Do you often want to frame a photo, but trying to cut the paper just right is a pain? Here is a quick and easy way to make yourself a custom frame template for any shape of photo! ( instructions are given for photoshop, hopefully you can adapt them to your program )

 To start, Take your photo and create a layer, instead of a background . To do this i normally just double click on my background layer.  Next, change your canvas size, to make it a bit larger than your photo. I added half an inch to each side.  You can do this by going to image>canvas size.

Next add a stroke using layer styles ( layer>layer styles > stroke )

Be sure that you set it to INSIDE not outside to make a nice square edge. Make it as thick or as thin as you want your frame to be.

Now right click on the fx  list by the layer on the layers palate. choose " create layer" this will move your stroke to a separate layer, with a clipping mask still applied. Select the photo area, by  holding down control and clicking on the photo layer. This will give you the marching ants around your photo. if this shortcut doesnt work for you, select by whatever means you normally select around an object. now  either hit  Control+shift+i to inverse your selection, or go to select>inverse. Now with your stroke layer selected,  hit delete. now right click the stroke layer,  and choose "release clipping mask ".

Now you have a perfect sized frame on top of your photo. You could choose to use this as a shape to clip a paper to as a frame, or you could apply a layer style, as ive done in my example. 

Back to tutorials list