Film Strip Photo Collage in Photoshop - Part 1
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Step 17: Add A Drop Shadow
Our basic film strip shape is now complete, but let's give it a bit of depth by adding a slight drop shadow. Click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and select the Drop Shadow style from the top of the list that appears:
This brings up Photoshop's Layer Style dialog box set to the Drop Shadow options in the middle column. Set the Distance of the shadow to 0 px, the Spread to 0% and the Size of the shadow to 7 px:
Click OK in the top right corner of the Layer Style dialog box when you're done to exit out of it. The film strip now appears with a faint shadow behind it, although it will be easier to see in your document than it is in the small screenshot here:
Step 18: Select The Rectangle Tool Once Again
To finish off our film strip, we'll add a final rectangle shape which will be used to define the area where the photos will appear when we add them later. Select the Rectangle Tool once again from the Tools panel. Since we had the Rounded Rectangle Tool selected a moment ago, you'll need to click on the Rounded Rectangle Tool in the Tools panel, then hold your mouse button down for a second or two until a fly-out menu appears showing the other tools available in that slot. Select the Rectangle Tool from the top of the fly-out menu:
Step 19: Change The Color Of The New Shape To A Medium Gray
Before we add the new shape, let's change it's color to something other than black so we'll be able to see it against the black film strip. We already know that we can change a shape's color by changing Photoshop's Foreground color, but we can also change the color directly from the Options Bar when we have a shape tool selected. Click on the color swatch in the Options Bar:
This brings up Photoshop's Color Picker. Let's use a medium gray for the color. Enter a value of 128 for the R, G and B options in the bottom center of the Color Picker dialog box. This will give us our medium gray. Click OK when you're done to exit out of the Color Picker:
Step 20: Draw A Rectangle Shape To Cover The Main Photo Area
With the Rectangle Tool selected and gray as our shape color, draw another rectangle shape, this time slightly larger than the main photo area in the center of the film strip. Make sure, though, that the new shape doesn't extend over the notches along the top and bottom. We only want to cover the main photo area. Click just above and to the left of the main photo area to set the starting point for the shape, then keep your mouse button held down and drag to just below and to the right of the bottom right corner of the photo area:
Release your mouse button to have Photoshop draw the shape and fill it with the medium gray color we selected. The main photo area is now completely covered, while the notches along the top and bottom of the film strip remain visible:
