photo framing

[gus]

Guys where do i find a prog that will put a raised frame around the photo?

[wxwax]

Do you have example of what you mean? Photoshop can give you an embossed frame.

[gus]

Do you have example of what you mean? Photoshop can give you an embossed frame.Dont remember but i saw it in here somewhere. Where is it in P/S ? Buggered if i can see it.

It makes the photo look as if its raised off the background & puts a frame around it.

[pathfinder]

Dont remember but i saw it in here somewhere. Where is it in P/S ? Buggered if i can see it.

It makes the photo look as if its raised off the background & puts a frame around it.


Do you mean drop shadows? Like this but with a frame inside the shadow?

http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/2338679-L.jpg

[gus]

Thats it ! How do i get that ?

[fish]

One way is from Photoshop Elements 2, click on the Effects pallette (in upper right) and choose "drop shadow frame".

[pathfinder]

Thats it ! How do i get that ?

What imaging software are using? Photoshop 5-6-7-or CS will do. Here is an image... Most imaging editors will have similar commands I suspect

Church in Santa Fe
http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/2362370-S.jpg


First take you image and enlarge the canvas to allow a place for the shadow to display by pressing - Image - Canvas Size - - I change the size to pixels and typically enlarge the canvas about 10% to give a nice white border - leave the Relative box checked - here is the expanded canvas

http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/2362615-L.jpg

Now that you have a white border you must Select the colored area with the selection tool of your choice - the marquee tool or the magnetic lasso or whatever you prefer - I usually select the white border and then Inverse to get the colored area selected - the red outline in the next picture is to demonstrate the selection of the colored area - in PS you would see 'dancing ants' - the dotted moving white line outlining your selection.....

http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/2362616-M.jpg


Now that you have the image selected on the enlarged canvas just press Cotrol-J to create a duplicate layer of the image on top of the ( image + the enlarged canvas border ) - you can also duplicate the selected area by pressing - Layer - Duplicate Layer ..... Now things begin to come together

Press Layer - Layer Style - Drop shadow and the drop shadow command box pops into view. Leave the blend mode set at multiply - just play with the angle, distance, spread, and size buttons and see your shadow appear on you monitor as you watch real time - Be sure that you have press the 'd' key before you do the drop shadow so that you have the correct black and white colors for your foreground and backgorund colors -- and BINGO!!!

http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/2362814-M.jpg


Your very own drop shadow -- High Five and all that - Time for a Fosters.... or a MGD or whatever your beverage of choice!! Good onYa!

[fish]

or...in PE2, open your image, click on the effects palette, and drag the "drop shadow frame" icon onto your image, and boom...no muss, no fuss.

[fish]

there are other effects you can play with that way, including this:

[fish]

or even this...

[pathfinder]

or even this...
I have never done it that way in PSElements 2.
Click and drag --- Wheeeoooo - Wham Bam so to speak!!!

Or bam bam bam bam

http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/2363881-M.jpg


That is just too easy - no brewskis for you Fish!

[GREAPER]

the frame is really cool.

The picture is too. Blow stuff up.

What is PS2?

[pathfinder]

the frame is really cool.

The picture is too. Blow stuff up.

What is PS2? Photoshop Elements 2 as opposed to PhotoShop itself.

[fish]

What is PS2?

Sorry...I'm a dope. I meant PE2 (photoshop elements 2). PS2 is an old IBM standard for keyboard connectors.:thwak

[wxwax]

Hmmm. :lol3 It does add a certain something to Fishy's portrait.

[fish]

works good on your self-portrait as well. :wxwax

[wxwax]

:rofl :rofl Didn't think you could resist.

[gus]

I have PS 6....looks like i cant do it.:dunno

[wxwax]

Sure you can, I'm using 6 right now. You just have to follow pathfinder's directions carefully. Are you losing track of what he's saying anywhere in the process?

[gus]

Sure you can, I'm using 6 right now. You just have to follow pathfinder's directions carefully. Are you losing track of what he's saying anywhere in the process?
Does it show ?

I can only use the simple stuff. It looks a little too techo for me. Surely i can buy a prog to do it ?

[fish]

Does it show ?
Surely i can buy a prog to do it ?
Yeah...Elements.

[wxwax]

You're spending money you don't need to. It's about 6 steps.

1/ Open yer pic.

2/ Hit control-J. You've just copied the pic and stacked one on top of the other.

3/ Make sure your colors are right. On the tool bar on yer screen, make sure white is the top color, black the bottom one. Click on the litle icon bottom left of the two boxes if you're not sure.


http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/2369871-M.jpg


4/ Show us yer Layers box! If it's not on your screen, put it there. Look at the top of yer screen, click on Window. About 3/4 of the way down is Layer. Click on it.

5/ When Layers box is on your screen, you'll see it has two rectangles in it. The top one's called Layer 1. The bottom one's called Background. Click on Background.


http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/2369846-M.jpg


6/ Go to the top of your screen again. Click on Image. 1/2 way down is Canvas... Click on it.

7/ Up pops a dialogue box. Add 10% to both the height and width. Just do the mental math and type in the new number in each box. Click OK.


http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/2369856-M.jpg


8/ Suddenly, yer pic has a white layer around it. Almost home.

9/ Back to your Layers dialogue box. This time don't click on Background, click on Layer 1 instead.

10/ Back to the top of yer screen again. Click on Layers. 1/4 the way down is Layer Style. Click on it. A selection menu slides out. Pick Drop Shadow.

11/ Play with it to your heart's content. You're done, mate. :thumb


http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/2369872-M.jpg

[pathfinder]

You're spending money you don't need to. It's about 6 steps.

1/ Open yer pic.

2/ Hit control-J. You've just copied the pic and stacked one on top of the other.

3/ Make sure your colors are right. On the tool bar on yer screen, make sure white is the top color, black the bottom one. Click on the litle icon bottom left of the two boxes if you're not sure.


http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/2369871-M.jpg


4/ Show us yer Layers box! If it's not on your screen, put it there. Look at the top of yer screen, click on Window. About 3/4 of the way down is Layer. Click on it.

5/ When Layers box is on your screen, you'll see it has two rectangles in it. The top one's called Layer 1. The bottom one's called Background. Click on Background.


http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/2369846-M.jpg


6/ Go to the top of your screen again. Click on Image. 1/2 way down is Canvas... Click on it.

7/ Up pops a dialogue box. Add 10% to both the height and width. Just do the mental math and type in the new number in each box. Click OK.


http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/2369856-M.jpg


8/ Suddenly, yer pic has a white layer around it. Almost home.

9/ Back to your Layers dialogue box. This time don't click on Background, click on Layer 1 instead.

10/ Back to the top of yer screen again. Click on Layers. 1/4 the way down is Layer Style. Click on it. A selection menu slides out. Pick Drop Shadow.

11/ Play with it to your heart's content. You're done, mate. :thumb


http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/2369872-M.jpgMiller time!!

Wxwax - You are getting the Photoshop Program screen shots by pressing the PrintScreen key and then pasting from the clipboard into your image editor for the nice instruction sheet images you just posted? And then uploaded the jpgs to smumug for linking...... Cool job.....

[gus]

Thanks heaps blokes.....will try it tonight & let you know. Would you believe i have just sold a 7 year biz that had half a doz people on computers doing printing layouts all day long ?...i used to get them to do everything for me whilst i made lunch for them & generally got in the way.

[wxwax]

Pathfinder, you got it. I actually hit Alt-Print Screen, 'cause I don't know any better. Then I paste it into a new Photoshop document. When I resize it, I un-click the Resample box. I read that that preserves the quality better when shrinking an image.

Hummer, just post if you lose a step. The only tricky bits are step #7 - changing the numbers for the Canvas. And Step #4, making sure you find your Layers box. Both are easy enough if someone helps you.

[pathfinder]

Thanks heaps blokes.....will try it tonight & let you know. Would you believe i have just sold a 7 year biz that had half a doz people on computers doing printing layouts all day long ?...i used to get them to do everything for me whilst i made lunch for them & generally got in the way.
Hire some college kid to do it then - Keeps your mind free for the big picture!! Put an ad out for a starving graphic artist..........

[fish]

Hire some college kid to do it then - Keeps your mind free for the big picture!! Put an ad out for a starving graphic artist..........
Hey, it worked for Ansel.

[ian408]

I didn't realize PE 2 had effects. You can even use multiples!

[fish]

eeeew...what did you do to my bike? :huh

[ian408]

eeeew...what did you do to my bike? :huh
I dunno. But Grey would look better don't ya think?

Ian

[gus]

Got it !!! Ta waxy :thumb

Did you get the black/white bit in the start arse about ?

[pathfinder]

Got it !!! Ta waxy :thumb

Did you get the black/white bit in the start arse about ? I had trouble also with paying close attention to the foreground/background - black/white ( or it can be any color you choose to make it ) - otherwise you are casting a white shadow on a white surface and sit and scratch your head saying I can't seem to figure this out.
Photoshop has lots of power and lots of books about it - but there are little steps like this black/white - foreground/background that you MUST pay attention to or you are just ( in deference to the family values of this thread ) messed up.....

[wxwax]

Got it !!! Ta waxy :thumb

Did you get the black/white bit in the start arse about ?

Yeah, I noticed that after posting the pic but I was late getting to work and didn't have time to fix it. It didn't make a difference to the final result so I didn't mention it. Nice catch, maestro of the matte.
:D

And nice job on the drop shadow. You can change the color too - just click on the colored box, to the right of the first drop-down menu, at the top of the Drop Shadow dialogue box.

[gus]

[QUOTE=wxwax]Yeah, I noticed that after posting the pic but I was late getting to work and didn't have time to fix it. QUOTE]

No worries....only took me an extra 3 hours to do it, & maybe 40 or 50 attempts.:wxwax

[wsticker]

Has anyone created an action script for this process?

[pathfinder]

This thread is a very early thread in the history of dgrin, I was just a visitor here on dgrin back then.

I later posted a better way of creating a drop shadow as seen here (http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=38344&postcount=9)


It would be very easy to work through the steps I have outlined and record an action. I have not done this because I like to choose different border widths or background colors at times. Once you know how to do a drop shadow, it takes less than 30 secs to do.....

Drop shadows are really post processing/image editing and not shooting Technique, so I have moved this to Finishing School.