Quick Digital Matte

Using an inner shadow to create a matte for your prints

One of my favorite sayings has come back to haunt me this week: "Reality is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." I'm having a tough time returning to the aforementioned reality because last week I had the pleasure of teaching in the high desert at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. Tons of fun was had by all! Santa Fe is hands-down one of the friendliest towns I've ever visited. There was jewelry EVERYWHERE, the night-life was incredible, the food extra-spicy, and the margaritas stout. Needless to say, I met some amazing people that I hope to have in my life for the rest of my years. So yeah, it's a little hard living in reality this week :)

The class was called "Photoshop for Beginners" and toward the end of the week, we gathered up our best-est work and printed some beautiful 13 x 19 images on the pro-level HP printers in the lab. To give our photos a little extra touch of class, I showed everyone how to use an inner shadow to make a digital matte.

DISCLAIMER: Okay, admittedly I taught the class this technique because I had a few photos of my own that I wanted to print; but unfortunately they didn't have enough pixel data to go full page at 13 x 19. By using this technique, I was able to make the photo smaller and let the digital matte take up the rest of the printed space. It's a sneaky trick, but it worked. Read on!

Create the paper

The first step is to create a new document which matches the size paper you want to print on. I'm using the dimensions from last week's class, so your numbers will differ here.

Step 1: Choose File > New and enter the size of your print in the width and height boxes below. Be sure to choose inches from the pop-up menus, circled below. If you're printing this on an inkjet printer, go ahead and enter 240 ppi in the resolution field. Press OK when finished.

Step 2: Open the photo you want to frame and with both windows viewable, drag from the Layers palette of one into the other open document, like so:

Step 3: Press V to grab the Move tool (circled in red) and move the photo to the center of the document. NOTE: Just eyeball it because we'll use Photoshop's alignment tools later on to get it perfectly centered.

Create the matte

Step 4: Create a new layer by clicking the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette (circled below). Drag the new layer below the photo layer and make sure it's selected (it'll be light blue).

Step 5: Grab the Rectangular Marquee tool and draw a box around the photo that looks like this. Try to center the box between the edge of the document and the edge of the photo. TIP: To move the selection around while you're drawing it, press and hold the Spacebar (while the mouse button is still depressed). To draw the selection from the inside out, press and hold the Option key (PC: Alt).

Step 6: Choose Edit > Fill and pick White from the Use pop-up menu, then press OK.

Step 7: To add an inner shadow, click the tiny fx button at the bottom of the Layers palette and then choose Inner Shadow from the list.

Step 8: In the resulting Layer Style dialog box, lower the opacity to 50%, change the angle to 90, and then pump up the size to at least 70, as shown here. Press OK when you're done.

Line it up

Step 9: Select all the layers in the Layers palette by choosing Select > All Layers.

Step 10: Press V to grab the Move tool and then trot up to the Options bar at the top of your screen. Notice all those new alignment options? They only appear when there is more than one layer selected *and* when the Move tool is active. Click the 5th one from the left (circled here) to align the center of each layer.

Tada! Here's the finished product:

Let me tell you, this little inner shadow really made the photo stand out and the print is just beautiful. Of course the fancy printer had a little something to do with it, but still! My next task is to buy a thin little frame and then nail that baby to the wall. (Oh, in case you're wondering, I used a Black & White adjustment layer for the black & white effect, and I blurred the background with the technique discussed here.

Until next week, may the creative force be with you :)