Creative Framing

[Steve@C4]

Ok, so here's my first before and after post here. I really liked this shot of my daughter and Miss Ellie. However, I really thought it needed some help (the shot looked cold and Alyssa needed to become part the focal point rather than just Miss Ellie's nose. I decided to crop the original to 8X10 and add a frame. Here's what I did in CS3

Cropped the original to 8x10
Duplicated the original layer 2x
desaturated backround copy.
selected background copy 2
placed vertical and horizontal guides 1" from the edges
Used the rectangular marquis to make a selection using the guides>(should automatically snap to the guides)
Inverted the selection and press delete (this will give you the B/W frame)
Inverted the selection again and stroked that path with a 5 px white stroke
warmed up the background copy 2 layer and lightened Alyssa's face slightly





That's it. Lot's of variations can be made from here. If there's enough interest, I may do a full tutorial on this. I like to be semi-vague because it really helps to learn PS.

Thanks for such a great forum for this kind of thing.

Steve

[30yrs later]

I LOVE THIS. I am brand-new, so this inspires me to think I might take the leap from Picasa to Photoshop. Can I do this in Photoshop Elements? Truly, this is beautiful.

[HankW]

Yep.......You can do that in Elements.

[justlearning]

I really like this as well and think I will give it try in Elements as soon as I have the time.

Thanks!

[ellieoates]

Very nice!

[cdgaskin]

i like the softness of the edit

[wannabehorsephotographer]

I like how the border marks the color change. Cute moment between the girl and horse

[JitterJive]

Truly inspirational. Thank you for sharing this with us. Think I'll give it a whirl.

[fanatiker]

I have seen the continuation in the border before in other art forms, but I have seen or tried it in photography. Thanks for sharing this, the ideas are already starting to flow.

[constructivecriticism]

Great idea indeed.

Have you considered blurring the edge by a radius greater than the one you used to soften the content of the frame? To me, it seems perhaps the sharpness of the border takes the focus away from the subject.

Simply my $.02