frizzylee
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 170 
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by frizzylee on Jan 30, 2021 2:56:14 GMT
Hello All,
I actually did find some posts regarding what appeared to be my same issue. Problem is that I tried the different methods suggested but obviously I haven't the vocabulary or enough knowledge of Elements to follow what was being done. I have about 25 photos and I need to apply something to achieve a clean edge around each photo including the black photo mounting corners. I have a good method for making backgrounds transparent but it doesn't help me with the gray area outside the photo. (I am not talking about the white frame.)
Would greatly appreciate help with this.
Pat
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Post by Sepiana on Jan 30, 2021 3:23:29 GMT
Hi Pat,
I’m not sure this is what you have in mind but let’s try . . .
The simplest and easiest way to create an edge/border around a photo is to apply a stroke (Edit > Stroke (Outline) Selection).
1. Open your photo.
2. In the Layers panel click on the "Create a new layer" icon. (Or you can go to Layer>New>Layer.)
3. Select>All (Ctrl-A, Cmmd-A on a Mac). You will see marching ants around your photo.
4. Go to Edit>Stroke (Outline) Selection. In the dialog box enter the stroke Width and Color of your choice. For Location select Inside.
5. Select>Deselect (Ctrl-D, Cmmd-D on a Mac).
6. At this point you will have a very basic edge/border around your image.
NOTE:
The advantage of having the stroke on its own layer is that it gives you more flexibility in editing. You can change its color, width; apply a bevel, texture, etc. If you decide you don't want the stroke, just delete this layer.
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frizzylee
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 170
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by frizzylee on Jan 30, 2021 6:15:39 GMT
Hello Sepiana I am still a little unsure of what I did, but I truly was having problems with getting the edges sharp on these. I kept working with the photos and I don't know why but "inverse" worked well on one of them. At any rate, I am perfectly happy if most of the photos come out like the ones below. I can see that they will be okay for the spread I will put them on. In the meantime I am going to download your instructions. I have a feeling I will be needing them. My apologies for jumping the gun in posting about this. I was having a bad time, but as so often happens, working late at night when all is quiet and calm has provided some positive results. Many thanks for being my backup. Pat  |
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Post by Sepiana on Jan 30, 2021 6:51:01 GMT
Pat,
OK! Now I understand what you mean by a clean edge. Then, you don't need to follow my stroke instructions.
It looks like you made a selection of the photo, inverted the selection, and pressed "Delete" to get rid of the "gray area outside the photo". It worked! Kudos to you for being persistent!
Depending on the photo, you could also try this alternative. It will give you a similar result -- clean edges, photo borders included, outside gray area gone.
1. Use the Rectangular Marquee tool (or the Polygonal Lasso tool).
2. Make a selection of the photo including the photo borders.
3. Do Image > Crop.
No need for apologies! I completely understand "working late at night". I'm a night owl when it comes to this kind of work.
This looks like a wonderful project. Success with it!
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Post by fotofrank on Jan 30, 2021 17:51:35 GMT
If you are looking to cutout just the picture with the black corners, do the following. 1. Use the Magnetic Lasso tool. 2. Click once on the edge of what you are attempting to cutout. 3. Drag the tool all around your image to the point that you started at. 4. Once you completed the selection all of the little squares will disappear it will become a normal selection. 5. Press Ctrl/Cmd+j to create a new layer of just the select. You can now delete the original layer and save as a PNG file to preserve the transparent background.  |
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Post by Tpgettys on Jan 30, 2021 21:44:52 GMT
I had good luck using the Quick Selection Tool, using the Add to selection option.. I went around the outside, selecting the area you don't want, and then inverted the selection, which left just the image and the black corners.
A couple of times the white border of the picture got included, but using the Subtract from selection option made it easy to fix that. It was pretty quick and easy so you might want to give it a try. I'd be interested to hear how it goes!
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Post by BuckSkin on Jan 31, 2021 1:31:46 GMT
and save as a PNG file to preserve the transparent background. Saving as a PSD will preserve the transparency as well. |
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