Photo Mount Corners - Part 1 - Creating The Photo Mount
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Step 13: Copy And Paste The Layer Style Onto Layer 1
Go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen, choose Layer Style, and then choose Copy Layer Style:
Click on Layer 1 in the Layers panel to select it:
With Layer 1 selected, go back up to the Layer menu, choose Layer Style once again, and this time, choose Paste Layer Style:
Step 14: Edit The Layer Style
This adds the exact same Bevel and Emboss layer style from Layer 2 onto Layer 1, complete with all of the same options we set in the Layer Style dialog box. Problem is, we need to make a couple of changes to the settings. Fortunately, Photoshop lets us edit layer styles any time we want. If you look directly below Layer 1 in the Layers panel, you'll see the Bevel and Emboss style we pasted a moment ago. Double-click directly on its name to re-open the dialog box:
When the Layer Style dialog box re-appears, change the Style option from Pillow Emboss to Inner Bevel, then increase the Soften amount to 7 px:
The larger shape now has subtle highlights similar to the smaller shape. Don't exit out of the Layer Style dialog box yet. We still have one more to add:
Step 15: Add A Drop Shadow
With the Layer Style dialog box still open, click directly on the words Drop Shadow at the top of the list of layer styles in the left column. Make sure you click on the words themselves and not in the checkbox to the left of the words, otherwise you won't get access to the Drop Shadow options:
The Layer Style dialog box will change to show options for the Drop Shadow in the middle column. Uncheck the Use Global Light option and change the Angle of the shadow to -30°. Increase the Distance of the shadow to 5 px, then increase the Size to 10 px:
Click OK to exit out of the dialog box. With the drop shadow added, the photo mount is now complete:
Step 16: Merge The Two Shapes Onto A New Layer
With Layer 1 selected, hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and click on Layer 2 in the Layers panel. This will select both layers at once (you'll see them both highlighted in blue):
With both layers selected, go up to the Layer menu and choose Merge Layers, or press Ctrl+E (Win) / Command+E (Mac) for the keyboard shortcut:
This merges both layers into a single layer above the Background layer in the Layers panel. Photoshop names the merged layer "Layer 2", but let's rename it by double-clicking directly on the layer's name and changing it to "Photo mount". Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the name change:
Step 17: Save The Photo Mount
Before we move on to part two of the tutorial, let's save our photo mount so we can open and use it any time it's needed. Go up to the File menu at the top of the screen and choose Save As:
When the Save As dialog box appears, navigate to the location on your computer where you want to save the file. I'm going to save mine into a folder I have on my desktop named "photoshop files". Give the file a descriptive name like "photo mount". Choose Photoshop for the Format option so the document is saved as a Photoshop PSD file and make sure Layers is selected so the individual layers in the document are saved. Click Save when you're done:
And with that, the first part (and by far the longest part) of the tutorial is done! The photo mount has been created, saved and is now ready to be added to an image, which we'll do next in part two!
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