this example, the following choices were made: Width – 3 px, Color – #3a052d, Location – Inside, Blending mode – Normal, and Opacity – 100%. And, to finish off, press Ctrl+D to deselect.
Ta..da!…the final result below! I prefer the added stroke effect as it gives a distinct border encircling our garden plant, Tradescantia spathacea ‘Hawaiian Dwarf’ with its spectacular foliage!

Want more? Try creating a semi-transparent border now, just for fun? It’s easy really, now that you’ve managed to do a frame with the Elliptical Tool above! Quite similar actually, just a wee bit different.

Let’s do this:

A Rectangular Marquee Tool was chosen in this next tutorial.

Step 1. Open your image.

Step 2. Follow Step 2 above, but select the Rectangular Marquee Tool instead, and drag to draw a rectangle over the area of your image that you want to select. You can either do a free-hand drawing by first setting Style to Normal at the top options bar, or set Style to Fixed Size. Here, I’ve chosen the latter and set Width – 730px and Height – 530px to create the prefixed rectangular selection border.

Step 3. Inverse the selection border by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I as in Step 3 above.

Step 4. Next, fill the border with color or pattern. Since a semi-transparent colored border is desired for this example, go to Edit > Fill, to choose your color and reduce the opacity. Here, I’ve set the Color to #fafcf9, Blending mode to Normal and Opacity to 60%.

Step 5. Now, to complete the process by applying a stroke to both the inner and outer rectangular borders. Go to Edit > Stroke and make your choices when the dialog box appears. I’ve selected Width – 2px, Color #101e0d, Location – Center, Blending mode – Normal, and Opacity – 100%. And, click OK to exit. Finally, press Ctrl+D to deselect. That’s all!

Here is the final result!

I find the completed frame or border quite appealing – the semi-transparent border gives a peep of what’s behind it, especially pleasing for a gardener like me and at the same time, frames in the Pandanus odorus plants and draw focus there. The stroke effects applied are as appealing, whereby choosing Location as Center will result in a thicker and darker border inside as compared with the outer one. Lovely, don’t you think so?

Woo..hoo! All finished! Didn’t I say that these photo framing methods are so simple and easy! Hey…forgot to mention that they’re fast too!

Hope this tutorial helped you in more than a few ways!
HAPPY FRAMING!!

View more of my Photoshop Tutorials, or
target Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 in the continuing tutorial series on Photo border/framing.

Last edited: 2008-09-17

Reflecting on the coming festivities, an idea struck me! Why not create a simple greeting card with our garden plants or flowers and send it online to all our Chinese friends? Hmm…this will not only save me some dollars but allow my creative juices to flow! And, it is such fun creating a card in Photoshop CS2, I simply enjoy doing it.

Moreover, I have just the right image to use…a photo taken recently of a Coleus plant in our garden, showing off its gorgeous crimson-red variegated foliage. Most appropriate I think, as the color red for the Chinese people represents lasting happiness, good fortune, fame and riches! Not discounting that red is also considered to have the power to ward off misfortune and evil!

Okay, back to the thrust of this article – let’s start head-on with the Photoshop CS2 tutorial -

Step 1. In Photoshop, open the image that you want to use – Choose File > Open and browse to select your image. Never work on an original photo, see that you have its copy made earlier and that’s the one to open. Check image size and if necessary reduce its size to 800 x 600 pixels which is the recommended size for web publishing – go to Image > Image Size and key in the dimensions as you would want the completed image to be. In this example, I’ve chosen this picture which had been reduced to 800 x 600 pixels. Clicking on it will lead you to my Flickr photostream, then click the All sizes icon above the image and download it to follow through this tutorial, if you’re interested.

Step 2. With the Background layer selected in the Layers Palette, you’ll need to duplicate it. Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer > OK or press the shortcut keys Ctrl+J to bring forth a Background copy which Photoshop will automatically name Layer 1. You can either double click on the name to rename it or leave it as it is.

Step 3. Next, draw an ellipse shape (sort of cropping a smaller picture). To do this, select the Ellipse Tool from the Tool box on the left (the Vector Shape tools are located directly under the Type Tool), then click and drag it over the image area that you’d want your cropped picture version to represent. If the tool is not visible, click at the location and hold down the mouse button to select your tool from the fly-out list. The shape to be drawn need not be precise, just an approximate one will do since you can transform it later.
Once the vector shape is drawn, you’ll notice the appearance of a colored ellipse shape on the image and, in the Layers Palette a new layer (Shape 1) is created with 2 thumbnails – a color box for the layer and another for the vector mask. Click on Shape 1 layer and drag it below Layer 1 to reposition.

Step 4. Now, to resize, reposition or rotate your vector shape as desired. With the Shape 1 layer still highlighted in blue (and the vector mask thumbnail highlighted too) in the Layers Palette, press Ctrl+T to bring out the Free Transform box and handles around the cropped picture. To reposition the vector shape, click anywhere inside the box and drag the shape to your desired location, or nudge it with the arrow keys on your keyboard. To resize it, simply click and drag any of the side handles or constrain the proportions by holding down Shift as you drag a corner handle, and holding down Shift+Alt as you drag will cause the shape to resize from the center. Should you need to rotate the shape, move your mouse anywhere outside the box and when the cursor change to a double-sided arrow, click and drag as desired. To complete the transformation, press Enter or double-click inside the Free Transform box. To cancel the operation, press Esc and try again. You can click on the vector mask thumbnail to toggle on and off. (Later, you may need to repeat this step a few times probably to reshape, resize or reposition the vector shape to create a more balanced overall picture with the background).

Step 5. You’ll then need to use the vector shape to create a clipping mask before you can ‘dress’ it. This means that it will clip the layer above it into the dimensions of the cropped picture version. To do this, hold down the Alt key and move your cursor directly between the Layer 1 and Shape 1 layers in the Layers Palette until you see your cursor change into the clipping mask icon. Then, double-click to create the clipping mask. You will know that you’ve done it correctly when the Layer 1 is indented to the right, confirming that it’s clipped by the vector shape below it.

Step 6. Next step is to frame the cropped image to bring it into focus. Just adding a combination of a few layer styles to its vector shape can create an arty and fancy border. First, click on the Eye icon to the right of the Background layer to remove visibility. (By clicking the Eye icon, you can toggle visibility on and off). Then, with the Shape 1 layer and vector mask thumbnail in the Layers Palette still being selected, click on the Layer Style icon at the bottom of the palette and select Blending Options (or double-click to the right of the Shape 1 layer) to open the Layer Style window. In this example, I’ve applied a Stroke, Drop Shadow and, Bevel and Emboss.
(a) Stroke – click on the name Stroke on the left side of the Layer Style window to open its options for you to choose. Check that Preview (on the right side of window) is selected to allow you to view simultaneously the effects of your choices made on image itself. Here, I’ve set the following options: Stroke size – 14px, Position – center, Blend mode – Normal, Opacity to 100% and color #d6e656 (a chartreuse color taken from the cropped picture – click on the color box to open the Color Picker, then use the Eyedropper Tool to select the color from your image and click OK when done). Do not close the Layer Style window yet as there are 2 more layer effects to be applied.
(b) Drop Shadow – click on the name Drop Shadow to bring out its options, and select: Blend Mode – Multiply, Color – black #000000, Opacity – 85%, Angle – 100º, select Global Light, Distance – 14px, Spread – 0%, Size – 16px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased. (Tip – There’s an easier way to set the Angle and Distance options. With the Layer Style window open and set to Drop Shadow, simply click anywhere inside your image and drag your mouse around. As you drag the mouse, you’ll see the drop shadow being created and the values for Angle and Distance changing dynamically. Stop dragging when you’re pleased with the results).
(c) Bevel and Emboss – click on the words Bevel and Emboss to open its options, and choose: Style – Inner Bevel, Technique – Smooth, Depth – 100º, Direction – Up, Size – 20px, Soften – 0px, Angle – 100º, select Global Light, Altitude – 30º, Gloss Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Highlight Mode – Vivid Light, Color – #f5f98c, Opacity – 70%, Shadow Mode – Multiply, Color – #99bf04, Opacity – 80%. Also, click on the word Contour on the right side of window, and for Contour – pick Linear (click on the drop-arrow to open the Contour Picker to make your choice), deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 50%.
(d) Acceptance – View cropped image to see the overall effects of the Layer Styles applied. Enjoy and do not be afraid to try out the many styles and options available! If you want to cancel any styling effect, just deselect in the box to the left of its name, or click on its name to open options and make changes. When you’re finally satisfied with all the styling results made on your photo, save your styling efforts as a New Style (button displayed on the right side) for future use. Then, click OK to accept and close the Layer Style window. Should you change your mind again after exiting, just return to it by double-clicking on the Layer style button (letter f with a circle) in the Layers Palette and make the desired changes.

Step 7. Now, to give a solid red color to the surrounding background so that the vector shape will pop up. With the Shape 1 layer still being selected in the Layers Palette, press Ctrl key and click on the Create a new layer icon – a new layer (Layer 2) will appear just below the Shape 1 layer. Next, use the Eyedropper Tool from the Tool box (or tap I) to choose a color from your image if you like. In this example, I’ve chosen color #c82341 with the Eyedropper Tool and then paint the background with the Paint Bucket Tool from the Tool box.
Here too, I’ve applied a Stroke and, Bevel and Emboss to this layer. To do this, double click to the right of Layer 2 to open the Layer Style Window. Then apply both the Layers styles as outlined at Step 6(a) and (c) above with slight changes as follows:
1. Stroke: Size – 3px, Position – outside, and color #ff0000 (default – red).
2. Bevel and Emboss: Size – 5px, Highlight Mode – Screen, Color – #ffffff (white), Opacity – 20%, Shadow Mode is the same but change color to black #000000, Opacity – 30%.
Click OK when done to close the window. As the position of the stroke applied here is outside, it will only be visible when the canvas size is increased in the next step.

Step 8. To give a lovely contrast, I thought it best to increase Layer 2 and paint it black. To do this, click the Layer visibility icon (Eye) to the left of Background Layer to revive visibility. Then, with Layer 2 still being selected in the Layers Palette, go to Image > Canvas Size, and its window will pop-up for your selections. Follow as shown in the illustrated left image below. When done, click OK to close window.

Step 9. Finally, to complete the creation of the card with your greetings. Select the Type Tool from the Tool box or Tap T to bring up the Text options bar at the top of Photoshop window, to make your selections. In this example, I’ve set the following for font – Forte, Regular, Size 11pt, Sharp, Center align, and color #eafd56. Click on image, approximately where you want your words to start, and you’d notice that a new layer (Layer 3) is added in the Layers Palette. It need not be precise as you can reposition the words later. Type your greetings and should you want to undo while typing, press Esc (or click the Cancel button in the top options bar) and retry. To reposition the words, press Ctrl and hold which will bring forward a bounding box and a pointer, and together with a left mouse-click, drag to position as desired, and release to accept the shift. To accept the current edits, click the Commit icon at the options bar. Once accepted, you’d notice that Layer 3 is now renamed with a portion of the typed words.

Looking at the result, you as I did, may want to change the font size of the second line to 14 pt and warp the whole greetings to make it more interesting. So, click and select the relevant text to change the font size at the options bar. Then, select the whole text to be warped – click the Create warped text icon at the top which will bring up its window, and make your choices. Here, I’ve selected for Style – Flag, Horizontal and Bend – 100%, then click OK to close window. Very likely, you may need to reposition the text as in this example – so follow the same process as mentioned previously. To accept all the edits, click the Commit icon. Should you want to undo, just press Ctrl+Z and try again.

To sign in your names for the next Text layer, you can use the same steps above with some variation. Come on, try this on your own! I’m sure you can

Taa..daa! Here’s the final result! What do you think?

GO…HAVE FUN! BE CREATIVE!

View more of my Photoshop Tutorials

Last edited: 2008-06-16

What do you think I did? A photo collage, of course as seen here!

Isn’t it wonderful – to admire its beauty collectively all at once in a single photo? Well, it would appear as if 6 individual images were cropped and pasted together to create this lovely photo collage, which is feasible. However, basically here I have chosen to stage prominently the insect that was already in the background photo that I’ve selected, by creating a vector shape around it, and then dragged in another 5 cropped images to complete the collage. I had preferred the vector shape because it is very flexible where I can expand, reduce and reposition the shape as I deemed fit to harmonize with the other 5 additions.

Let’s begin the tutorial, using Photoshop CS2 -

Step 1. Envisage a theme for your collage. Then, start off by drawing a rough sketch of how you want your collage to be, giving thought to the target size and where each photo is to be placed. It’s advisable to assemble all your desired photos into one project folder in Windows Explorer. Do not use original photos, instead create a new folder, then copy and paste all your photos into it and rename them. In this example, I have selected these 6 images – one as the background picture for the collage, plus the addition of another 5 images of quite similar setting which I’ve renamed as Bug #1 to Bug #5 to coincide with my rough sketch and the clockwise manner each image will be added later on. A little effort attending to these minute details from the beginning goes a long way…you’ll see!

Step 2. In Photoshop, open all the images – Choose File > Open and browse to select the images that you want. Click Open and the images will be opened one by one and stacked on the screen. Then, check each to see that all the images are of the same resolution – Choose Image > Image Size, and change resolution and size if necessary. Here, I’ve reduced the size of each image from its original 1600 x 1200 pixels to recommended web publishing size of 800 x 600 pixels and retain original resolution of 180 pixels/inch. Move to arrange the images (click on image title in blue and drag) on the screen in such a way that at least their image title is visible, so as to target the image easily.

Step 3. We will start with the background image (i.e. Collage Background Pic). Our job is to prop up the pretty bug in it by creating an illusion using the vector shape, clipping mask and applying the various layer styles. Target the Collage Background Picture by clicking anywhere on it to activate it and drag it into position on the screen to display the whole picture. In the Layers Palette, double click on the Background layer to unlock it and rename it Collage or whatever name you wish. With the Collage layer still selected in the Layers Palette, you’ll need to duplicate it. Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer > OK or press the shortcut keys Ctrl+J to bring forth a Collage copy. Double-click on the words of the layer to change its name to ‘Pretty Bug’ for easy identification.

Step 4. Now, you’ll need to create a new layer below the Pretty Bug layer. With this layer still highlighted, simply hold down your Ctrl key while you click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette and a new layer will emerge between the two layers of Collage and Pretty Bug. Double-click on this new layer and rename it ‘Vector’, as this is where a vector shape will be created.

Step 5. Next thing to do is to define the shape of the illusive cropped picture using any one of the Vector Shape tools. In this example, I’ve dragged out an ellipsed shape around the pretty bug. With the Vector layer selected in the Layers Palette, choose the Ellipse Tool from the Tool bar on the left (the Vector Shape tools are located directly under the Type Tool), then click and drag it over the image area that you’d want your cropped picture version to represent. If the tool is not visible, click at the location and hold down the mouse button to select your tool from the fly-out list. The shape to be drawn need not be precise, just an appoximate one will do since you can transform it later. Once the vector shape is drawn, you’ll observe that the Vector layer in the Layers Palette has changed, creating 2 thumbnails – a color box for the layer and another for the vector mask. You can click on the vector mask thumbnail to toggle on and off.

Step 6. Now, you may want to reposition, resize or rotate your vector shape as desired. With the Vector layer still highlighted in blue (and the vector mask thumbnail highlighted too) in the Layers Palette, press Ctrl+T to bring out the Free Transform box and handles around the cropped picture. To reposition the vector shape, click anywhere inside the box and drag the shape to your desired location, or nudge it with the arrow keys on your keyboard. To resize it, simply click and drag any of side handles or constrain the proportions by holding down Shift as you drag a corner handle, and holding down Shift+Alt as you drag will cause the shape to resize from the center. Should you need to rotate the shape, move your mouse anywhere outside the box and when the cursor change to a double-sided arrow, click and drag as desired. To complete the transformation, press Enter or double-click inside the Free Transform box. To cancel the operation, press Esc and try again. (Later, you may need to repeat this step a couple of times probably to reshape, resize or reposition the vector shape to blend with the addition of 5 more smaller pictures.)

Step 7. You’ll then need to use the vector shape to create a clipping mask. This means that it will clip the layer above it into the dimensions of the cropped version of the picture. To do this, hold down the Alt key and move your cursor directly between the Pretty Bug and Vector layers in the Layers Palette until you see your cursor change into the clipping mask icon. Then, double-click to create the clipping mask. You will know that you’ve done it correctly when the Pretty Bug layer is indented to the right, confirming that it’s clipped by the vector shape below it.

Step 8. With the clipping mask, you’re now able to frame the cropped image to bring it into focus or stage the pretty bug by just applying a few layer styles. With the Vector layer and mask thumbnail in the Layers Palette still being selected, click on the Layer Style icon at the bottom of the palette and select Blending Options (or double-click to the right of the Vector layer) to open the Layer Style window. In this example, I’ve applied a Stroke, Inner Glow and Bevel and Emboss.
(a) Stroke – click on the name Stroke on the left side of the Layer Style window to open its options for you to choose. Check that Preview (on the right side of window) is selected to allow you to view simultaneously the effects of your choices made on image itself. Here, I’ve set the following options: Stroke size – 10px, Position – Inside so that the stroke appears within the boundaries of the vector shape, Blend mode – Normal, Opacity to 100% and color #3a4751 (a dark grey color taken from the cropped picture – click on the color box to open the Color Picker, then use the Eyedropper Tool to select the color from your image and click OK when done). Do not close the Layer Style window yet as there are 2 more layer effects to be applied.
(b) Inner Glow – click on the name Inner Glow to bring out its options. Selections made were: Blend Mode – Dissolve, Opacity – 100%, Color – White #ffffff, Technique – Softer, Source – Edge, Choke – 44%, Size – 60px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 20%.
(c) Bevel and Emboss – click on the words Bevel and Emboss to open its options. The choices made were: Style – Inner Bevel, Technique – Chisel Soft, Depth – 151%, Direction – Up, Size – 30px, Soften – 6px, Angle – 30º, select Global Light, Altitude – 30º, Gloss Contour – Rounded Steps, deselect Anti-aliased, Highlight Mode – Screen, Color – White #ffffff, Opacity – 100%, Shadow Mode – Multiply, Color – Black #000000, Opacity – 25%. Also, click on the word Contour on the right side of window, and for Contour – pick Linear (click on the drop-arrow to open the Contour Picker to make your choice), deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 0%.
(d) Acceptance – View cropped image to see the overall effects of the Layer Styles applied. Enjoy and do not be afraid to try out the many styles+options available! If you want to cancel any styling effect, just deselect in the box to the left of its name, or click on its name to open options and make changes. When you’re finally satisfied with all the styling results made on your photo, save your styling efforts as a New Style (button displayed on the right side) for future use. Then, click OK to accept and close the Layer Style window. Should you change your mind again after exiting, just return to it by double-clicking on the Layer style button (letter f with a circle) in the Layers Palette and make the desired changes.

Step 9. Next, to crop and drag 5 smaller images of the same bug onto the Collage Background Picture one at a time and add a fancy border too. We’ll start off with Bug #1 image. Activate by clicking on it and bring into focus the whole picture. Then, select an Elliptical Marqueue Tool, located on the top left of the Tool bar (if tool is not showing, click at the location and hold down the mouse button to select your tool from the fly-out list), and drag out an elliptical selection around the bug. If you need to reposition your selection as you drag, just hold down the keyboard’s spacebar and move your mouse around to reposition it, then release the spacebar to continue dragging out your selection. And if you’re not satisfied with the selection, simply click inside it to deselect and start again.

Step 10. You’ll now need to drag the cropped selection onto the Collage Background Picture but before this can be done, activate the Collage Picture window first and check that the correct layer in the Layers Palette is selected. Just remember that whenever an image is dragged in, Photoshop will automatically place a new layer above the selected layer. So, in this case, select the Pretty Bug layer since our 1st added image is to be placed above it at the top right section. Now, reactivate the Bug #1 image, and tap V to bring forth the Move tool, click anywhere on the cropped bug image and drag it onto the Collage Picture window. Observe that as this 1st image is added to the Collage, a new layer named Layer 1 is produced in the Layers Palette.
You will need to reposition, resize and probably rotate the added image – so, tap T to bring out the Free Transform box and handles around it. Then, similarly as was done to the vector shape at step 6 above, do your desired changes here too. To resize, simply hold down Shift as you click and drag a corner handle, or holding down Shift+Alt as you drag will cause the shape to resize from the center. Should you need to rotate the shape, move your mouse anywhere outside the box and when the cursor change to a double-sided arrow, click and drag as desired. To reposition, click anywhere inside the box and drag the shape to your desired location, or nudge it with the arrow keys on your keyboard. To accept the changes, press Enter or double-click inside the Free Transform box. Finally, close the window of the Bug #1 image as you have no further need of it.

Step 11. Continue to crop and drag onto the Collage Picture window the rest of the images (Bug #2 to #5) in the same manner, one at a time. For each image, repeat steps 9 to 10 above. In this example, I’ve positioned the added cropped images in a clockwise manner, starting with the Bug #1 at 3 o’clock and moving on in numerical sequence to #2 and so on. Remember to target the correct layer in the Layers Palette of the Collage before each image is dragged onto it (I believe, scrutinizing the picture below can guide you here). Note that as you drag in the cropped images of Bug #2, #3, #4 and #5, their corresponding new Layer 2, 3, 4 and 5 will emerge in the Layers Palette. You can always rearrange the stacking order of the layers or the way the layers overlap by simply selecting the layer in the Layers Palette and dragging it above or below another layer. Note that in the stacking order of layers, the higher up on the stack the given layer is, the closer to the top of the overall photo it will be. So play around until you’re happy with the results.

The image above will give you an idea of the whole Photoshop process thus far, which includes step 12 below. I’ve included a view of the Layers Palette to enable you to see the correlation between the various layers and the Collage Picture. Probably this can assist you to understand better…yes? Also, you would have noticed that the cropped images of Layers 1-3 have been positioned a little outside the boundary, purposely done so that they’ll emerge beautifully when a frame is added later on at step 14 to complete the collage!

Step 12. At this stage, your Collage Picture should now have 6 lovely bug images, though the newly added 5 images seem naked and lost in the maze of pebbles! So, we’d want to dress each of the 5 images with a border by applying the various layer styles which is easy once you get into the flow of it. To do this, do the following :
(a) Select layer – Start off by targeting the Layer that you want to work on in the Layers Palette. Select Layer 1 (I chose to start with this layer) and double click to the right of Layer to open the Layer Style window.
(b) Stroke – click on the name Stroke on the left side of the Layer Style window to open its options for you to choose. Here, I’ve set the following: Stroke size – 4px, Position – Inside, Blend mode – Normal, Opacity to 100%, Color – black #000000. Do not close the Layer Style window yet as there are 3 more layer styles to be applied.
(c) Inner Glow – click on the name Inner Glow to bring out its options. Selections made were: Blend Mode – Screen, Opacity – 75%, Color – #ffffbe, Technique – Softer, Source – Edge, Choke – 0%, Size – 30px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 50%.
(d) Bevel and Emboss – click on the words Bevel and Emboss to open its options. The choices made were: Style – Inner Bevel, Technique – Smooth, Depth – 100%, Direction – Up, Size – 8px, Soften – 0px, Angle – 30º, select Global Light, Altitude – 30º, Gloss Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Highlight Mode – Screen, Color – #cdcbcb, Opacity – 75%, Shadow Mode – Multiply, Color – Black #000000, Opacity – 75%. Also, click on the word Contour on the left side of window, and for Contour – pick Sawtooth 1, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 20%.
(e) Drop Shadow – click on the name Drop Shadow to bring out its options, and select: Blend Mode – Multiply, Color – black #000000, Opacity – 55%, Angle – 120º, deselect Global Light, Distance – 5px, Spread – 0%, Size – 5px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased. (Tip – There’s an easier way to set the Angle and Distance options. With the Layer Style window open and set to Drop Shadow, simply click anywhere inside your image and drag your mouse around. As you drag the mouse, you’ll see the drop shadow being created and the values for Angle and Distance changing dynamically. Stop dragging when you’re pleased with the results).
(f) Acceptance – View cropped image to see the overall effects of the Layer Styles applied. If you’re satisfied with all the styling effects made on your photo, save your current styling settings as a New Style for future use by clicking the button displayed on the right side. When its small window pops up, name your new style, select Include Layer Effects and Include Layer Blending Options, then click OK to save and close. Saving it as a New Style is useful here as I’ve decided to apply the same layer styles to the rest of the 4 images. Now, to accept all and close the main Layer Style window, click OK. Should you change your mind again after exiting, just return to it by double-clicking on the Layer style button (letter f with a circle) to the right of layer in the Layers Palette and make the desired changes.
(g) Apply Layer Styles to remaining 4 cropped images – Work on one image at a time, starting with Layer 2 and ending with Layer 5. Target Layer 2 in the Layers Palette and double-click to the right of it to open the Layer Styles window. Here, you need not repeat the whole processs of 12(b)-(e) above. Simply selecting Styles on the top left of window to display the collection of preset styles and then choosing the ‘New Style’ that was saved earlier at step 12(f) above will automatically apply the whole layer effects on it. Click OK to accept and close window. Next, continue to do the same for the remaining 3 images by targeting the relevant Layer each time you want to apply the same layer effects.

Step 13. Hmm…the Collage is still unappealing? Background is too distracting! You can either blur it by applying a Gaussian Blur (go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian, and key in desired pixels for Radius and click OK) or give it a totally different look! I opted to change it totally with a white textured look that is captivating yet not diminishing the focus on the 6 images of the gorgeous bug. To create that, select the Collage layer in the Layers Palette and press the shortcut keys Ctrl+J to bring forth a Collage copy above it. Double-click on the words Collage copy to rename it ‘Texture’. Then double-click again to the right of layer to open the Layer Style window to apply the following styles:
(a) Inner Glow to whiten – click on the name Inner Glow to bring out its options and select: Blend Mode – Screen, Opacity – 100%, Color – white #ffffff, Technique – Softer, Source – Edge, Choke – 0%, Size – 250px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 30%.
(b) Bevel and Emboss to give 3D textured look – click on the words Bevel and Emboss to open its options and choose: Style – Inner Bevel, Technique – Smooth, Depth – 100%, Direction – Up, Size – 10px, Soften – 0px, Angle – 120º, deselect Global Light, Altitude – 30º, Gloss Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Highlight Mode – Screen, Color – White #ffffff, Opacity – 75%, Shadow Mode – Multiply, Color – Black #000000, Opacity – 75%. Also, click on the word Texture on the right side of window and for its Pattern – click on the drop-arrow to open the Pattern Picker and select Satin (128 by 128 pixels, Grayscale mode), Scale – 60%, Depth – +40%, deselect Invert, select Link with Layer.
(c) Stroke to present a distinct contrast between the white texture and the black border – click on the name Stroke on the left side of the Layer Style window to open its options and set the following: Stroke size – 4px, Position – Outside, Blend mode – Normal, Opacity to 100%, Color – orange #ff5a00. At this stage, the Stroke effect is not seen but will be visible when a black border is added later on.
(d) Acceptance A final check on the Collage image to see the overall layer effects and if acceptable, simply click OK to accept and close Layer Style window.

Step 14. A simple black border to frame the Collage Picture will be just perfect to complete the whole process. To do this, select the Collage layer in the Layers Palette, then click on the Create a new layer icon at the bottom. Double-click on the name of the new layer and rename it Border. Next go to Image > Canvas Size and in the window, enter the amount of increase in width and height size according to unit measurement that you desire, then click OK. Here, I’ve increased 80(W) x 80(H) pixels. The transparent border is now visible, so too are the 3 out-of-boundary images and the orange stroke applied earlier! Next, color the border black – tap D to set the foreground color to black, then tap G to activate the Paint Bucket Tool and fill it up. (Tip – if you want to use a color from the collage, use the Eyedropper Tool to extract the color).

Step 15. One final check on your photomontage before you shout “Yippee! Finished!” You may want to reposition or nudge a couple of the added images? Easy…simply target the specific layer in the Layers Palette, tap V, click and drag or use the arrow keys on your keyboard. Otherwise, for other changes, press Ctrl+T and so on… I know, you know how!

VOILA!! SEE AND ENJOY THE COMPLETED PHOTO COLLAGE AGAIN!!

GO…HAVE FUN! BE CREATIVE!

I did…have fun again playing with the various layer styles options availabe!
Some changes were made to the layer style options at Step 13 above, after first applying a gauccian blur to the background, to produce an entirely different result as seen in the second collage below.

View more of my Photoshop Tutorials

Tutorials from August 2008 onwards are presented, using Photoshop CS3 on Mac whereas prior to that, I had used Photoshop CS2 on a Window-based personal computer. Windows users just need to remember that Mac’s keyboard keys Command (Cmd) and Option/Alt (Option) mentioned in the tutorials are the same as Window’s keys Ctrl and Alt respectively.

Click on thumbnail or its caption to view Photoshop tutorial!

Create an easy photo frame, by applying Layer Style effects

Create an easy photo frame, by applying Layer Style effects

Create an easy 3D photo frame, by applying Layer Style effects

Artistic photo collage of butterflies

Create a cool photo frame, using Quick Mask+Filter

Create a cool photo frame, using Quick Mask+Filter

Create a classy photo border, using the Crop Tool

Create a simple photo frame, by adding a New Layer+Stroke

Create a simple photo frame, by adding New layers

Create a simple photo frame with a Rectangular Marquee Tool

Create a simple photo frame, using an Elliptical Marquee Tool

Create a simple photo frame, using Border selection

Create a simple photoborder, using Stroke command

Create a Chinese New Year greeting card

Collage showcasing images of pretty creepy-crawly

Collage of 2 illusive photos + an inset

Create a photo within a photo

Create a 3D Box Picture Frame, using layer styles

Extracting animal objects to create a fun collage

One photo collage – crop, drag and frame

Create a simple collage of 9 flower pics

Create an easy photo collage

Enjoy! New tutorials will be added from time to time, so do drop by again to have a peep!

Updated: 2008-08-31

Having learnt recently how to create an illusion of a picture within a picture and presented a Photoshop tutorial on it, I’ve found this craft handy when I needed to illustrate garden flower images in the plants database of my blog.

Unlike the macro flower pictures which usually come out crisp and well-defined, the non-closeup shots are sometimes indistinct or haphazard as in these images.

However, I felt that I can still use these pictures to their best advantage for my article on this plant, Duranta repens ‘Alba’. So, I’ve envisaged a photo collage and with a few basic Photoshop tricks and techniques, the image below is the charming end result!

Here, it is basically drawing attention to the white flowers and golden berries by creating two smaller photo versions around them, using the vector shapes, creating clipping masks and applying some Layer Styles. And then, drag in an inset to show off its magnified flowers from another image!

Let’s begin the tutorial -

Step 1. In Photoshop CS2, open the image that you want to use as the background for this tutorial – Choose File > Open and browse to select your image. You will need to duplicate the opened original image as it is unwise to work on it. With the original image activated, choose Image > Duplicate (a duplicate window pops up, type a new file name as you wish) > OK. Close the original image and make very sure you are now working with its copy. Check image size and if necessary reduce its size to 800 x 600 pixels which is the recommended size for web publishing – go to Image > Image Size and key in the dimensions as you would want the completed image to be.

Step 2. With the Background layer selected in the Layers Palette, you’ll need to duplicate it. Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer > OK or press the shortcut keys Ctrl+J to bring forth a Background copy (Layer 1). Double-click on the words of the layer to change its name to ‘Crop Picture 1′ for easy identification.

Step 3. Now, you’ll need to create a new layer below the Crop Picture 1 layer. To do this, simply hold down your Ctrl key while you click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette and a new layer will emerge between the two layers – Background and Crop Picture 1. Double-click on this new layer and rename it ‘Vector 1′, as this is where a vector shape will be created.

Step 4. Next thing to do is to define the shape of the cropped picture using any one of the Vector Shape tools. In this example, I’ve dragged out an ellipsed shape where the stalks of white flowers, leaves and berries are centered. With the Vector 1 layer selected in the Layers Palette, choose the Ellipse Tool from the Tool box on the left (the Vector Shape tools are located directly under the Type Tool), then click and drag it over the image area that you’d want your first cropped picture version to represent. If the tool is not visible, click at the location and hold down the mouse button to select your tool from the fly-out list. The shape to be drawn need not be precise, just an approximate one will do since you can transform it later. Once the vector shape is drawn, you’ll observe that the Vector 1 layer in the Layers Palette has changed, creating 2 thumbnails – a color box for the layer and another for the vector mask. You can click on the vector mask thumbnail to toggle on and off.

Step 5. Now, you may want to reposition, resize or rotate your vector shape as desired. With the Vector 1 layer still highlighted in blue (and the vector mask thumbnail highlighted too) in the Layers Palette, press Ctrl+T to bring out the Free Transform box and handles around the cropped picture. To reposition the vector shape, click anywhere inside the box and drag the shape to your desired location, or nudge it with the arrow keys on your keyboard. To resize it, simply click and drag any of side handles or constrain the proportions by holding down Shift as you drag a corner handle, and holding down Shift+Alt as you drag will cause the shape to resize from the center. Should you need to rotate the shape, move your mouse anywhere outside the box and when the cursor change to a double-sided arrow, click and drag as desired. To complete the transformation, press Enter or double-click inside the Free Transform box. To cancel the operation, press Esc and try again. (Later, you may need to repeat this step a few times probably to reshape, resize or reposition the vector shape to create a more balanced overall picture with the inclusion of two more smaller pictures.)

Step 6. You’ll then need to use the vector shape to create a clipping mask. This means that it will clip the layer above it into the dimensions of the first cropped version of the picture. To do this, hold down the Alt key and move your cursor directly between the Crop Picture 1 and Vector 1 layers in the Layers Palette until you see your cursor change into the clipping mask icon. Then, double-click to create the clipping mask. You will know that you’ve done it correctly when the Crop Picture 1 layer is indented to the right, confirming that it’s clipped by the vector shape below it.

Step 7. Now you’ll need to frame the cropped image to bring it into focus. Just adding a combination of a few layer styles to its vector shape can create an arty and fancy border. With the Vector 1 layer and mask thumbnail in the Layers Palette still being selected, click on the Layer Style icon at the bottom of the palette and select Blending Options (or double-click to the right of the Vector 1 layer) to open the Layer Style window. In this example, I’ve applied a Stroke, Inner Glow and Bevel and Emboss.
(a) Stroke – click on the name Stroke on the left side of the Layer Style window to open its options for you to choose. Check that Preview (on the right side of window) is selected to allow you to view simultaneously the effects of your choices made on image itself. Here, I’ve set the following options: Stroke size – 6px, Position – Inside so that the stroke appears within the boundaries of the vector shape, Blend mode – Normal, Opacity to 100% and color #144703 (a dark green color taken from the cropped picture – click on the color box to open the Color Picker, then use the Eyedropper Tool to select the color from your image and click OK when done). Do not close the Layer Style window yet as there are 2 more layer effects to be applied.
(b) Inner Glow – click on the name Inner Glow to bring out its options. Selections made were: Blend Mode – Dissolve, Opacity – 100%, Color – White #ffffff, Technique – Precise, Source – Edge, Choke – 22%, Size – 18px, Contour – Cone, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 18%.
(c) Bevel and Emboss – click on the words Bevel and Emboss to open its options. The choices made were: Style – Inner Bevel, Technique – Chisel Soft, Depth – 180%, Direction – Up, Size – 18px, Soften – 0px, Angle – 30º, select Global Light, Altitude – 30º, Gloss Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Highlight Mode – Screen, Color – #f1fae4, Opacity – 30%, Shadow Mode – Multiply, Color – #2c6303, Opacity – 35%. Also, click on the word Contour on the right side of window, and for Contour – pick Linear (click on the drop-arrow to open the Contour Picker to make your choice), deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 34%.
(d) Acceptance – View cropped image to see the overall effects of the Layer Styles applied. Enjoy and do not be afraid to try out the many styles+options available! If you want to cancel any styling effect, just deselect in the box to the left of its name, or click on its name to open options and make changes. When you’re finally satisfied with all the styling results made on your photo, save your styling efforts as a New Style (button displayed on the right side) for future use. Then, click OK to accept and close the Layer Style window. Should you change your mind again after exiting, just return to it by double-clicking on the Layer style button (letter f with a circle) in the Layers Palette and make the desired changes.

Step 8. Next, create the second vector shape to enclose the golden berries by repeating steps 2 to 6 and naming the new layers created as Crop Picture 2 and Vector 2 instead. You’d observe that once the second shape is drawn following step 4, the Vector 2 layer in the Layers Palette will show 2 thumbnails and a Layer Style icon (letter f within a circle) at the right end, indicating layer effects. Here, Photoshop automatically copies the effects previously applied to the first vector shape, and they become visible when the clipping mask is created as in step 6. If you want to make changes to the layer effects, just double-click on the icon to open the Layer Style window and select your preferred options, then click OK to exit.
(Tip – also, if you prefer the second cropped picture be positioned above the first one, select both the Crop Picture 2 and Vector 2 layers (hold down Shift key to select the second layer) and drag them to stack above the Crop Picture 1 layer in the Layers Palette. Try it and if you want to undo, just press Ctrl+Z. (Note – In the stacking order of layers, the higher up on the stack the given layer is, the closer to the top of the overall photo it will be).

Step 9. Now, to blur the surrounding background which appeared too cluttered so as to highlight the two newly created images. With the Background layer selected in the Layers Palette, press the shortcut keys Ctrl+J to bring forth a Background copy. Double-click on the words of the layer to change its name to ‘Blur’. Then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian, and key in 8.0 pixels for Radius and click OK to close its window. If you want to undo blur, simply press Ctrl+Z and try again. Sometimes, if I think that the blur needs to be slightly adjusted, I’d just go to the Opacity setting in the top right corner of the Layers Palette, let the cursor rest on the word Opacity to turn it into a slider icon, then click and drag to the left to lower the opacity.

Step 10. At this stage, we have already created an illusion of 2 smaller pictures within the main background photo to resemble a photo collage. Looks good now, don’t you think so? Well, it’ll look better when we include an inset. In this example, I’ve chosen to crop a macro image of the white flowers from another photo. To do this:
(a) Go to File > Open and browse to select your image. Then duplicate it as advised in step 1. Working on the duplicate image, tap C key to turn on the Crop Tool (or select it from the tool bar) and drag the Crop Tool over the part of the image you want to keep to create a marquee. The marquee doesn’t have to be precise as you can adjust it later by dragging any side handle. To complete the crop, press Enter or double-click inside the cropping marquee. To cancel the cropping operation, press Esc and start again.
(b) Now, go back to the collage (main picture) window and select the Blur layer in the Layers Palette so that Photoshop will place the inset above the Blur layer but below the Vector 2 layer as desired. Then, return to the cropped macro photo, tap V key to turn on the Move Tool and click anywhere on the cropped image and drag it onto the collage. Observe that as the cropped image is added to the collage, a new layer is produced above the Blur layer in the Layers Palette. Double-click on the name and rename it ‘Inset’. Next, press Ctrl+T to resize and reposition this added image (refer step 5 above).
(c) We will now want to enhance the inset by applying some layer effects. Here, I gave the same style as for the vector shapes with minimal changes. Double-click on the Inset layer to open the Layer Style window. Select Styles on the top left to show the collection of preset styles and choose the ‘New Style’ that was saved earlier at step 7(d) above. Here, some slight changes were made – click on the words Inner Glow and change its Size to 25px and Contour Range to 15%; then click on Bevel and Emboss to change its depth to 31%. Click OK when done to close window.

Step 11. Give a final check to see whether you’re satisfied with the position and shape of all the three images in the collage. If necessary, make changes again by targeting the specific layer in the Layers Palette, then press Ctrl+T to reshape or reposition and press Enter to accept changes. We can now finally move on to complete the collage by adding a fancy border. Here again, select the Blur layer, then double-click on the layer to open the Layer Style window and apply the following layer styles:
(a) Stroke – set the following options: Stroke size – 6px, Position – Inside, Blend mode – Normal, Opacity to 100% and color #1c480d (a dark green color picked from the collage, using the Eyedropper Tool).
(b) Bevel and Emboss – the choices made were: Style – Inner Bevel, Technique – Smooth, Depth – 100%, Direction – Up, Size – 13px, Soften – 0px, Angle – 30º, select Global Light, Altitude – 30º, Gloss Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Highlight Mode – Screen, Color – #89fa04, Opacity – 100%, Shadow Mode – Multiply, Color – #1a3d02, Opacity – 100%. Also, click on the word Contour on the right side of window, and for Contour – pick Ring, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 40%. When done, click OK to accept layer effects and close window.

HOORAY! THAT’S ALL AND THE FINAL RESULT!

GO…HAVE FUN! BE CREATIVE!

View more of my Photoshop Tutorials

Shown above are 2 images, the original image on the left and the other with the resulting Photoshop photo effects next to it. Since the end result is pleasantly delightful with attention drawn to our eldest grand-daughter on a white stallion, I thought I’d share the process of my first creation here with you all – something I learnt recently too!

Let’s begin the excitement -

Step 1. In Photoshop CS2, open the image that you want to use for this tutorial – Choose File > Open and browse to select your image. You will need to duplicate the opened original image as it is unwise to work on it. With the original image activated, choose Image > Duplicate (a duplicate window pops up, type a new file name as you wish) > OK. Close the original image and make very sure you are now working with its copy. Check image size and if necessary reduce its size to 800 x 600 pixels which is the recommended size for web publishing – go to Image > Image Size and key in the dimensions as you would want the completed image to be.

Step 2. At the Layers Palette, the Background layer is selected (highlighted in blue) and you’ll need to duplicate it. Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer > OK or press the shortcut keys Ctrl+J to bring forth a Background copy (Layer 1). Double-click on the words of the layer to change its name to ‘Mini Picture’ for ease of identification.

Step 3. Now, you’ll need to create a new layer below the Mini Picture layer. To do this, simply hold down your Ctrl key while you click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette and a new layer will emerge between the two layers – Background and Mini Picture. Double-click on this new layer and rename it ‘Vector’, as this is where a vector shape will be created.

Step 4. Next thing to do is to define the shape of the mini picture using any one of the Vector Shape tools. In this example, I’ve dragged out a rectangular shape around the sweet little girl and the horse’s top portion. With the Vector layer selected in the Layers Palette, choose the Rectangle Tool from the Tool box on the left (the Vector Shape tools are located directly under the Type Tool), then click and drag it over the image area that you’d want your smaller version picture to represent. If the tool is not visible, click at the location and hold down the mouse button to select your tool from the fly-out list. The shape to be drawn need not be precise, just an appoximate one will do since you can transform it later. Once the vector shape is drawn, you’ll observe that the Vector layer in the Layers Palette has changed, creating 2 thumbnails – a color box for the layer and another for the vector mask. You can click on the vector mask thumbnail to toggle on and off.

Step 5. Now, you may want to reposition, resize or rotate your vector shape as desired. With the Vector layer still highlighted in blue (and the vector mask thumbnail highlighted too) in the Layers Palette, press Ctrl+T to bring out the Free Transform box and handles around the mini picture. To reposition the vector shape, click anywhere inside the box and drag the shape to your desired location, or nudge it with the arrow keys on your keyboard. To resize it, simply click and drag any of side handles or constrain the proportions by holding down Shift as you drag a corner handle, and holding down Shift+Alt as you drag will cause the shape to resize from the center. Should you need to rotate the shape, move your mouse anywhere outside the box and when the cursor change to a double-sided arrow, click and drag as desired. To complete the transformation, press Enter or double-click inside the Free Transform box. To cancel the operation, press Esc and try again.

Step 6. You’ll then need to use the vector shape to create a clipping mask. This means that it will clip the layer above it into the dimensions of the smaller cropped version of the picture. To do this, hold down the Alt key and move your cursor directly between the Mini Picture and Vector layers in the Layers Palette until you see your cursor change into the clipping mask icon. Then, double-click to create the clipping mask. You will know that you’ve done it correctly when the Mini Picture layer is indented to the right, confirming that it’s clipped by the vector shape below it.

Step 7. Now the real fun begins when the mini picture is being dressed so to speak. You’d need to enhance the smaller image and bring it into focus by adding a few layer styles to the vector shape. Unsurprisingly, fanciful photo frames (borders) can be created with the combination of these few blending effects. In this example, I’ve applied a Stroke, Bevel and Emboss, and Drop Shadow.
(a) Stroke is the simplest way to add a border to any photo. With the Vector layer and mask thumbnail in the Layers Palette still being selected, click on the Layer Style icon at the bottom of the palette and select Stroke to open the Layer Style window and stroke options. Check that Preview (on the right side of window) is selected to allow you to view simultaneously the effects of your choices made on image itself. Here, I’ve set the following options: Stroke size – 15px, Position – Inside so that the stroke appears within the boundaries of the vector shape, Blend mode – Normal, Opacity to 100% and color #c3930d (the color taken from the horse’s mane – click on the color box to open the Color Picker, then use the Eyedropper Tool to select the color from your image and click OK when done). Do not close the Layer Style window yet as there are 2 more layer effects to be applied.
(b) Bevel and Emboss, to give dimension – click on the words Bevel and Emboss on the left side of Layer Style window to open its options for you to choose. The choices made were: Style – Inner Bevel, Technique – Smooth, Depth – 100%, Direction – Up, Size – 18px, Soften – 0px, Angle – 120º, deselect Global Light, Altitude – 30º, Gloss Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Highlight Mode – Screen, Color – White #ffffff, Opacity – 75%, Shadow Mode – Multiply, Color – black #000000, Opacity – 60%. Also, click on the word Contour on the right side of window, and for Contour – pick Sawtooth 1 (click on the drop-arrow to open the Contour Picker to make your choice), deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 23%.
(c) Drop Shadow, to give depth – click on the name Drop Shadow to bring out its options. Selections made were: Blend Mode – Multiply, Color – Black #000000, Opacity – 100%, Angle – 135º, select Global Light, Distance – 12 px, Spread – 0, Size – 6 px, Contour – Ring-Double, deselect Anti-aliased. You can now close the Layer Style window by clicking OK if you’re satisfied at this point with the photo effects (I was! ), otherwise continue below!
(d) Others – you can try out as many Layer Styles as you want by clicking on the name of the various Layer Styles to open their options for selection. Enjoy trying out the many styles+options available and you’ll be amazed! If you want to cancel them, just deselect in the box to the left of their names. When you’re finally satisfied with all the styling results made on your photo, just hit OK to accept and close the Layer Style window. Of course, do not forget to save your styling efforts as a New Style (button displayed on the right side) for future use, before exiting from the window. Should you change your mind on any of the layer effects applied, just return to it by double-clicking on the Layer style button (letter f with a circle) in the Layers Palette and make the desired changes.

Step 8. We can now move on to complete the background photo, now that the creation of an illusive mini picture within its bigger image has been done. Here, I had diminished focus on the background picture by applying a simple Gaussian blur so that the main subject remains the center of attraction so to speak. To do this, you’d need to duplicate the Background layer again – select the Background layer in the Layers Palette and press Ctrl+J. Then, double-click on the new layer’s name and rename it ‘Main Picture’. Next, go to Filter menu > Blur > Gaussian Blur and type in 8.0 px for Radius when its window pops up, then hit OK to accept. If you want to undo blur, simply press Ctrl+Z and try again. Sometimes, if I think that the blur needs to be slightly adjusted, I’d just go to the Opacity setting in the top right corner of the Layers Palette, let the cursor rest on the word Opacity to turn it into a slider icon, then click and drag to the left to lower the opacity. Here, I’ve lowered it to 90% which seemed just right to balance with the vector-shaped mini photo.

Step 9. Finally, I’m sure you’d want to add a border or frame to the main picture. You can easily apply a simple stroke as a border, but those of us who are always very adventurous may prefer to try something fancy! So here again, though I’ve applied a Stroke as well as Bevel and Emboss, the options selected are different and the result is quite charming I’d say! As usual before any changes are made, select the layer in the Layers Palette to target it first. Thus, with the Main Picture layer still selected, double-click on the layer to open the Layer Style window and apply the following layer styles:
(a) Stroke – set the following options: Stroke size – 10px, Position – Inside, Blend mode – Normal, Opacity to 100% and color #070502 (a dark color picked from the main photo, using the Eyedropper Tool).
(b) Bevel and Emboss – the choices made were: Style – Inner Bevel, Technique – Smooth, Depth – 150%, Direction – Up, Size – 15px, Soften – 0px, Angle – 135º, select Global Light, Altitude – 30º, Gloss Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Highlight Mode – Screen, Color – White #ffffff, Opacity – 100%, Shadow Mode – Multiply, Color – black #000000, Opacity – 100%. Also, click on the word Contour on the right side of window, and for Contour – pick Rolling Slope-descending, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 30%.

YIPPEE! THAT’S ALL…FINISHED! SCROLL UP TO SEE THE END RESULT!

If you’re game to follow through another try-out, read on!

I just couldn’t resist creating another style! Hmm…Photoshop photo effects are so diverse and amazing! Exciting too, though can be too consuming a passion! This colorful mini picture was done to celebrate the beauty and sweetness of innocence and youth as displayed by my adorable grandchild!

Steps taken were quite similar to steps mentioned in the tutorial above. The stark differences being the vector shape was drawn with the Polygon Tool instead and options selected in the Layer Styles were varied to create an appealingly colorful theme!

Just in case you’re interested, the layer styles and options applied to this polygonal vector shape were set as follows:
(a) Stroke – Size 10px, Position – Center, Blend mode – Difference, Opacity to 100% and color #52c4f1 (color selected from the mini photo with the Eyedropper Tool).
(b) Bevel and Emboss – Style – Inner Bevel, Technique – Smooth, Depth – 80%, Direction – Down, Size – 15px, Soften – 0px, Angle – 120º, deselect Global Light, Altitude – 30º, Gloss Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Highlight Mode – Screen, Color – #7a33f6, Opacity – 100%, Shadow Mode – Multiply, Color – black #000000, Opacity – 100%. Also, click on the word Contour on the right side of window, and for Contour – pick Rolling Slope-descending, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 36%.
(c) Outer Glow Blend Mode – Dissolve, Opacity – 100%, Noise – 0%, Color – #e7f4f9, Technique – Softer, Spread – 0, Size – 25 px, Contour – Linear, deselect Anti-aliased, Range – 50%.

To complete with a frame for the main picture, I’ll leave it to your own imagination and creativity!
GO…ENJOY YOUR VERY OWN CREATION! BE INVENTIVE!

Learn more about vector shapes and other Photoshop effects from Bloomsberg University Virtual Training Center.

View more of my Photoshop Tutorials