As a result of requests to tell people how I do my frames. I’ve put together the following tutorial:
Please be aware... it's LONG so
~"Faint of Heart Might Want To leave"~
Any comments or questions are always welcome…

THE FINISHED LOOK
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435884.jpg

~The Basics of Framing~
Open the image that you want to frame.
Do all the adjustments that you feel you want in the finished product.
Flatten Image>Layer Flatten
In the layer palette double click on the background layer. Name it “Photo”.
This allows you to unlock the background and that will be required later on.
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435613.jpg
Now you are ready to start to add your frame layers. In the layer palette create a new layer.
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435631.jpg
Drag your new layer #1 below the photo layer in the stack
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435672.jpg
Change the name of this layer by double clicking the layer #1 and change the name to matt #1
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435674.jpg
To understand the stacking principals of layers one need to keep in mind that the higher up the stack the given layer is the closer to the top of the overall photo it will be.
Now we want to make this layer visible as a frame matt. So we will increase the canvas size to allow the outer edges to show.
While we still have matt #1 highlighted we will increase canvas size
Image>Canvas size
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435677.jpg
In the window place the amount you want to increase the matt. For this one I’ve added .2 x .2
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435678.jpg
You will now see the edges of Matt #1 on the outer edge of your photo
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435683.jpg
At this point we can color Matt #1 the color that we want. In this case I will use white as I’m looking for a small ribbon boarder. To do this, choose the color you want and use the paint bucket.
~TIP… If you want to use a color from the photo you can do this be highlighting the photo layer and using your eye dropper too extract the color you want~
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435690.jpg
We now have a white boarder around our photo
If you don’t… stop this tutorial and go have a beer (it will be more productive)
So now we want to create a second matt and we will put it on the bottom of the layer stack. So with Matt #1 highlighted create a new layer by pressing the new layer button.
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435693.jpg
Now name that layer Matt #2 and drag it to the bottom of the stack
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435695.jpg
Again we need to make this layer visible so we will increase the canvas size as we did on Matt #1
Image>Canvas size
But this time we will make it a little larger so let’s go .5 x .5
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435725.jpg
Again we now need to color this layer so we will use the paint bucket. This time I will choose a color from the photo that I feel will complement the overall look.
So I highlight the photo layer and use my eyedropper to pick a color. On the MAC I press the option key to extract the color I want. I’m not sure how to do that in Windows.
The color you choose should show up on the right side of your screen and the color should be on top. If it’s behind just press the X key and it will bring it forward.
http://www.pbase.com/image/11436952.jpg
So now just use your paint bucket and color your layer
“Make sure you high light the matt #2 layer before you do this “
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435860.jpg
~TIP: any time you screw things up just hit Command “Z” or delete in your history palette to get rid of your mistake.~
So now we should have an image that look like this
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435862.jpg
Finally we will put a final matt on and call it Matt #3
So we want to repeat the steps we took before and create a new matt> drag it to the bottom of the stack and to color it the way we want…
Should end up looking like this:
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435865.jpg
So we have now got all our matt’s built and in place. But we need to get some separation between them so we are simulating a real frame as best we can. To do this one has several different options but for this tutorial we will keep it simple and just use the emboss tool.
I find the best way to start is to start at the top layer (the photo) work your way down.
So we need to highlight the photo layer and then go to
Layer>Layer options>Bevel and Emboss.
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435867.jpg
From there we want to standardize our settings to give us a consistent look. My settings can be seen in the next screen shot…
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435870.jpg
Repeat the bevel and emboss on all the matt layers and try to keep the settings the same.
These settings are very arbitrary and should really be set to your liking.
Well that about all I can think of for now… I’ve probably left something out but that’s what happens when you are doing these types of things on the fly.
As a sort of kicker for you nuts that actually stayed around till the end… Here is an example of a little more complicated frame job on the same image.
Have fun and don’t kill me if I’ve screwed this thing up some how…
http://www.pbase.com/image/11435604.jpg

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Cheers
Doug B.
http://www.pbase.com/dbarber
PBase supporter
CP5700; PS7; MAC Ti-Book G4