Creating a "soft" border that fades to white

[aitchpe50]

Prior to using PSE (version 4) I was using Microsoft's Digital Image Pro. In that application it was very simple to put a border, of any desired width, around an image so that the edges of the image took on a "soft" appearance and faded to white.

I cannot seem to figure out how to accomplish the same effect in PSE. I'm sure there must be a way. Can anyone help?

Thanks.

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

One way of doing this is to create a layer above your image ...
Layer>New>Layer
fill it with white ... Edit>Fill ...
Now use either the rectangular marquee or the elliptical marquee to do define the area you want the image to be inside
Feather it (Select>Feather ... you will have to experiment with size to get the soft edge)
Then do Edit>Delete

... you will need to experiment a little to get a good effect ..

Hope this helps :)

Wendy

[aitchpe50]

Thanks, Wendy, very much.

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

Glad to help :)

Wendy

[bayhli]

Thank you Wendy and Aitchpe50 for asking the question.

I've gotten this effect quite by accident several times before, liked it but could never figure out how to reproduce it!

I had to use the Menu Select > feather to get the faded effect.

I first tried the feather box that appears in the top frame when the marquee is active, but it didn't feather the selection. Wendy, when is this latter feather used? It never seems to have an effect on anything when I set the feathering amount?

Hope my question makes sense :)

[Ellen]

Hi Pat,
Did you see this post of Ray's?
http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6801&highlight=feather
I found it way easier than guessing about feather amounts or what the final result would be.
Hope this is what you meant.

[bayhli]

Thanks Ellen - I'm going to watch Ray's video right now, it certainly looks like it will help alot. :)

[Wendy]

Hi Pat ...

I never use the feather box that is at the top of the screen when the tools are active. The idea of that is that you set the feather, make the selection and the feather is applied as you make the selection ... the drawback is that is the feather is too much or too little then you have go back and make the selection again.

Using Select>Feather (after you have done your selection) means that if it isn't quite right then all you need to do is use Edit>Undo and change the feather. Its so much better ... :)

Wendy