Photo Frame

Deb's Photo Impact tutorials and more

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How to make a Photo Frame

In version 6

For this project I have used a photo by Kelly Sweet from the PI Photo Gallery.
Click here to go to the gallery. If you want to use this photo too, click on waterscapes. This photo is at the bottom of the first page. Thanks to Kelly for the photo and to Mary Lou for creating the page!

	Open the image you want to use, and use the crop tool to size it appropriately, and remove any parts of the image you don't wish to use. To use the crop tool, click on it, and then click on your canvas in the upper left corner of the area you wish to keep in your image. Drag to the right and down, and let go of the mouse button. If your outline isn't quite right, you can click on one of the square handles and resize. When satisfied with the selection, double click inside it.
	Right click on your canvas, click all. Right click again, click expand/shrink. Click beside shrink, and enter 25 for the number of pixels. Click ok.
	Right click, invert. Go to edit/trace/selection marquee. Leave all options on default. Click ok.
	This automatically changes you to the path tool with the mode in the attribute bar set on horizontal deform. Click the down arrow, and click 3d round.
	Change the color to a dark color from your photo for contrast. Set the border to a low number, from 5-8.
	Now press the space bar or click in the center of your canvas so your path item is no longer selected. Right click on your canvas, click all, right click expand shrink. This time change the shrink to 15. Right click invert, right click convert to object.
	Click web/button designer any shape.
	I chose this bevel style for this frame, because it is the most like ones made in Paint shop pro. However, there are many bevel styles available in PI that aren't available in PSP, so I encourage you to experiment with this option to find a style you like best. If you choose a different style, remember to reset the bevel width and smoothness, because each bevel style has its own settings, and we don't want a very wide bevel with this method or most of the effect will be lost. Note: if your button styles do not look like this, that means you have not installed the patch. You can still do this tutorial, but you will need to use the button gallery in the easy palette. Click the cancel button. Go to the button gallery in the easy palette. Find A10, and right click on it. Click modify properties and apply.
	This box will open. Set the bevel size to half the number you used for the width of the frame. Since we used 15 in this example, I have set the bevel size to 7. Set the smoothness to a fairly high number.
	Click ok. Don't panic! You will not see any difference in your image! This is because any time you select a part of the background, and convert that part to an object, that new object is always at the back of the canvas. So your new frame is hidden behind your first border. Without clicking anywhere on the canvas, change to the pick tool, and click the bring to front button.
	Select the brown border, right click on the canvas, and click on shadow. Choose the all around shadow style by clicking the 5th button from the left. Decrease the number in shadow size to 99.
	Your photo frame is basically done. Right click to merge all. From here you can right click, click on all, right click again, convert to object, add a shadow to the whole thing on the outside, leave it as is, or prepare a strip to make it into stationery. I have chosen to make stationery. I used 20 20 to make the background seamless. Full instructions for this are here. Don't forget to use the image optimizer on your completed image if you plan on displaying in on a web page or using it for stationery. If you want to see the stationery, click on the framed picture to the left.