More Photoshop CS5 Help - Beginner Questions

[smackitsakic]

How do you make the background blurry and put a clear box over a photo like this in photoshop CS5?

Any help would be great!! Thanks.

 

[Boomn4x4]

Its actually quite simple.... Two layers. Duplicate the original layer, and then apply a heavy blur to base layer. Then crop the duplicate so that it overlays the blurr. Stick a black frame on it and you are done.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

The blurred part is easy, but it actually looks better if its an offset copy of the picture. That way you don't lose bits of your picture. You just put a smaller version of the same picture on top of a bigger version ( lets say 1 inch bigger on each side ) and then the background layer ( the bigger picture ) you add a blur to. Then just add a stroke using the FX options on the smaller picture layer.

 

[smackitsakic]

What do I have to do to get the black picture frame? I know that is probably a super simple question, but I tried and tried to do it by drawing a rectangle and couldn't seem to figure out how to have the inside of the box transparent and the outside of the box a black line for the border.

 

[anthonymichael]

Duplicate the layer and blur the background layer. Select the top layer and resize it. Click on select all and then Modify->boarder and choose how many pixels you want it to be. Then use the brush tool and color it any color you like, then deselect.

 

[oldmacman]

What do I have to do to get the black picture frame? I know that is probably a super simple question, but I tried and tried to do it by drawing a rectangle and couldn't seem to figure out how to have the inside of the box transparent and the outside of the box a black line for the border.

With the layer selected, go to the layer inspector and click on Fx. Choose stroke. In the dialog box choose the colour and weight of the stroke. Set the stroke inside for sharp corners.

 

[oldmacman]

Duplicate the layer and blur the background layer. Select the top layer and resize it. Click on select all and then Modify->boarder and choose how many pixels you want it to be. Then use the brush tool and color it any color you like, then deselect.

This will add a border to the transparent area of the layer (outside edge of the whole image).

 

[smackitsakic]

What do I have to do to get the black picture frame? I know that is probably a super simple question, but I tried and tried to do it by drawing a rectangle and couldn't seem to figure out how to have the inside of the box transparent and the outside of the box a black line for the border.

With the layer selected, go to the layer inspector and click on Fx. Choose stroke. In the dialog box choose the colour and weight of the stroke. Set the stroke inside for sharp corners.

I tried this, but it didn't seem to work. I could only figure out how to put a box around the outside edge of the photo...how do you set it so that it is slightly inset into the photo like my example?

 

[oldmacman]

I tried this, but it didn't seem to work. I could only figure out how to put a box around the outside edge of the photo...how do you set it so that it is slightly inset into the photo like my example?

Ok, in this example the white layer represents the blurred layer and the brown represents the in focus layer.
Notice in the layer inspector that Layer 1 has transparency? If you have set up your file correctly, the in focus layer is smaller than the blurred layer. Select that layer, click on fx in the layer inspector, click on Stroke and you will see the dialog I have visible.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

Because its actually two seperate pictures ( 2 layers ) Read my explanation above. When you put the stroke around the smaller picture it is inset ( because the smaller picture is inset )

 

[smackitsakic]

Making sense now, thanks everyone. How do you resize a photo though so that one is smaller than the other?

 

[oldmacman]

Making sense now, thanks everyone. How do you resize a photo though so that one is smaller than the other?

Steps:
- open image in photoshop
- duplicate this image (control J)
- Select the new layer in the layer inspector
- activate transform (control t)
- Press and hold <shift> on your keyboard. With your mouse click and drag the handles in the corners to resize the image.
- Press <enter> on your keyboard to register the change

The screen shot shows layer 1 selected in the layer inspector and the white box around the in focus elephant is the transform tool. The little white squares are the handles. To scale you always use a corner handle with shift. Otherwise, you distort the aspect of the image.