Framing Pictures

After viewing tons of professionally framed photos posted on websites and forums, are you tempted to frame your own and share you photographic creation with the others? This article will introduce a quick and simple method to framing a picture using Photoshop step-by-step.

This frame has been introduced by Chris in the Photoshop Corner PSC12. But for the sake of completeness, let’s give it a go again! Shall we?
This is the picture I will play with. Hope you guys don’t mind my poor composition technique...

If you are trying to share your images over the Internet, most likely your 10MP pictures are going to be too big. So the first step is to resize it.
Select Image → Image Size.
Tips: Make sure pixel is selected in the drop down menu on the right side
Usually there are a few common sizes people use on the web for a 4:3 picture, the larger 640×480, 480×320 and 320×240. This decision is mainly based on the place you want to post it, the maximum upload file size, and how long you want people to wait for the webpage to load. But that’s another wiki. I will use 640×480 for now.

In the layer tab, right click on the “background” layer, choose duplicate layer.

To add the border, we can think of it as making the paper larger without resizing the image.
Go to Image → Canvas Size. Check the “Relative” box. And put 30 into both width and height boxes.
Tips: Again, make sure pixel is selected in the drop down menu on the right side
Selecting “Relative” means letting the computer calculates the output canvas size for you. So if we enter 30 to the width box, 15 pixels will be added to either side of the image.

The picture is now framed. But there is always room to add a little something special to it.
Go to Layer → Layer Style. Select Drop Shadow. For all the input parameters, check out the image below.
This is not the only option to make it 3D. Chris used Inner Shadow in his guide. So feel free to play with other options and parameters.

To stamp your name on your great creation and protect it with copyright, click on “Text” from the tool box area on the left. Type in your name and move it into the right position.
Tips: As suggested in Chris’ guide, the shortcut for copyright is holding Alt and typle “0169”, or Option+G for Mac.

Done!! Happy Framing!
Tips: After getting the hang of it, record the steps as an Action and let Photoshop do it for you automatically.