How to make photo mats with rounded corners

Want to learn how to make customized photo mats with rounded corners like the ones pictured in the layout below? Follow the steps illustrated below. Note: I use PSCS2, but this tutorial should work in earlier versions of photoshop.


1. Choose your background paper and place your photo somewhere in the middle of your canvas like so:

2. Make a selection of your photo by clicking ctrl and the image THUMBNAIL in your photo layer as illustrated here:


3. You should now see a "marching ants" border around your photo. Next we are going to expand the selection to make the photo mat. Go to Select>Modify>Expand. Enter a value of 25. (choose a higher value if you want a larger border). Click ok.



4. Create a new layer by clicking on the NEW LAYER button in the layers window.


5. Drag this new layer so that it sits UNDER your photo layer. Your layers window should look like this now:



6. Now we will fill in the selection with white in this new layer. Change your foreground color to white. (You can do this by hitting D, then X on your keyboard). Hit G on your keyboard to select your paint bucket tool. Fill your selection with white: left-click with your mouse on your layout.

Done!! You have just created a customized mat for your photo!

Note: This is just one of many different ways you can go about making a rounded photo mat. You can also use the stroke layer style or rectangle custom shape tool to achieve the same look.

SUMMARY
In this tutorial, you learned how to:
1. Make a selection
2. Expand a selection
3. Fill a selection

We also used the following photoshop keyboard shortcuts:

D - makes foreground color BLACK
X - makes foreground color WHITE
G - paint bucket selection tool

If you have questions, please post a comment and I will answer them as soon as I can. If you use this tutorial and are pleased with the results, a mention or link back to the paislee press blog would be greatly appreciated. Also, link us to your posted projects! We would love to see how you've used the tutorial.