PrintRadar Project Quick And Stylish Photo Frame In Photoshop

The time has come to give something back to the fabulous community. This project is just a small step towards that goal and in the future we hope we will do some bigger and more interesting ones. We also hope we will have some other artists featuring their work on our pages as well. That being said we can say some more things about this project. It was imagined like a super short and easy one, but we carried a bit while working on it so it falls somewhere in between. Some actions are backed up with screens and some are not so we hope everybody will be able to follow it. This is also a first one on PrintRadar and we hope you can give us some credit on that. So without further ado we present you with this small but hopefully useful PrintRadar Project showing you how to make a Quick And Stylish Photo Frame In Photoshop.

First let us see what we are about to make here. Look at this photo frame below.

PrintRadar Project - Quick And Stylish Photo Frame In Photoshop

Step 1 – Choose the photo and expand the canvas

Open up the picture you want to make the photo frame for in Photoshop. We’ve chosen this beautiful photo of Merilyn Monroe, who was the famous actress and much more. After that is done, unlock the photo layer (if it is locked, because sometimes it will be) and name it Marylin, add another layer with white background under it and name it Background. Go to Image > Canvas Size (or press Alt+Ctrl+C) and in the newly opened dialog, check relative, and specify 150 pixels for width and 150 pixels for height. We used 150 pixels because that is the amount that suits our picture size, but you might need to change that value based on your photo.

PrintRadar Project - Quick And Stylish Photo Frame - Step 1

Step 2 – Select, fill, contract, delete

Make a new layer and name it Outer Frame. Select the whole layer (Ctrl+A), fill it with #0f0f0f color, contract the selection by 30 pixels, and press delete. Add another layer and name it Inner Frame. Select the whole layer, contract the selection by 50 pixels, fill the selection with #0f0f0f color, contract selection again by 3 pixels, and press delete. You should have something like in the picture below.

PrintRadar Project - Quick And Stylish Photo Frame In Photoshop - Step 2

Step 3 – Outer Frame – Bevel and Emboss + Inner Shadow

Time to give Outer Frame that third dimension. Double click on Outer Frame layer, choose Bevel and Emboss, and use this screen as a guide. After that apply the Drop Shadow using this screen as a guide and use #646464 for the shadow color.

PrintRadar Project - Quick And Stylish Photo Frame In Photoshop - Step 3

Step 4 – Apply textures and filters

First apply Pattern Overlay to the background layer by using Blending Options and selecting Paper Patterns > Charcoal Flecks. Set opacity to 75% for that pattern. After that, select the Inner Frame layer and apply Filter > Noise > Add Noise, set it to 30%, and check Monochromatic and Gaussian settings. Also lower the layer’s Fill to 50% on the layers palette. Last in this step, but not least, apply wooden texture to the Outer Frame. You can find one that we used in the zip file which is available for download at the end of this project. Add new layer on top of the Outer Frame and name it Outer Frame Texture. Paste the texture image in it, right click on that layer in the layers palette, and select Create Clipping Mask. While that layer is still selected, go to Image > Adjustments and click on Auto Levels. Lower the opacity of Outer Frame Texture layer to 15%.

PrintRadar Project - Quick And Stylish Photo Frame In Photoshop - Step 4

Step 5 – Add text and raise the photo with Drop Shadow

Quickly add white text in the bottom right corner. We used Bickam Script Pro font just because it was already in the system and it was just good enough. Set the size of the font to 60 pixels. As for the photo layer Drop Shadow effect, you can use this screen as a guide. We also added a small amount of grain effect to the photo but it is not necessary.

PrintRadar Project - Quick And Stylish Photo Frame In Photoshop - Step 5

Step 6 – Reflections

Choose a bright picture of some bar or interior that has a lot of light sources or is in general bright. We used the one you can find in the project zip file which you can download at the end of this project. Not perfect but it does the trick. Make a new layer on top of all layers, paste that picture into it, set opacity to 12%, and go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. Select the whole layer (Ctrl+A), contract the selection by the same amount you used for Outer Frame, go to Select > Inverse, and delete the part covering Outer Frame. Voila! The frame is complete.

PrintRadar Project - Quick And Stylish Photo Frame In Photoshop - Step 6

For your convenience we made a zip file with the Photoshop CS3  PSD file and other files in it so you can tweak, modify, or just see what we did there. Of course this frame is not the perfect one, but it was quick and easy to make, and can do the trick when you are in a hurry. Thank you for your patience.

For those of you who are wondering why the history box in screen shots does not contain logical steps we mentioned through the content, that is because we had a typo in her name which we corrected at the very end.

Download the project ZIP file