Summary: Learn how to add a painted edges photo border to your images with Photoshop and how to make it look like it was painted on canvas! When we're done, we'll use the file as a template to quickly add the same effect to other photos!

Written by Steve Patterson
Exclusively for Photoshop Essentials.com.

Part of our complete collection of Photo Effects tutorials.

In this Photoshop Effects tutorial, we're going to combine a couple of different effects. First, we'll give a photo easy-to-create painted edges, and then we'll make it look as if it was printed on canvas. We'll be loading in and using a couple of Photoshop's brushes for the painted edges effect, adding a layer mask to paint on, and finally using the Texturizer filter for the canvas effect. When we're done, we'll see how we can use our Photoshop file as a template to quickly and easily give other photos the exact same look!

Any recent version of Photoshop will work.

Here's the original image I'll be using for this tutorial:

And here's the "painted edges on canvas" effect we're going for:

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Let's get started!

Step 1: Add A New Layer

With my photo open in Photoshop, my Layers panel 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 panel:

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 panel, 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.