Create amazing borders using a Layer Mask in Adobe® PhotoShop®

The first in our “Creating Borders” Series

For the next several months we will show you several ways to create great borders in Adobe® PhotoShop®.  The easiest and quickest way to create a border is to use the Layer Mask tool.

PhotoShop offers many features and tools that are not always in eye-shot of the average PhotoShop user.  For this trick you will use various types of brushes.  PhotoShop is stocked with more brushes than the standard set that load up each time you enter the program.  To make the other brushes available when PhotoShop boots up, follow these instructions:

Adding Brushes

1. Click Edit/Preset Manager.
   From here you can change an assortment of features in PhotoShop.
2. Using the pull down menu, choose Brushes. (A)
3. Then use the arrow menu to choose the brush palette you would like to add. (B)
4. Then choose Append.
5. When you have added all the brushes you would like Click Done.

Creating a Layer Mask

1. Create a new document in PhotoShop, 8”x10” (portrait or landscape) at 300dpi with a black background.
2. Add a new layer and fill with white.
3. Add a layer mask to that layer… go to Layer/Layer Mask/Reveal All…  you will now see:
   
4. Click on the Layer Mask Thumbnail.
5. Using one of the brushes start scribbling on the document.  Keep in mind you are creating a border!
6. This works like the Eraser tool… your Foreground and Background colors delete or create the effect.  Black = Takes away, White = Puts back.  Think of this as a cookie cutter… Black is "the cookie cutter" and white is "taking the dough and mushing it back together."
7. Once you have the desired effect you can save this file (as a PSD) to use later.

Hints…

1. Try changing the opacity and painting again.
2. Every photo is different. This trick will help you get a customize look for your border. Create another layer below the layer mask and insert the photo you are working with. It is also a great way to customize your stock borders to each photo. It is why we say to save your borders as a PSD… so you can modify them at any point.
3. You can use Ctrl+T (Cmd + T: Mac) to transform you borders into any crop ratio 5x7, 3x5, etc.
4. You can always change your border color.  Make sure you are in the Layer Thumbnail click Edit/Fill. In the "Use" pull-down there are many options, choosing color will pull up your color palette where you can choose any color you wish.
5. Try using layer options to add a glow or bevel and emboss.

That’s it… super simple, huh?

Here are some samples of borders we created:

Have fun creating great borders your customers and clients will love for years to come.