Adding a Digital Frame or Edge to a Photograph

Framing a piece of art is a timeless practice. From ancient painters to modern photographers, artists have used the frame as a way to set apart their works of art. The same is true with digital photographers. To make a digital photograph more prominent or to give it more depth, use a frame.

There are several ways to add a frame to a digital photograph. You will need a digital photo-processing software such as Adobe Photoshop or Elements. Here are a few techniques.

Use digital paper. Digital scrapbook designers have created an endless variety of digital papers. Place your digital photograph on top of the paper then crop around your photograph, leaving a border. This is the easiest way to immediately create a border. In the example below, I placed my photograph over the digital paper and cropped it.

Digital paper from Creating Keepsakes, July 2007 kit

Use a pre-designed digital frame. Digital scrapbook designers have also created transparencies or masks that can be used in conjunction with photographs. Look for a digital frame that has the center removed. Your digital photograph can be either placed on top or layered underneath the transparency or mask, whichever looks better. Pre-designed digital frames come in a variety of colors and designs. These three borders were created using pre-designed frames.

Digital frame from Computer Tricks for Scrapbooking by Jessica Sprague, companion kit

Digital mask from Computer Tricks for Scrapbooking by Jessica Sprague, companion kit

Digital frame from http://www.designerdigitals.com by Mindy Terasawa

Use a Photoshop Action. Photoshop Actions, a list of recorded steps to apply to an image, include actions for creating a frame around a photograph. These actions, which have already been recorded as a series of steps, can be used on an image to create the desired effect. When using an action, you are asking the program to perform the various pre-determined steps for you. Occasionally, you are asked to choose a color for the frame or some other options. Advanced Photoshop users can create their own action. Otherwise, actions can be downloaded from the Internet. Downloadable actions include various mattes, edges, and textures. Download the action onto your computer and run the action from the action window. To learn more about downloading, installing and using actions visit a series of tutorials on Photoshop actions at http://www.atncentral.com/tutorials.htm. The following frames were made using actions in Photoshop.

Use Photoshop Frames and Brushes. Brushes are editing tools that are available in good photo-editing software. Different brushes can be loaded on to your computer and used in your photo-editing program. Some of these frames are actually brushes that create borders around images. For a free set to load into Photoshop and instructions on use, visit here.

With a variety of digital techniques, it is easy to get the frame that suits your photograph.

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