There are many plug-ins for Photoshop and some of the most popular ones are for creating artistic edges around a photographic image. We will look at one of those third-party programs later in this article, but you can easily get the desired effect yourself in Photoshop. You might start browsing through Photoshop’s Actions. The program comes with a couple of photo frames but the number is limited and you either like them or you don’t.

There are a number of ways to create an attractive border. In the first approach you start with a selection and apply a filter to it. The second method is based on the Brush tool, which gives some artistic freedom. In the third technique we paint the image back onto a white canvas using some artistic brush. Finally, we have a quick look at a well-known Photoshop plug-in.

Selection Plus Filter

There are many filters in Photoshop and Elements that create distorted effects and you might have used the one or the other to compose some more artistic versions of your photographs. Those filters can be applied to selections, and after turning these selections into an edge mask, we can get a nice artistic border effect.

We start off by making a selection around the image, usually a rectangular one, but it can also be an oval. When you open an image it will be sitting on a ‘background’ layer. Since you want to apply your artistic border as a layer 
mask, you need to turn the background layer into a normal image layer. The easiest way is to double click on the image layer in the layer palette. Up comes a dialog box asking you to name the new layer. Type in a name, or accept the default ‘Layer 0’ by clicking OK. Another option is to simply duplicate your background layer.

Grab the rectangular Marque tool and draw a selection. The edge of the selection will define the area in which you want the border treatment to appear. You might find it useful to display the rulers around your image (Press ‘R’ on the keyboard if they are not shown) and pull out Guide lines from the Rulers with the Move tool. The Marque tool will then snap to the Guide lines, making it a lot easier to select precisely what you want to show.

With the selection active, click on the Quick Mask Mode button right at the bottom of the Tools palette, or you can use the keyboard shortcut ‘Q’. The image border now shows under a red mask.
Now it’s time to apply artistic filters. This is best done from the Filter Gallery (Filter > Filter Gallery) because it allows you to stack multiple filters. You also get a nice preview without having to go back to the Filter menu if you don’t like the effect. The filters in the Artistic, Brush Strokes and Distort sections are the most useful ones, but any filter you like can be used. There are so many effects and combinations, be prepared to spend some time here until you find the look that best suits the image. Most of the filters have drop-down menus and sliders for even more control.

Simply click on the New Effect Layer button at the bottom right of the Filter Gallery dialog box to add the current effect, then you are free to choose another filter with new settings. You can have a whole list of different effects. Simply click on the eyeballs to make the filters active or inactive. The large preview on the left will give you an idea what the border will look like.

After clicking on OK you need to get out of the Quick Mask mode by typing ‘Q’ again. Now you can see the selection in the ‘marching ant’ mode. Don’t worry about what the edge looks like at 
this point.

The last step is to apply a layer mask (click on the Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layer palette. The layer mask blocks the pixels outside the selection and only the pixels within the selection remain visible. You will see the image against the checkerboard background. You might want to add a white layer underneath the image to get a better view of what the print is going to look like. The white layer won’t print, but it will simulate the white paper.

Once you found a combination of filters that gives you a border you like, you can store the sequence as an action and run it with one click from the Action palette (you still need to do the initial selection with the Marque tool, though).

Painted Edges

Our first technique is fairly limited: the border effects are very even and look quite mechanical, rather than artistic. Another way of creating a border effect is to paint away the edges of an image using one of Photoshop’s many 
artistic brushes.

As before, you need to make an image layer out of your background layer. Next, create a layer mask and select the Brush tool. If you open the Brush palette you will find some of the more exotic brush types further down the list. Click on the small triangle on the top right of the palette and you will find plenty more sets of brushes, which you can append to the existing ones: natural brushes, special effect brushes, thick heavy brushes and so on. If you click on a brush you will get a rough preview of what to expect.

Set the foreground colour to black and, with the layer mask active, paint around the edges. The brush size is best adjusted with the two square brackets on your keyboard. The sample below was done with a combination of two brushes: ‘large texture stroke’ and ‘sea sponge 2’.

Painting The Original Onto White Canvas

In this technique you paint your photo back over a white background. It is simple but quite effective and a great opportunity to explore the various brushes:

• Open your image and set Background colour to white
• Go to Select > All (shortcut: Cntrl A)
• Press the Delete button and the canvas will turn white
• Now you can paint the image back with the History Brush

By default the History Brush will revert to the first Snapshot taken when opening the image. The sample shown was done with one of the ‘thick heavy brushes’. Not only do you get full control over the edges, but some of these brushes are excellent in simulating a real painted look coming from a dry brush. It is quite useful to display the Brush palette as a list. You can do this by clicking on the little triangle on the top of the palette. The ‘Large List’ will give you the name of the brush as well as a preview of 
the stroke.

PhotoFrame From OnOne Software

If you want the ultimate in flexibility and convenience then you need to invest in some specialised Photoshop plug-ins. One is called PhotoFrame, produced by OnOne Software (another one is Photo/Graphic Edges from Auto FX Software).

These programs give you thousands of artistic edge effects that really make your images stand out. The later versions come with a Library window that lets you search, browse and preview frames, backgrounds, textures and adornments on your image. In theory, any type of border can be built up in Photoshop alone, but nothing beats the speed and simplicity of PhotoFrame.

Without such a program it is easy to get lost in tools and techniques, whereas PhotoFrame allows you to concentrate on the artistic effect, quickly comparing different options and fine-tuning them. You can combine various frames (up to 32 at once) and save any combination.

On installation the program creates a database of thousands of frames that you can access via the Frame Browser (you can look through these frames on www.photoframe.ononesoftware.com). You will find modern, digital-looking borders as well as traditional wooden frames (oak, teak, ebony…), 35mm film, matte frames and so on. If you don’t find your perfect frame, you can make your own, save and apply it.

If you find it difficult to choose between a number of options, the program has a Frame Grid window for previewing any number of frame choices fitted to an image. The frames can be applied 
on a separate layer or even as a 
layer mask.

Words: Hans Weichselbaum

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