Adobe Photoshop Tutorial: Painted Edges

Step 1: Add A New Layer

With my photo open in Photoshop, my Layers palette is showing me that I have one layer, the Background layer which Photoshop adds by default and contains my original image:

The first thing I want to do for this effect is add a new blank layer above my Background layer, so I'll click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

This gives me a new layer above the Background layer, which Photoshop automatically names "Layer 1":

I'm going to double-click directly on the name of the layer and rename it from "Layer 1" to something more descriptive, like "white background", since we'll be filling it with white in the next step and it will eventually appear to be the background on which the photo sits:

Step 2: Fill The New Layer With White

Next, because I want my photo to look like it was painted onto a white background, I need to fill this new layer with white. I could use Photoshop's Fill command for this, but there's an even easier way. First, press the letter D on your keyboard to reset your foreground and background colors to their defaults of black and white, respectively, if they're not set to that already. You'll see them switch back to black and white in Photoshop's Tools palette:

With white now as your background color and the "white background" layer selected in the Layers palette, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Backspace (Win) / Command+Delete (Mac) to fill the layer with white. The image will now be hidden from view temporarily by the solid white layer above it:

We're going to load a couple of Photoshop brushes next.