Photoshop Tutorials: Create A Burnt Edge Effect

Step 2: Drag The White Point Marker Straight Down

With the Curves dialog box open, grab the white point marker in the top right corner (it's the little square I circled on the previous page) and simply drag it straight down, almost to the bottom, until the Output option in the bottom left corner (also circled in red below) reads somewhere between 10 and 20:

This is going to make your image appear to be darkened almost to the point where it becomes black:

Step 3: Create A Border Area With The Rectangular Marquee Tool

Next, grab the Rectangular Marquee Tool from the Tools palette or press M to quickly select it:

With the Rectangular Marquee Tool, drag out a selection inside the image to create a border area around the edges:

Step 4: Fill The Selection With Black On The Curves Layer Mask

Click on the layer mask thumbnail for the Curves adjustment layer in the Layers palette to select it:

Make sure black is your foreground color, then press Alt-Backspace (Win) / Option-Delete (Mac) to fill the selected area with black. This will hide the Curves adjustment layer in the area of the image that was inside the selection, leaving only the border area around it dark:

The layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette now appears black with a white border around it: