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Canvas Extension, Strokes, and Drop Shadows.
Sep 21, 2021 10:34:09   #
Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky
 
This short tutorial will show you how I add canvas, strokes and drop shadows. I know there are other ways to do this, but this is how I do it. I used a composite I did awhile ago for my example. Initially I converted the image to Black & White. SPECIAL THANKS to Linda for correcting my spelling errors and laying out the text.

1. Open Image into Photoshop

2. CTRL J to duplicate the background

3. Now I want to put a BLACK STROKE around the image to make the image stand out a little more once the canvas is expanded. See Example A.

Use CTRL A to put marching ants around the entire outside perimeter of the image. Now make sure your Foreground/Background color swatches in your side Tool Bar are in their default position but switch the Foreground to BLACK by using your X key.

Now, go up to EDIT>Stroke and use a 2 pixel stroke. Make sure under LOCATION, the "INSIDE" box is checked. Then click OK. Then go up to the TOP to SELECT> DESELECT to get rid of the marching ants. Now we are ready to EXPAND the canvas. See Example B.

4. Make sure your top layer is ACTIVE then go up to the Top and choose "IMAGE > Canvas Size (As a side-note, many of your tools have HOT KEY SHORTCUTS out to the side of them. You will notice when you go up to the top and choose IMAGE, The Shortcut HOT Key combination is ALT + CTRL + C. This will bring up the Canvas Resize window as well.)

Now, let's put some canvas around the image. In the popup window, click on the drop down arrow in the New Size Width and change to Inches: Refer to Example B. What's showing will be the actual width of your image as it is now but we want to ADD some CANVAS border around it. The amount is subjective but I usually add 2 inches to whatever is showing in the Width box and Height box. For Example: If the image is now showing 11.763 inches, I would add 2 to the 11 to bring it up to 13.763 inches and then add 2 to whatever the Height is showing.

Next, click on the CENTER Dot in the Anchor box. This will make sure the canvas is added around all of the outside of the image. Make Sure the "CANVAS EXTENSION" Color is set to WHITE. If White isn't showing, click on the Drop down arrow and choose White. NOTE: I'm using White in my Example because I think that it presents well for what I'm trying to show. The color is SUBJECTIVE.

You can use whatever color you want. For example: you could click on the now showing WHITE BOX to bring up the color Window and Choose a Color, OR use your mouse cursor to choose a complimentary color from your actual image. Hint: I use this method sometimes when I'm going to have a print made and want to see what different mat colors would look like around it before I have it matted and framed.

Now click on the OK button to commit the Canvas Size. Your layers palette should now look like Example C.

5. Now we want to add a DROP SHADOW to the top Layer Image to make it stand out from the background. Make sure your Top Layer is Active and then go down to the bottom of the layers palette and click on the FX icon and Choose "DROP SHADOW". This will bring up the "LAYER STYLES" box with the Drop Shadow box already checked for you. See Example D. Here you can adjust the Opacity of the Shadow, the angle, size etc. When you get it looking like you want, hit the Okay button.


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Sep 21, 2021 10:41:03   #
Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington
 
This is great; thanks so much!

I've added a link to this topic in the tutorial resource page:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-693893-1.html

.

Reply
Sep 21, 2021 10:54:00   #
Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky
 
Linda From Maine wrote:
This is great; thanks so much!

I've added a link to this topic in the tutorial resource page:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-693893-1.html

.


THANK YOU and Thanks for the Help.

Reply
 
 
Sep 21, 2021 11:26:14   #
Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington
 
Fstop12 wrote:
THANK YOU and Thanks for the Help.
🤗🤗

Reply
Sep 21, 2021 18:07:22   #
joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA
 
Fstop12 wrote:
This short tutorial will show you how I add canvas, strokes and drop shadows. I know there are other ways to do this, but this is how I do it. I used a composite I did awhile ago for my example. Initially I converted the image to Black & White. SPECIAL THANKS to Linda for correcting my spelling errors and laying out the text.

1. Open Image into Photoshop

2. CTRL J to duplicate the background

3. Now I want to put a BLACK STROKE around the image to make the image stand out a little more once the canvas is expanded. See Example A.

Use CTRL A to put marching ants around the entire outside perimeter of the image. Now make sure your Foreground/Background color swatches in your side Tool Bar are in their default position but switch the Foreground to BLACK by using your X key.

Now, go up to EDIT>Stroke and use a 2 pixel stroke. Make sure under LOCATION, the "INSIDE" box is checked. Then click OK. Then go up to the TOP to SELECT> DESELECT to get rid of the marching ants. Now we are ready to EXPAND the canvas. See Example B.

4. Make sure your top layer is ACTIVE then go up to the Top and choose "IMAGE > Canvas Size (As a side-note, many of your tools have HOT KEY SHORTCUTS out to the side of them. You will notice when you go up to the top and choose IMAGE, The Shortcut HOT Key combination is ALT + CTRL + C. This will bring up the Canvas Resize window as well.)

Now, let's put some canvas around the image. In the popup window, click on the drop down arrow in the New Size Width and change to Inches: Refer to Example B. What's showing will be the actual width of your image as it is now but we want to ADD some CANVAS border around it. The amount is subjective but I usually add 2 inches to whatever is showing in the Width box and Height box. For Example: If the image is now showing 11.763 inches, I would add 2 to the 11 to bring it up to 13.763 inches and then add 2 to whatever the Height is showing.

Next, click on the CENTER Dot in the Anchor box. This will make sure the canvas is added around all of the outside of the image. Make Sure the "CANVAS EXTENSION" Color is set to WHITE. If White isn't showing, click on the Drop down arrow and choose White. NOTE: I'm using White in my Example because I think that it presents well for what I'm trying to show. The color is SUBJECTIVE.

You can use whatever color you want. For example: you could click on the now showing WHITE BOX to bring up the color Window and Choose a Color, OR use your mouse cursor to choose a complimentary color from your actual image. Hint: I use this method sometimes when I'm going to have a print made and want to see what different mat colors would look like around it before I have it matted and framed.

Now click on the OK button to commit the Canvas Size. Your layers palette should now look like Example C.

5. Now we want to add a DROP SHADOW to the top Layer Image to make it stand out from the background. Make sure your Top Layer is Active and then go down to the bottom of the layers palette and click on the FX icon and Choose "DROP SHADOW". This will bring up the "LAYER STYLES" box with the Drop Shadow box already checked for you. See Example D. Here you can adjust the Opacity of the Shadow, the angle, size etc. When you get it looking like you want, hit the Okay button.
This short tutorial will show you how I add canvas... (show quote)


🖤🖤🖤🖤

Reply
Sep 22, 2021 09:31:06   #
Toby
 
Fstop12 wrote:
This short tutorial will show you how I add canvas, strokes and drop shadows. I know there are other ways to do this, but this is how I do it. I used a composite I did awhile ago for my example. Initially I converted the image to Black & White. SPECIAL THANKS to Linda for correcting my spelling errors and laying out the text.

1. Open Image into Photoshop

2. CTRL J to duplicate the background

3. Now I want to put a BLACK STROKE around the image to make the image stand out a little more once the canvas is expanded. See Example A.

Use CTRL A to put marching ants around the entire outside perimeter of the image. Now make sure your Foreground/Background color swatches in your side Tool Bar are in their default position but switch the Foreground to BLACK by using your X key.

Now, go up to EDIT>Stroke and use a 2 pixel stroke. Make sure under LOCATION, the "INSIDE" box is checked. Then click OK. Then go up to the TOP to SELECT> DESELECT to get rid of the marching ants. Now we are ready to EXPAND the canvas. See Example B.

4. Make sure your top layer is ACTIVE then go up to the Top and choose "IMAGE > Canvas Size (As a side-note, many of your tools have HOT KEY SHORTCUTS out to the side of them. You will notice when you go up to the top and choose IMAGE, The Shortcut HOT Key combination is ALT + CTRL + C. This will bring up the Canvas Resize window as well.)

Now, let's put some canvas around the image. In the popup window, click on the drop down arrow in the New Size Width and change to Inches: Refer to Example B. What's showing will be the actual width of your image as it is now but we want to ADD some CANVAS border around it. The amount is subjective but I usually add 2 inches to whatever is showing in the Width box and Height box. For Example: If the image is now showing 11.763 inches, I would add 2 to the 11 to bring it up to 13.763 inches and then add 2 to whatever the Height is showing.

Next, click on the CENTER Dot in the Anchor box. This will make sure the canvas is added around all of the outside of the image. Make Sure the "CANVAS EXTENSION" Color is set to WHITE. If White isn't showing, click on the Drop down arrow and choose White. NOTE: I'm using White in my Example because I think that it presents well for what I'm trying to show. The color is SUBJECTIVE.

You can use whatever color you want. For example: you could click on the now showing WHITE BOX to bring up the color Window and Choose a Color, OR use your mouse cursor to choose a complimentary color from your actual image. Hint: I use this method sometimes when I'm going to have a print made and want to see what different mat colors would look like around it before I have it matted and framed.

Now click on the OK button to commit the Canvas Size. Your layers palette should now look like Example C.

5. Now we want to add a DROP SHADOW to the top Layer Image to make it stand out from the background. Make sure your Top Layer is Active and then go down to the bottom of the layers palette and click on the FX icon and Choose "DROP SHADOW". This will bring up the "LAYER STYLES" box with the Drop Shadow box already checked for you. See Example D. Here you can adjust the Opacity of the Shadow, the angle, size etc. When you get it looking like you want, hit the Okay button.
This short tutorial will show you how I add canvas... (show quote)


Thanks

Reply
Sep 28, 2021 14:16:57   #
Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida
 
Thank you for taking the time to document all of this. Sharing techniques makes it more fun for everyone. And thank you, Linda, for adding this to the Tutorial topic.

Reply
 
 
Sep 28, 2021 14:30:23   #
Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky
 
Cwilson341 wrote:
Thank you for taking the time to document all of this. Sharing techniques makes it more fun for everyone. And thank you, Linda, for adding this to the Tutorial topic.


You are most welcomed. Glad you liked it.

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