"Drop Shadow Framing"

[William]

See how I go with a tute on Drop Shadow framing on a PC , Photoshop and a large file TIFF or Large JPG , I usually use a TIFF file ,
#1, Load an image for Framing into Photoshop, I know this works from CS 2 onwards

#2, Just trust me on this!! Ctrl A, Shift Ctrl J, Alt Ctrl C, This brings up a little box "Canvas Size"

#3, In the new size boxes I use Inches, Note: For my 8.2mp images I use 1 inch , for Cameras like the 50D you may have to increase this to 1.5 inches , Tick "Relative" and Background colour White , Click OK

#4, You should have a white border around the image , down on the bottom right click on the FX button, Click on "Drop Shadow" and a Layer Style box will appear, Make sure Drop Shadow is ticked,

4a, Set,Blend Mode to Multiply, Opacity 40, Untick Global Light, Change the Angle to 49, Distance to 40, Spread 16, Size 57, Untick Anti Aliased, Tick Layerknocks out Drop Shadow , Click OK.

#5, That's pretty much it , If your happy with just the drop Shadow, Flatten image at this point , Done. I like to put a little stroke around as well , Thats the little white line around the image , Dont flattern, To put the stroke on stay with me.

#6, Click the little FX button again and click on stroke , Layer style box will appear again , this time make sure Drop Shadow and Stroke Boxes are ticked, Set size, I usually use 2px, It's your choice, Position, "Inside" , Opacity 100,

#7, Now the Colour of the Stroke, Click on Colour Box, It brings up a box called Select Stroke Colour, Your Choice, I always use White , Look in colour libraries , Select Colour , when happy Click OK, Click OK on the Layer Style Box as well , Thats it Done, Flattern Image

My first Tute, Hope this works for everybody - cheers Bill , If you have a Problem just post and Ask :beer_mug: After all that Typing :th3:, Should look like this in the end.

BTW: Ive saved this as an Action on my F8 Key, One hit wonder :)

[ameerat42]

#4, You should have a white border around the image , down on the bottom right click on the FX button, Click on "Drop Shadow" and a Layer Style box will appear, Make sure Drop Shadow is ticked,

4a, Set,Blend Mode to Multiply, Opacity 40, Untick Global Light, Change the Angle to 49, Distance to 40, Spread 16, Size 57, Untick Anti Aliased, Tick Layerknocks out Drop Shadow , Click OK.

BTW: Ive saved this as an Action on my F8 Key, One hit wonder :)

William. Where do you find these in CS2? Am.

[William]

The FX Button is down on the Bottom right under the layers tab , Click on that and the layers box will appear , On CS2 it could be the the Layer style pop up Menu , I dont have CS2 anymore so I cant test it :( It's there somewhere , Just cant remember, The FX button maybe came from CS3 onwards?

[Paul G]

Thanks William. Good tute! Saves me that phone call I've been meaning to make to you.:D Will still have to catch up some time though :th3:

[dbax]

William. Where do you find these in CS2? Am.

I think you can also find it by double clicking the working layer( which is usually a duplicate of the background layer) this should bring up the FX task box...mmm CS2 seems so long ago.
Hope it helps:)

[William]

Thanks guys , Has anybody tried it yet ?:umm: You all may have to do a little fiddling on the sizes because of the different file sizes and dimentions from each Camera , But this is the basic way to do it , Experiment ;)

[Taxxy]

Thanks guys , Has anybody tried it yet ?:umm: You all may have to do a little fiddling on the sizes because of the different file sizes and dimentions from each Camera , But this is the basic way to do it , Experiment ;)

Finally got around to trying this and your explanation and details made it easy! I have been wondering about this for some time so thank you!

[Analog6]

Thank you!! For info of Mac users, to get to Canvas Size (step 2) on a Mac it is just Command +C.

Off to experiment

Bill, you are a ruddy genius. I work in pixels and used a 500 measurement on a 5000 wide pixel image. I added a black 100 pixel frame (using Canvas Size) at the end.


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4113/5039765581_8af019038f_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/45888581@N00/5039765581/)
Morning has broken (http://www.flickr.com/photos/45888581@N00/5039765581/) by Photography by Odille (http://www.flickr.com/people/45888581@N00/), on Flickr

[Bear Dale]

Thanks heaps :)

[William]

:th3: Woo Hoo !! It's working and a lot of people are trying it, Thanks for the tip on using a Mac Odille , For step #2 , As I said any Problems , Just post here and I'll try and help if I can :)

[MattC]

Thanks for the tutorial - I have been wondering about this for a while!

[PerfectPicture]

Thanks for the very informative tutorial William :th3:
Very helpful indeed :)
Just went through the steps on PC and all great.

Any Videos on these, by any chance?

Is it best to apply the border at the beginner of the Post-Process or at the end when you resize to 1024wide then sharpen image (and then add the border?).

Cheers
Robert

[William]

I finish processing the image , Save as TIFF, Then apply the border and save as JPEG , And if Resizing for the web a little sharpen as well after the resize PS : No Video at this stage

[balwoges]

Just what I have been looking for - thanks :xmas:

[salnel]

It Worked:D First thing I was able to easily follow in Photoshop!!!Thank you so much..it's great:santa:

[William]

:cool::cool: Glad I could help :th3:

[Elvie]

Thanks William I have been playing this for days and finding your thread was the best help Thank you Elvie

[phild]

Thanks William, I'm the laziest PS user on the planet, worked nicely for me. I have some macro buttons on the keyboard might set up that procedure on one. :th3:

[William]

Glad it was of help, You've got the right idea on setting as an Action, I just use the f8 Key on my PC , One hit and it's done , Depending on how much I crop an image sometimes the Border may be to big , Then I just do it manually :th3:

[Maezyra]

Is this possible on Elements? I have got the white frame, but I can't find this FX button / tab / thingy...

[dbax]

Is this possible on Elements? I have got the white frame, but I can't find this FX button / tab / thingy...

I don't know elements but this link might help you find the FX tab http://www.alibony.com/pse/122208shadow.htm

[Maezyra]

Hey, hey!! Success!! It took a little fiddling, but I did it! I created did the border, created another layer, found the FX thingy-ma-jig, added it to the top layer and voila! White frame with drop shadow frame!!! Thanks everyone!!!

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a425/Maezyra/Cockatoowithframe.jpg

[William]

Well done Maezyra, Looks great , Glad it helped you :th3:

[dbax]

yep good result

[Kerro]

Thanks William, I've been trying to do exactly this for ages, to no avail.
Great tute, mate. :th3:

[Roosta]

You are the man.

68683

[William]

Thanks Kerro and Roosta, Really glad I could help , Hey Roosta turned out a treat mate , Well done :th3:

[Big Pix]

....... and the other 2 sides :D

[tmd77]

hey bill, how do you make this an action?

Cheers,
Trent

[William]

Hi trent , Pretty easy, BTW You can create an Action for anything on Photoshop, Open the Image you want to apply the action to in PS , In CS5 The action button is just under the History button on the top R/H side, Go to the Create an Action button , Next to the Rubbish bin, Click on that and a dialog will come up and you get a choice of what Key you want to set it on , I use f8 on the top of the keyboard, The Second Button from the left is the Record Button, Click that and start doing your thing , If you stuff up you can delete the action and start again , I'm just doing this from memory , So any problems let me know and I will correct it - Bill :) PS: Just checked and CS3 is much the same

[fairy bombs]

Thanks for this,I got it to work,one little thing-I was not sure where to go and 'flattern image'.I played around and got some great results for my first ever go.
I was looking for just a small plan black border,which I soon figured out from this great tutorial-well done to the OP.

[William]

Thanks for this,I got it to work,one little thing-I was not sure where to go and 'flattern image'.I played around and got some great results for my first ever go.
I was looking for just a small plan black border,which I soon figured out from this great tutorial-well done to the OP.

Up the top tool bar in PS , Layers > Flatten , Right down the bottom of the drop down box, Glad you had fun and it worked for you - Bill :)

[dbax]

Up the top tool bar in PS , Layers > Flatten , Right down the bottom of the drop down box, Glad you had fun and it worked for you - Bill :)

You can also right click on any layers in the layers palette which brings up a number of options, one of which is Flatten Image.:D

[falke]

thanks for all that William. I know, now i am getting pushy . hehe - I saw we could attach files with our posts. You wouldn't have the action handy for attachment? I know I downloaded a few actions and they are tiny and work a treat - and can easily be changed to one's own dimensions...
Cheers, Frank

[ksolomon]

Thanks for posting the Tute Bill very informative, looking forward to trying this when I get home tonight. Really looking forward to meeting you in person on Sunday morning if you are coming to Currumbin. Your help and sharing your knowledge and techniques are very much appreciated by us newbies :)

[William]

:) Not that computor Savvy Frank, Dont think I can , I created my own action within photoshop, So I have no idea on how to extract it from there , If you can at all , Just have a play and create your own if you have PS , My Tute relates to large TIFF flies at 300 ppi , Works with other sizes , But you will have to have a fiddle with the settings - Bill

[falke]

:) Not that computor Savvy Frank, Dont think I can .... , But you will have to have a fiddle with the settings - Bill

That's no worries Bill. With your instructions I will have it figured out in less than 15 minutes. Thanks again.

[Cheryl A]

Thanks, Bill! I've just come across this thread and found it very informative. So much information and so few hours in a day is what I'm finding. I guess Rome wasn't conquered in a day so I should have some patience and just absorb what I can when I can rather than wanting to know it right now :D The trouble is that I do want to know it all RIGHT now:lol:
Cheers,
Cheryl

[rookie]

Just like to add my thanks also.You have solved my problem of finding a easy way of bordering.Im using ELEMENTS 9 and this has made it so simple.

[jjnic]

Thanks for this.. now to find the time to experiment!

[danny]

Cheers!

So happy with the nice easy explanation, that works.

Cheers

[danny]

Cheers!

So happy with the nice easy explanation, that works.

How do you save it as an action as mentioned? Please!

[jjnic]

Finally had time to work on this. Thanks William :-)
Now to figure out the action thing - again!
jj

[Kerrie]

Always wondered how you did this! Brilliant tutorial. Thanks Bill :th3: