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Brush Border: Photo Mask Tutorial

Amber Wade — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:30:11 +0000

Creating attractive photo borders can be an easy (and fun) task when using a photo mask. In this short tutorial I will show you how to give your photos a brush-like border. I’ve also included 4 free high-resolution masks that I painted and scanned.

Choose the image that you want to apply the mask to and make any cropping adjustments. I’ll be using this photo:

Add a layer mask. The layer should reveal two thumbnails like below.

Choose the mask you will be working with. Don’t worry if the mask isn’t the same size as the image we will adjust the size later. Select>All and then Copy. I’ll be using this mask.

Once back in the image you will be using, Alt Click (Windows) or Option Click (Mac) on the mask layer. Your image should disappear to reveal a white background. Now Paste the mask. At this point, you can resize the mask image to the proper dimensions.

Once you have the mask sized properly, invert the mask layer by choosing Image > Adjustments > Invert.

To make sure that your image shows through the mask clearly, adjust the levels to make the mask pure black and pure white. Choose Image > Adjustments > Levels and pull in the right and left sliders like below.

The last step is to Alt Click (Windows) or Option Click (Mac) on the image layer to reveal your newly cropped image!

FINAL IMAGE

Download 4 Free Masks by clicking here.

Photoshop Actions

Amber Wade — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:06:29 +0000

If you’re looking for a way to streamline your work in photoshop actions are a great way to go. I was always under the impression that actions were used for things like automating repetitive jobs like resizing images, but they go way beyond simple image adjustments. You can also use actions to manipulate photos, but I’m talking more than simple levels adjustments or color balance. There are wonderful actions out there for free that do things like give your images an ethereal glow or convert your images to a character sketch feel. One site that contains numerous free Photoshop actions is

ActionCentral: The Photoshop Action Exchange http://atncentral.com/download.htm

This site has quite a few actions that are available to download for free.

In addition to this and other free sites, there are action sets out there available for purchase that do some pretty awesome things. If you use Photoshop often and need to make image adjustments for either personal or professional use, I would suggest you check out all of your options. It would be worth your time.

Photoshop Brushes for FREE

Amber Wade — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:28:09 +0000

I recently stumbled across a very cool website that allows you to download free photoshop brushes.

BrushEezy

http://www.brusheezy.com/brushes

has hundreds of free brushes that are a really great addition to your arsenal of tools. While I am a huge fan of iStockphoto it can get very expensive paying for vector images to use as backgrounds. Some of these photoshop brushes are fantastic for just that–using as background images, or whatever you would like. While the brushes are free, many of the contributers only ask for links to the work.