Step 6: Align The Photo Area Horizontally With The Document

Before we continue, let's make sure our photo area is aligned horizontally with the document. Press Ctrl+A (Win) / Command+A (Mac) on your keyboard, which will instantly select the entire document (a selection outline will appear around the edges of the document window). Press the letter V on your keyboard to quickly select Photoshop's Move Tool. Then, with the Move Tool selected, click on the Align Horizontal Centers option in the Options Bar:

If your photo area was a little off-center horizontally, Photoshop will snap it into perfect alignment with the document. Press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) when you're done to deselect the document.

Step 7: Add A Thin White Border

Let's add a thin white border around the photo area. For that, we'll use one of Photoshop's layer styles. Click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Then choose Stroke from the bottom of the list:

This opens Photoshop's Layer Style dialog box set to the Stroke options in the middle column. First, click on the color swatch to the right of the word Color, which will open the Color Picker, and choose white as the color for the stroke. Click OK to close out of the Color Picker when you're done. Then, change the Position of the stroke to Inside. Finally, adjust the Size of the stroke by dragging the Size slider towards the right. You can see a live preview of the stroke size in the document window as you drag the slider. Since we want a thin border, I'm going to set my stroke's size to 4 px:

Click OK to exit out of the Layer Style dialog box. A thin white stroke now appears around the photo area in the document window (the reason we filled the photo area with gray and not white earlier was so we'd be able to see the white border around it):

Step 8: Make A Copy Of The Photo Area Layer

With the photo area layer selected in the Layers panel (selected layers are highlighted in blue), press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) on your keyboard to make a copy of the layer, which Photoshop will place above the original. Notice that the stroke layer style is also copied:

Step 9: Rename The Layer And Drag It Between The Original Two Layers

Double-click directly on the name "photo area copy" and change the layer's name to border, since we'll be using it to add an outer border to the photo area in a moment. Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to accept the name change. Then click on the border layer in the Layers panel and, while still holding down your mouse button, drag it between the Background layer and the photo area layer. Release your mouse button to drop it into place when a highlight bar appears between the two layers:

Step 10: Lower The Fill Of The Border Layer To 0%

We're going to use the gray-filled area on the border layer to add a second, thicker stroke around the photo. Problem is, we don't actually want the gray area to be visible on this layer. All we want to be able to see is the white stroke around it. To hide the gray and keep only the stroke visible, simply lower the Fill for the border layer down to 0%. Fill hides the contents of a layer but keeps any layer styles visible. You'll find the Fill option directly below the Opacity option at the top of the Layers panel. Nothing will seem to have changed in the document window just yet, though, since the photo area layer is blocking the border layer from view:

Step 11: Use Free Transform To Add Space Around The Photo Area

With Fill set to 0%, press Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up Photoshop's Free Transform box and handles around the gray area on the border layer. Hold down your Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key, then click on either the left or right handle (the little square) and, while still holding your mouse button down, drag it outward to add a little space on either side between the second stroke and the gray photo area. Notice that only the white stroke itself is visible. The gray on the border layer is hidden from view, leaving us with an area of black (which is showing through from the Background layer) between this second white stroke and the original.

Keep Alt / Option held down and drag either the top or bottom handle outward to add an equal amount of space between the second stroke and the top and bottom of the gray photo area:

Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the transformation.

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