Photoshop Gallery Style Photo Frame Effect Tutorial

Gallery Style Photo Frame Layout

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Step 18: Resize And Reposition The Photo With Free Transform

So far so good, but my image is still too big to fit entirely within the smaller boundaries of the photo area, and it also needs to be repositioned. We can do both of those things with Free Transform. Once again press Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up the Free Transform box and handles, this time around the photo. Hold down your Shift key and drag any of the corner handles to resize the photo as needed until it fits inside the photo area. To move the photo, click anywhere inside the Free Transform box and drag the image into position. If your image uses the same aspect ratio as your photo area (as mine does), you should be able to fit the entire image inside of it. If not, simply resize the image until as much of it as possible is visible. Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the transformation:

Resizing the image inside the photo area with Free Transform. Image © 2010 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Use Free Transform to move and resize the photo until it fits inside the photo area.

Step 19: Add Your Text Below The Image

At this point, all that's left to do is add a text caption below the image. Select the Horizontal Type Tool from the Tools panel:

Selecting the Type Tool in Photoshop. Image © 2010 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Select the Type Tool.

With the Type Tool selected, choose your font and font size from the Options Bar. I'm going to use Trajan Pro at 24 pt:

The font options for the Type Tool in Photoshop. Image © 2010 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Select your font and font size in the Options Bar.

Click on the color swatch in the Options Bar and choose white as your text color from the Color Picker. Finally, click on the Center Text option to the left of the color swatch, which will make it a bit easier to center our text in the document as we're typing:

The text color and alignment options in the Options Bar. Image © 2010 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Choose white as your text color and select the Center Text alignment option.

Then, simply click in the black area below the center of the photo with the Type Tool and add your text. I'm going to type "Steve Patterson Photography". You'll probably want to add something different, unless of course you'd like to give me credit for your work. Notice that the spot you clicked on with the Type Tool becomes the center point for the text as you type thanks to the Center Text option we selected in the Options Bar:

Adding a text caption below the image. Image © 2010 Photoshop Essentials.com.
With the Center Text option selected, the text extends out in both directions from the spot you clicked.

When you're done, click the checkmark in the Options Bar to accept the text:

Clicking the checkmark in the Options Bar to accept the text. Image © 2010 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Click on the checkmark to exit out of text editing mode.

Step 20: Align The Text Horizontally If Needed

To make sure the text is aligned horizontally with the document, follow the same method we used in Step 6. With the text layer selected in the Layers panel, press Ctrl+A (Win) / Command+A (Mac) to select the entire document. Press the letter V to quickly select the Move Tool, then click on the Align Horizontal Centers option in the Options Bar. Photoshop will align the text perfectly in the horizontal center of the document. Press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) when you're done to deselect the document. Once deselected, you can press the Up and Down arrow keys on your keyboard if you need to nudge the text a little higher or lower:

The Align Horizontal Centers option in the Options Bar. Image © 2010 Photoshop Essentials.com.
Use the Align Horizontal Centers option again, this time to align the text with the document.

And with that, we're done! Here is my final "gallery style photo frame" layout:

Photoshop gallery print photo frame effect. Image © 2010 Steve Patterson, Photoshop Essentials.com
The final result.

And there we have it!

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