Post your tutorials here. Do not post any copyrighted material unless you hold the copy rights.
15 posts Page 1 of 2
Some images, particularly high-key pictures or any with a very light background, will benefit from having a wide matte - sometimes even a tiny image with a very large matte. The wide matte serves to isolate the image from the "outside world" - perhaps it allows the viewer to concentrate on the image more.

If you've got a photographic masterpiece that you want on your wall (or maybe the wall of the local gallery) you're going to need some form of matting around it - something to show it off better. But you'll want to print your photograph to fit a matte or have a matte fitted around. There are (IMHO) few uses for photographic mattes (made on the computer) but they can work very well on digital scrapbooks (not that I know much about them) and online galleries.

Here's a look at a method for making "virtual" mattes on PSE.

Open your image and go to Image > Resize > Canvas Size. Add a small border of around 1% - choose Gray as the colour.

Now convert your background into a 'proper' layer. (I right-click and choose "Layer from Background" - you'll be asked to give the layer a name, I usually just go with the default "Layer 0").

Resize the Canvas - (Image > Resize > Canvas Size). I like a wide matte (for isolating the image, as mentioned above) So I look at the original image width and think of about 20% around it. However, while you can add to Canvas Size by percentage, 20% of the height is not the same as 20% of the width, and you'd end up with a non-uniform shape. So a quick calculation is required - 20% of the width can be worked out in inches or cm, so add that to both boxes in the Sizing box.

OK, you should have a wide transparent border around your image now.

Go for the Magic Wand and click on the transparent area to select it.

Create a new blank layer and flood the selection shape with black.

Create another blank layer above that and flood that with a colour that matches your image - white is fine for a B&W picture but go for an off-white/cream kind of thing (if you like) for a good colour coordination.

Deselect the selection (Ctrl-D).

Go back to the Black layer and then go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Watch your image as the blurring begins to resemble a shadow. You may like up to anything between 30 and 70% blur. (A lot of blurred shadow looks great on computer but less is best when printing). When you like it, click ok.

(At this stage you may be think "I could have done this quicker by just adding a white border with Drop Shadows" - correct, but the shadows aren't as subtle as the Gaussian Blur version). (And anyway, we enjoy exploring, eh?)

Now I'd want to save my work as a psd file, just in case I want to go back to it to increase the blur or maybe the colour of the matte. Or just to see how you did it!

Couple of extra touches........ select the bottom layer - increase canvas size again, by about 3% - so add about 0.4 of an inch all round. You'll now have a little more transparency around the matte.

Select the layer with the white matte and go to the Effects palette. Put a simple outer bevel on, then find drop shadows and put the soft-edge one on. Save as the same psd.

Now flatten layers (if you like) and save as whatever you like.

http://www.prestophoto.com/photos/image/900985/24460/large

The layers.... (includes a signature layer)

Image


By the way - there are some slightly blurry patches on the pic (large or original version) - the street was full of cars!
PSE6 on WinXP, Pentax K10d...... and now a Canon G10.

Gallery
Nice tutorial, Geoff. thanks
Geoff, thanks for posting this always enjoy trying another way.
Great information and you are right on about the impact that mattes have on pictures.
RonH
Before I was just tired now I'm retired!
http://www.prestophoto.com/photos/gallery/23789
Excellent effect.

I really enjoyed looking at your gallery.

Your Spring Flowers and Courthouse Watercolor -- is that the same effect? It doesn't look the same. If it's not, how did you do those pics? TIA

:)
I had to have a think how I'd done those (Courthouse and Spring Flowers)......

Spring Flowers..... a cutout. I put a Sepia tone over everything, then masked the petals (using a Layer Mask Action). Added a Solid Colour layer, in grey, and then masked out the middle to form a vignette/frame. (Another Layer Mask). Added a texture. Then did roughly what I did for the matte above, choosing a very light grey matte.

Courthouse......... Used a watercolor filter. Added a texture and merged it. Added the solid color layer - this time using a cream tone. Masked out the middle to form a vignette.
(My mistake here was that when I did my vignetting/masking I lost the texture from the outer areas, having already merged it).
When making the matte, I chose (instead of white) a colour to match the vignette.

Wow! I just looked at your gallery, Carol.... You really know your layers! Well done! :thumbsup:
PSE6 on WinXP, Pentax K10d...... and now a Canon G10.

Gallery
Thanks, Geoff, for the kind comments. I still consider myself a newbie, but I'm learning. Wish I had more time. I log on at work and the next thing I know, I'm called away and it times me out. :crying: At the rate the economy is going, retirement is going to be further down the road.
Geoff, I used your great tutorial to make a wide matte around a photo. I off-set the photo a little higher on the matte. I've seen this done in gallery photos. This tutorial is a keeper and one I will put in with the rest of my tutorials. Thanks for posting this. I've posted this in my gallery here:

http://www.prestophoto.com/photos/image/935466/19756
Suzanne

Suzanne's Gallery

"Character is what you have left when you've lost everything you can lose." -Evan Esar 1899-1995
Good point, Suzanne - I can remember years ago being told that the space at the bottom of any matte should be just a little wider, to give it a more balanced and stronger feeling. It may have been my art teacher - so that would be about 42 years ago!
PSE6 on WinXP, Pentax K10d...... and now a Canon G10.

Gallery
Geoff - I just tried this matte effect. I like how it turned out; however, I am wondering why the inner part turns out black. I noticed that yours didn't do that.

How do I get a white or a light grey look on future mattes?

:help:

Image
15 posts Page 1 of 2

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests