Summary: Learn how to easily combine the Eraser Tool with one of Photoshop's built-in brushes, along with a few layers and some layer styles, to give a photo a worn, torn edges effect!

Written by Steve Patterson
Exclusively for Photoshop Essentials.com.

Part of our complete collection of Photo Effects tutorials.

In this Photoshop photo effects tutorial, we'll learn how to give a photo a worn, torn edges effect. Creating the effect is easy, requiring nothing more than a few layers, the Eraser Tool, one of Photoshop's built-in brushes, and some layer styles to help finish things off.

Here's the torn edges effect we'll be creating:

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Let's get started!

Step 1: Duplicate The Background Layer

With our image newly opened in Photoshop, let's begin by duplicating the Background layer. Go up to the Layer menu in the Menu Bar at the top of the screen, choose New, and then choose Layer via Copy. Or, for a faster way to duplicate a layer, press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac):

If we look in the Layers panel, we can see that our document now contains two layers. The original Background layer sits on the bottom, while our newly added copy of the Background layer, which Photoshop has automatically named "Layer 1", sits above it:

Step 2: Add Extra Canvas Space

Let's give ourselves a bit more room to work by adding a little extra canvas space around the image. 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 an extra 100 pixels around the image by entering 100 for both the Width and Height options in the center of the dialog box and making sure the measurement type is set to pixels for both. Also make sure the Relative option is checked so the extra space is added to the existing canvas, otherwise we'll be changing the canvas size to 100 x 100 pixels, which isn't what we want. Click the center square in the Anchor grid so that the extra space is added evenly around all edges of the canvas:

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the Canvas Size dialog box. If we look at the image in the document window, we can see that we now have extra space around the image. We'll be trimming away the extra space when we're finished creating the torn edges effect. This is simply to give us some extra room to work with the Eraser Tool, which we'll be using in a moment:

Step 3: Add A New Blank Layer Between The Two Existing Layers

With "Layer 1" selected in the Layers panel (it should be highlighted in blue), hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Normally, Photoshop adds new layers directly above the currently selected layer, but by holding down the Ctrl / Command key as we click on the New Layer icon, we tell Photoshop to add the new layer below the selected layer. We now have a new blank layer named "Layer 2" sitting between the Background layer and "Layer 1".

Step 4: Fill The New Layer With White

Go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and choose Fill:

This brings up Photoshop's Fill dialog box, which we can use to fill a layer or a selection with color. Choose White for the Use option in the Contents section at the top of the dialog box:

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box. Photoshop fills the new layer with white, although we can't actually see it in the document window since the image on "Layer 1" above it is blocking the new layer from view. However, if we look at the layer preview thumbnail for "Layer 2" in the Layers panel, we can see that the thumbnail is now filled with white, which tells us that the layer itself is filled with white:

We're ready to begin creating the torn edges effect with the Eraser Tool. We'll do that next!

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