ADDING A GALLERY FRAME EFFECT TO YOUR IMAGES

I recently added a tutorial on the Photoshop CS Lens Blur filter to this site. The tutorial was also reprinted on Uwe Steinmueller's site in HTML, www.outbackphoto.com. As I closed that tutorial, I included an image with a gallery frame effect I learned from Scott Kelby. You can also see an example of this effect on my home page. Soon, all of the image galleries will sport the effect.

If you are not familiar with Scot Kelby, he's the president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. He's also an excellent speaker and coach on Photoshop techniques. He is definitely one of my favorites!

Scott describes this technique in his book, "Photoshop Down & Dirty Tricks." The link on this page takes you to Amazon.com, but if you are a NAPP member (and, if not, shame on you), you can get a substantial discount from the NAPP bookstore.

Actually, I have modified the technique a bit. Just a tweak or two. The real kudos go to Scott!

I wrote a PS action to build the mat around the print. You can download it. I also have text presets you can use to add the text elements. Feel free to download them, also.

THE TECHNIQUE

Start by loading an image into Photoshop. Duplicate it. I typically use Ctrl/Cmd-J. Then press the 'd' key to set the background and foreground color to their defaults: white for the background and black for the foreground.

You need to create a border around the image. To do that, you invoke the Image | Canvas Size dialog. Add some space. Scott recommends 2 inches all around. I sometimes use 2 inches. Sometimes I use 1 inch. You decide what looks best with your image. Be sure to check the 'Relative' checkbox and set 'Canvas Extension Color' to 'Background'.

I find the effect looks best with an unbalanced mat: one with more space at the bottom. So I usually add space a second time. This time, I needed to adjust the anchor.

The next step is to add a thin line around the image. To do that, you need to get a selection around your image. This is why your started by duplicating the image. Go to the Layer Palette and press down the Ctrl/Cmd key and then click on the duplicate layer. You will notice that the duplicate layer has a transparent background where you added canvas space. By pressing Ctrl/Cmd and clicking the layer, a selection is made around your image.

Go to the Edit menu and select 'Stroke . . .' Enter 1 pixel for 'Width', 'Center' for 'Location', and choose a light gray from the Color Picker.

You are not quite finished with framing the image. So, do not deselect just yet. You need to expand the selection just a touch. So, go up to Select menu and choose 'Transform Selection'. Up on the Options Bar, you want to change the width to 102% and the height to 103%. Then, back to Edit | Stroke, only this time, select black from the Color Picker.

Now, we need to add the text to the image. I find Scott's suggested fonts to be ideal. I use ITC Bradley Hand for the limited edition numbering and author name. I use Minion for the gallery name. I add an all caps twist by changing the font size for subsequent letters in a word. The name of the image is also Minion, in a smaller font and without all caps. For the location, Minion is used, but 'Tracking' is set to 400 on the Character Palette.

Feel free to download and modify my action and to download the text presets, too.

Enjoy your snazzy gallery frame effect!

If you see Scott Kelby, remember to thank him, too!