How to Create a Border With Strokes in Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop ships with a selection of filters that you can apply to make your images more eye-catching. Filter effects can also be used to create interesting borders for your photos. The brush strokes filter is geared towards the creation of fine-art effects, but produces unique image borders when used in conjunction with a layer mask. As you have control over the spray radius and length of the strokes, you can use the same effect with different parameters for each border to create some variation.
Open Adobe Photoshop and load the image to which you want to apply the border effect.
Select the Rectangular Marquee tool from the Tools window and then click and drag a selection around your photo. The stroked border effect will be applied to the area outside the selection.
Double-click the "Edit in Quick Mask Mode" icon -- styled like a solid rectangle with a dotted circle inside -- from the Tool window and click the "Selected Areas" radio button. Click "OK" to apply the quick mask to your photo.
Click "Filter" from the Menu bar and then select "Filter Gallery."
Click and drag the "Stroke Length" and "Spray Radius" sliders to the right while checking the preview section. The higher the length and radius values are, the more pronounced the border effect. The ideal values depend on the size of the original image and your own preferences, so experiment until you are satisfied with the preview.
Select the direction of the strokes from the "Stroke Direction" drop-down list and then click "OK."
Click "Edit in Standard Mode" from the Tools window to turn the quick mask into a selection. Right-click the selection and select "Layer Via Copy" from the context menu.
Click "Create New Layer" from the Layers window and the select the Paint Bucket tool from the Tools window. Click the "Foreground Color" picker from the Tools window and select a color for the border.
Click "OK" then click the canvas to fill the entire layer with the selected color. In the Layers window, click and drag "Layer 2," which is the layer with the solid color, below "Layer 1," which is the image layer.
Click "File" and select "Save As" to save your image with the border applied.
- Photoshop CS6: The Missing Manual; Lesa Snider
- Adobe: Save and Load Selections
- Information in this article applies to Adobe Photoshop CS6. It may vary slightly or significantly with other versions or products.
Virtually growing up in a computer repair shop, Naomi Bolton has held a passion for as long as she can remember. After earning a diploma through a four year course in graphic design from Cibap College, Bolton launched her own photography business. Her work has been featured on Blinklist, Gameramble and many others.