stroke outside oval picture

[mom to 4]

I need a bit of help. I have used the stroke tool in order to make it look as if there is a matting around a rectangular photo.

I have a family photo that I have edited out a few bothersome things, and in doing that I made the photo into an oval. I would like to put that matting and drop shadow around it but don't quite know how to do it. I have no problem with the rectangular photo's, but I am sure that there is an ier way to do this than I am doing and rather than put in another 5 hours only to find someone here has a 10 minute process......I'm here.:D

I would like the stroke to appear about 1/2 inch outside the edge of the oval picture. I have tried to recreate the same size oval to no avail.

Any help is welcomed!:)

[Wendy]

Hi Colleen ...

Is the photo cropped into an oval and on its own layer ??

It so then you can simply Control Click on its thumbnail (in the Layers Palette) and use that selection for the stroke ...


Wendy

[mom to 4]

Wendy:

I did try that, but it puts the stroke right along the outside edge of the oval, and would like some room between the stroke and the picture so that I can make it look like a matting.

[Pauline]

After you have your selection around your oval, go to SELECT>MODIFY>EXPAND and enter a pixel amount. It will depend on the resolution of your picture. If it isn't enough just undo and redo the process increasing the amount of pixels. It's a great technique to remember. Oh and before you should probably put your stroke on a new layer also.

[mom to 4]

Now that you say it, I remember doing that on the rectangular ones....AH DUH:o Sometimes I feel so dumb!

Thanks!!!!

[mom to 4]

One more question.....can I do this so I can put the stroke and feather (for the shadow) on different layers, keeping the picture on its own layer?

[Pauline]

The shadow can't go on the stoke layer or you would end of with a shadow of your stroke, which I'm sure is not what you want. I find more often than not I make my own shadow because I can change the opacity etc. Take your layer that is your mat and duplicate it. Ctrl click on that layer to make a selection and fill the selection with black.

I then run the gaussian blur filter on it and give it a bit of a blur and sometimes I also add a bit of noise. Filter>noise>add noise. You might want to crop this layer down a bit in size from the outside because you won't want it sticking out the bottom of your picture. I then drag the layer BELOW the matt layer and select the move tool. Now with your arrow keys you can nudge the layer down and either to the right or left depending on where you want your shadow to appear. You can also lower the opacity of the layer until it looks the way you want.

Hopefully I've explained that well enough for you to understand.

[mom to 4]

Some of us :rolleyes: are really dense.

Ok, I have the stroke on one layer. I duplicated that layer. I tried to fill it with black and I could not. I don't know why. I tried ctrl-click on the layer...nothing happens. I tried Alt-bksp.... nothing happens. I just have a blank layer (I turned off the others visibility) with marching ants.:confused:

[Pauline]

Sorry Colleen, you missed a step. Go to the layer where you have the oval cut out. (I'm assuming that it's a cut out and your picture is behind it? I could be wrong about that though and maybe that is the problem.)

From the bottom up I would think you would have currently, background (with your picture on it), Matt layer and then a new layer with your stroke on it. Is this correct??

What I'm trying to get you to do is take your Matt layer and duplicate it. Ctrl + click on the duplicate layer to make a selection around it and then fill that selection with black (for your shadow). At the moment it will be on top of your original matt and you need to drag it below the matt.

Does that make sense now?

[Pauline]

okay just did this up quickly and hope it helps. I did add another layer at the bottom since the baby was quite close and I needed room to have a border around him.

http://img324.imageshack.us/img324/495/nathan7ed.th.jpg (http://img324.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nathan7ed.jpg)

Now as you can see the shadow layer that I made also makes a shadow come out from under and the right side of the green matt. If you don't like that then all you do is select them and delete those areas. I also left the shadow area at 100% opacity in order for you to see it better.

[mom to 4]

ok what I have is my background layer (full 8 x 19 pic)
then I have my center cut oval of the picture as a different layer
and then I have my stroke layer.

[mom to 4]

Ok, I think I am off here. I have my full 8 x 10 picture. I used the oval tool and drew an oval around the area of the picture that I wanted to keep. I placed that on a new layer. Is that what I did wrong???? Should I hae done that part differently??? I then did the stroke layer using select modify expand so it wouldn't be right on top of the edge of the oval. Now I would like to put a shadow around the inside of the stroke so it would look like it has a real matting around it. Pauline...I know you are off line right now, but I want you to know how much I appreciate you walking me through this!!!!:)

[Pauline]

Well I replied to this earlier and hit send and then it seemed this site crashed and booted me off so my thread doesn't appear.

I find the easiest way to remember things is how you would do them if you were actually working with paper. You have your background, then your photo, then your matt on top of that.

I am having another idea, but ready for bed so I don't want to open elements and try it, but here's a suggestion.

On the layer with the oval cutout, ctrl + click on the layer to make a selection of the oval. Now make a new layer about it. Go to Select>modify and border. Make a small border inside your oval and fill it will black. You can then deselect it and give it a blur and lower the layer opacity. I think that would also work for you. There are so many different ways to accomplish things with elements.

I'll be back on some time tomorrow and if you need help I'll check it out and see if it will work. I think it will though.

[mom to 4]

I have the stroke outside the oval, but I can't seem to get the shadow right. I don't want to keep taking up your time. I may just bag it and print it this way......I will keep trying for a while though.....

Thanks Pauline.... you guys are the best!

[Pauline]

I don't mind Colleen. Sometimes the shadow can cause people problems. If you want to post what you has so far I can see if there is a better way to help you with the shadow.

You could even make a selection and then get the burn tool set on low opacity (under 10%) and a large soft brush and paint your shadown on. By having the selection made ahead of time you will get the hard edge where the selection is and a soft edge on the inside of the selection area.

[mom to 4]

Pauline:

Thanks! Here is the picture. I think the stroke is a bit big, but.......

www.pixentral.com/hosted/1zjWohxKmiyhWkdN3WVPgvpHsPai_thumb.jpg

Thanks again!

[mom to 4]

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1zjWohxKmiyhWkdN3WVPgvpHsPai_thumb.jpg

[Pauline]

looks good Colleen. I don't know that you would want to much of a shadow under your oval. If you do it should just be slight because you don't want it going over your people. I don't think the stroke is too big but if you don't like it, just throw the layer away and do it again. It's pretty easy to do.

[mom to 4]

thanks, Pauline! If you think it looks good, I am just going to leave well enough alone! I think sometimes I might think it needs more......elements offers so much, but then sometimes, less is more! I think my father-in-law will like it. He hated the original picture because there was a chair right in front of my mother in law. I "Photoshopped" it right out of there and made it into an oval since I could magically make full legs, feet and shoes on her! Personally, I hate the picture because I had just found out I was pregnant with my twins and I think I look like #*&% in the pic. My bball player is the baby on my father in laws lap.......wow...16 years ago....Time flies!

[Pauline]

Colleen some times it's hard to work on a picture you aren't too pleased with in the beginning, but you've done a nice job. I'm sure your FIL will be pleased.