This tutorial will show you how to make a bent photo frame in Photoshop. At the end of the tutorial, you will have a template to which you can clip a photo.
1. Open a new canvas the size of the photo you want to frame. I am going to make mine a 4 x 6 because that fits well on a scrapbook page.
2. Fill the layer with 50% grey (Shift + F5 or Edit > Fill).
3. Increase the size of the canvas so that there will be room for the shadow.
5. Add a drop shadow to the layer.
Opacity = 85%
Distance = 50 px
Spread = 15%
Size = 75 px
6. In the layer palette, right-click on the effect (not the layer) to get a menu where you can create a layer from the drop shadow effect. Select 'Create Layer' from the menu.
7. Optional. You may receive a warning message. If you do, select 'OK'.
8. Now you should have two layers. One is the frame and one is the shadow. Choose the layer with the frame.
9. From the Edit menu, select 'Warp (Edit > Transform > Warp).
10. Click the square on the bottom left and drag it up and to the left.
11. Click the square on the top right and drag it up and to the left.
12. Now any photo you clip to this frame will like it is bending off the page. It is complete if you don't want a border around the photo.
13. Optional. To add a border to the frame, load the opaque region of the image as a selection (Select > Load Selection).
14. Optional. Contract the selection (Select > Modify > Contract). I made mine 50 pixels but you can make it any size.
15. Optional. Ctrl + Shift + I to invert the selection.
16. Optional. Intersect the transparent region of the layer with the current selection (Select > Load Selection). Go to Load Selection but choose 'Intersect with Selection' as the Operation.
16. Optional. Ctrl + J to create a new layer via copy. The template now has all the necessary layers.
17. Optional. Afterwards, you may wish to fill your selection with a different color so that you can see the frame better. I did this by loading the selection as in Step 13. Then I filled with a color as in Step 2.
I have made the frame template that I generated from this tutorial available. I hope people can use it.
Thank you so much for this post. I want to let you know that I posted a link to your blog in CBH Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, under the Page 1 post on Feb. 03, 2012. Thanks again.
ReplyDeletethis is really perfect tutorial & very useful , plus you include the sample ... Perfect ! :-) thank you SO much
ReplyDeletePSD file is 2.5 Mb , but if you save the 3 Psd layers separately in PNG format .. it just takes 140 Kb
ReplyDeleteThank you for these useful tutorial and template :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the tutorial and template!!
ReplyDeleteA blogsite well used. Great explanations - must try this out at my next picture of my little boy too :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for this great tutorial.I have one question though: How do I insert my picture? Mine always ends up in the background instead of in the dark grey part.
ReplyDeleteThanks
In Photoshop, you drag your photo onto the canvas where the frame is located. Then, in the layer palette, place the photo layer above the grey layer. Right click on the photo layer and select 'Create Clipping Mask' That will clip your photo to the grey layer. If this confusing, you can see Step 22 in my Bracket Mat tutorial.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant, the easiest to follow tutorial i have ever used!
ReplyDelete