How do you add a simple boarder to photos?

[Hofy3D]

I have been trying for the better part of a day to add a boarder to a photo.
Just something simple. A 1" black boarder with a thin colored accent line centered in it. I have messed with frames in effects but that doesnt work anythiung like what I thought it would.
It should not be this hard to do something so simple.
How is this done?
Thanks

[hfgerena]

Hi Hofy3D !!!

I'm a new user of PSE4, but you can check today's Video Tips "Multiple Borders" by Matt Kloskowski. I'm sure it will help you a lot, this same topic was discussed last night on the Layer Online Training. Also if you are a little patient all the great people on this forum will give you a lot of ideas.

Have a nice day.

[Hofy3D]

Here is a quick sample of the frame I want to do. I should be able to lay it dirrectly over a photo and adjust the size as needed for the opening.

[lindajay]

With your photo opened, do Image>Resize>Canvas Size. Make sure "relative" is checked on. In the width and height boxes, enter the size (in inches) that you want for the large border (the black one in your example). At the bottom of this screen, select the color you want for the wide border.
Click OK.

Now you have the wide border. Next, use your rectangular marquee tool to select where you want the smaller, narrow stroke to go. Once you have that selected, create a new layer, above your photo layer, and make it active. Go to Edit>Stroke, and select the width and the color you want for the narrow stroke. Make sure "inside" is selected, then click OK. You may need to experiment to find the correct width.

Hope this works for you!

[Hofy3D]

Linda,

Thanks for the tips. However, it only works part way. When I go to create a new layer it will not let me. I backed up to the point before I do the marquee tool and it still does not let me create a new layer.

[Hofy3D]

looks like a problem with my image. I am working with a .tif and even the original will not let me create a new layer.

[Hofy3D]

OK got it working now Linda. Thanks
However I can only do it with RAW and jpg images. No tif or psd will let me create a new layer? Any ideas?

[Juergen D]

Is your image in Indexed Color mode? You can check that and if so, convert it to RGB by going to >Image >Mode.

Juergen

[Hofy3D]

Is your image in Indexed Color mode? You can check that and if so, convert it to RGB by going to >Image >Mode.

Juergen

Well that wasnt the problem but I think you shoved me in the right area.
PSE3 doesnt support 16bit images does it? I convert to 8 bit and everything is OK.

Thanks everyone!

[Russinator]

As is the case with most things in PSE, there's another way to do it. If you need one side larger than the others [see the example below] you might want to give this a try. With your foreground color black use the crop tool to surround entire area then pull the small square out [middle of picture--on each side] as far as you want the black border to extent [do each side], then click the green check mark. To get the colored line, in your example, red, make the background color the color desired, using the rectangular marque tool to make the location where you want the red line. Then go to edit>stroke> select size of stroke. If my instructon isn't clean, let me know and I'll give it another try. Russ


http://www.therussinator.com/FamilyandFriends/9952-9.html

[Hofy3D]

Thanks for the help everyone. Here is one of the results.

http://mysite.verizon.net/hofy/SHELBY_rs.jpg

[Wendy]

Hi ...

Oh that looks really good ... it suits the image perfectly ..

Well done :) :)

Wendy

[lindajay]

Really nice! My hubby is a long-time car/racing fan, and he talks about Carroll Shelby. (Did you know Shelby also makes a wonderful Texas chili kit, with all the necessary spices, etc. to make a mean pot of chili?)

[kayser]

Nice job- the frame complements that image well!

[kevq]

Hi,
like the effect but think the text should be a lighter shade of blue. My poor old eyes could hardly read it.
Kev:)

[Hofy3D]

Really nice! My hubby is a long-time car/racing fan, and he talks about Carroll Shelby. (Did you know Shelby also makes a wonderful Texas chili kit, with all the necessary spices, etc. to make a mean pot of chili?)

Thank you. Yes, I know about Carroll and Chili as I a member of the International Chili Society. :-) mmmmm chili

[Hofy3D]

Hi,
like the effect but think the text should be a lighter shade of blue. My poor old eyes could hardly read it.
Kev:)

Yes it did turn out too dark. I just did a test print and seen this. Nice and easy to change since I saved the layers in a .psd file.