Broken Frame Tag

I wrote this tutorial on my own.  Any similarity to another tutorial is purely coincidental.  I claim the copyright to my tutorial.  You are free to do whatever you please with what you make, but please do not take my tutorial.  Do not send the tutorial through email.  Only share my link.

This tutorial is intended for a beginner to learn about using the pen tool and selections.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

To do this tutorial you will also need Photoshop CS.  I used CS 2.  You may download a free trial at Adobe.

Remember to save as a .psd file often!

1.  Open a new, transparent image, 400 x 600 pixels.

2.  Select the selection tool.  Right-click on the selection tool and choose the Elliptical Marquee Tool

3.  Draw out a long vertical ellipse on your image.

4.  In the top menu, click Edit > Fill >  Foreground Color and choose ANY color.  We are making a template for now.

5.  In the top menu, click Selections > Modify > Contract Selection.  Contract by 20 pixels.

6.  Press the DELETE key on the keyboard so that you have an elliptical frame.

7.  In the top menu, click Layer > New Layer

8.  In the top menu, click Selection > Modify > Contract Selection.  Contract by 10 pixels.

9.  In the top menu, click Edit > Fill.  Fill with the same foreground color.  Now you have an inner ellipse to the frame, but it is on its own layer.

10.  In the top menu, click Layer > New Layer.

11.  Select the line tool.  This can be found UNDER the text tool.  Right-click on that and choose Line Tool.

12.  In the top menu, find the Line Tool toolbar.  set the weight = 15 px.  Color should be the same as your foreground color.

13.  Starting at the top center of the image and holding the SHIFT key down, draw a vertical line all the way to the bottom.  Holding the SHIFT key makes the line straight vertical rather than jagged.

14.  Right-click on this line layer in the Layer Palette and choose Rasterize Layer.

15.  Right-click on the line layer in the Layer Palette and choose Duplicate Layer.

16.  In the top menu, click Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 degrees Clockwise.

17.  In the Layer Palette click on the eyes of the elliptical frame and the inner ellipse layers (the bottom two layers)  to HIDE them. 

18.  Right-click on the top layer in the Layer Palette and choose Merge Visible.

19.  Right-click on the merged layer in the Layer Palette and choose Duplicate.

20.  In top menu, click Edit > Transform > Rotate.  Change the Rotate angle to 30 degrees (has a little triangle by that box).

21.  Right-click on this layer in the Layer Palette and choose Duplicate.

22.  In top menu, click Edit > Transform > Rotate.  Change the Rotate angle to 30 degrees (has a little triangle by that box).

23.  In the Layer Palette, HIDE the bottom two layers again (they probably are still hidden from before).  Right-click on the top layer and choose Merge Visible.

24.  With the magic wand, click on the top spokes layer to select the spokes.

25.  UNHIDE the bottom layer (elliptical frame), and click on the name of the bottom layer to highlight it.

26.  Press the Delete key.

27.  Right-click  on the TOP layer and choose Delete Layer.   We don't need the spokes anymore.

28.  UNHIDE the bottom layer.  In the top menu, click Layer  > Merge Visible

29.  Save this frame as a template for use later on.  File > Save As.  Save as a PSD format.

30.  Now to insert a picture of your choice!  Image > Duplicate to duplicate the template.  Close the original template.

31.  With the Magic Wand, hold the SHIFT key down and click on every white piece.

32.  In the top menu, click Selection > Modify > Expand Selection.  Expand by 1 pixel.

33.  Choose the gradient tool.  This may show as a paint bucket in your tool menu.  If so, right-click on the paint bucket and choose Gradient Tool.

34.  Flood Fill the selected area with a gradient of your choice.  I chose Gold gradient.  To use the gradient tool, just left-click and hold your mouse at the top left corner and drag down to the bottom right corner and then release the mouse button.  The direction that you drag your mouse determines the direction that the gradient will fill the frame.

35.  In the top menu, click Selections > Modify > Contract Selection.  Contract by 3 pixels.

36.  Open up the image that you wish to use.  With the Rectangle Marquee Tool, draw a rectangle selection around the part of the image that you wish to use in the frame.

37.  In the top menu, click Edit > Copy.

38.  Click back on the frame image.  In the top menu, click Edit > Paste Into.

39.  As you can see, when I pasted my graphic, the figure was off-centered.  You can fix this by using the mover tool and moving the image over. 

40.  Right-click on the layer in the Layer Palette and Choose Blending Options.  Click on the WORDS  Bevel and Emboss and apply these settings:  Style= Inner Bevel, Technique = Smooth, Depth = 100%, Direction = Up, Size = 7, Soften = 5, Angle = 120, Altitude = 30, Gloss Contour as shown.

41.  Now save the image as a GIF.  File > Save As

 Please do not remove this tutorial from my site.  Share my url.