Written By Steve Patterson

In this Photoshop photo effects tutorial, we'll learn how to create interesting photo border effects using Photoshop's brushes. Photoshop ships with so many great brushes that the possibilities for different border effects are virtually endless, especially since we can combine multiple brush strokes and different brush tools, like the Eraser Tool, for even more variety! In this tutorial, we'll focus on the brushes that Photoshop installs for us, but if you know how to create your own custom brushes as well, then there really is no limit to what you can come up with.

Here's the photo I'll be using in this tutorial:

Here's an example of the sort of photo border effect we'll be creating. Since the purpose of this tutorial is not to create this exact border but to learn how to create your own border designs with brushes, your results may look very different:

Not what you're looking for? Check out our other Photo Effects tutorials!

Want an easier way to learn Photoshop? Download our tutorials as Print-Ready PDFs!

Let's get started!

Step 1: Duplicate The Background Layer

The first thing we need to do is create a copy of our original photo. With my image newly opened in Photoshop, my document currently contains only one layer, the Background layer, which is the layer that holds my image:

To make a copy of this layer, go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen, choose New, and then choose Layer via Copy. Or, for a faster way, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac):

If we look again in the Layers panel, you should now see two layers - the original Background layer on the bottom and a copy of the layer, which Photoshop has automatically named "Layer 1", sitting above it:

Step 2: Add Extra Canvas Space Around The Image

Before we add our photo border effect, let's add some extra canvas space around the edges of the photo. To do that, go up to the Image menu at the top of the screen and choose Canvas Size:

This brings up Photoshop's Canvas Size dialog box. I'm going to add half an inch of canvas space around my photo by entering a value of 0.5 inches for both the Width and Height options. Make sure your measurement type is set to inches and not pixels or some other type. Also, make sure the Relative option below the Width and Height options is checked.

In the lower half of the dialog box, make sure the center square in the Anchor grid is selected. This will place the extra canvas space around the entire image. Finally, choose Black for the color at the very bottom of the dialog box:

Click OK in the top right corner of the dialog box when you're done to exit out of it. If we look in the document window, we can see that we now have extra canvas around the image, and the extra space is filled with black:

Still scrolling through web pages? Download our Photoshop tutorials as print-ready PDFs!

Go to page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5