Photo Mount Corners - Part 1 - Creating The Photo Mount

Step 1: Create A New Document

Let's begin by creating a new Photoshop document for our photo mount. Go up to the File menu in the Menu Bar along the top of the screen and choose New:

Go to File > New.

This opens Photoshop's New Document dialog box. There's no specific size we need for the document, but to keep us on the same page, enter 800 pixels for the Width, 600 pixels for the Height and 72 pixels/inch for the Resolution. Also, make sure the Background Contents option is set to White. Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box. Your new document will appear on your screen:

Create a new 800x600 pixel document.

Step 2: Add A New Blank Layer

Click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Click on the New Layer icon.

Nothing will happen in the document window, but we can see in the Layers panel that Photoshop has added a new blank layer named "Layer 1" above the Background layer, which is the layer that contains our white background:

Photoshop adds a new blank layer and names it "Layer 1".

Step 3: Draw A Rectangular Selection

Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool from the top section of the Tools panel:

Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool.

With the Rectangular Marquee Tool selected, hold down your Shift key, then click and drag out a square selection outline in the center of the document. Holding the Shift key down as you drag is what forces the shape of the selection into a perfect square:

Hold Shift and drag out a square selection.

Step 4: Fill The Selection With Black

With the selection in place, go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and choose Fill:

Go to Edit > Fill.

When the Fill dialog box appears, set the Use option at the top to Black:

Set Use to Black.

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box, and Photoshop fills the square selection with black:

The selection is now filled with black on "Layer 1".

Step 5: Reduce The Selection Size By 50%

Notice that the selection outline around the black square is still visible and active in the document, which means we can still work with it. We need to shrink it down in size, and we can do that using Photoshop's Transform Selection command. Go up to the Select menu at the top of the screen and choose Transform Selection:

Go to Select > Transform Selection.

This places transform handles (little squares) around the selection outline in the document window, similar to what we'd see if we had chosen the Free Transform command from the Edit menu. The difference is that Free Transform would alter the pixels inside the selection outline, while Transform Selection affects only the selection outline itself, not the pixels inside it. We need to shrink the size of the selection outline by 50%, so go up to the Options Bar50% for both the Width (W) and Height (H): along the top of the screen and enter

Enter 50% for the Width and Height of the selection outline.

Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) once to accept the changes in the Options Bar, then press it a second time to accept the transformation. The selection outline will appear at half its original size inside the square:

The size of the selection outline changed without affecting the black square.

Step 6: Delete The Center Of The Square

Press Backspace (Win) / Delete (Mac) on your keyboard to delete the center of the square, then press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) to remove the selection outline. With the center of the square deleted, we can see the white background from the Background layer showing through it:

The center of the square has been deleted.

 

Step 7: Draw A Diagonal Selection Through The Center Of The Square

Select the Polygonal Lasso Tool from the Tools panel. By default, it's hiding behind the standard Lasso Tool, so click on the Lasso Tool, then keep holding your mouse button down until a fly-out menu appears. Choose the Polygonal Lasso Tool from the menu:

Click and hold on the Lasso Tool, then select the Polygonal Lasso Tool from the list.

With the Polygonal Lasso Tool selected, click below and to the left of the bottom left corner of the square to set a starting point for the selection, then click above and to the right of the top right corner of the square. This draws a diagonal line through the square's center. Click above and to the left of the top left corner of the square, then back on the original point below and to the left of the square to complete the selection:

Draw a selection that divides the square diagonally.

Step 8: Delete The Selected Area

Once again press Backspace (Win) / Delete (Mac) to delete the selected area of the square. Then press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) to remove the selection outline:

The square is now just a sliver of its former self.

Step 9: Select The Remaining Part Of The Square

Hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and click directly on Layer 1's preview thumbnail in the Layers panel:

Hold Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) and click on the preview thumbnail.

This instantly loads a selection outline around the contents of the layer, which in our case is the remaining part of the square:

A selection outline appears around the black area.

Step 10: Contract The Selection Outline

Just as we did earlier, we need to make this new selection outline smaller. Rather than using Transform Selection though, go up to the Select menu, choose Modify, and then choose Contract:

Go to Select > Modify > Contract.

When the Contract Selection dialog box appears, enter 8 pixels (which will contract the edges of the selection outline by 8 pixels), then click OK to exit out of the dialog box:

Contract Selection reduces the size of a selection outline by the amount you specify.

The selection outline now appears smaller inside the shape. We're going to copy this smaller area to a new layer:

Once again, the selection outline was resized without affecting the pixels inside of it.

Step 11: Copy The Selection To A New Layer

Go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen, choose New, then choose Layer via Copy:

Go to Layer > New > Layer via Copy.

You can also press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac). Either way copies the selected area to a new layer which Photoshop names "Layer 2":

The new layer appears above Layer 1.

Step 12: Add A Bevel And Emboss Layer Style

The basic shapes for our photo mount are in place, so let's give them a little detail and definition. With Layer 2 selected, click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Click on the Layer Styles icon.

Choose Bevel and Emboss from the list of layer styles that appears:

Click on Bevel and Emboss.

This opens Photoshop's Layer Style dialog box set to the Bevel and Emboss options in the middle column. Change the Style option to Pillow Emboss, then set the Size to 3 px and the Soften amount to 5 px:

The Bevel and Emboss options.

Click OK when you're done to close out of the dialog box. The smaller shape now has some subtle highlights around the edges as if it's embedded within the larger shape:

The smaller shape now appears embedded in the larger shape.

 

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:

Go to Layer > Layer Style > Copy Layer Style.

Click on Layer 1 in the Layers panel to select it:

Selected layers appear highlighted in blue in the Layers panel.

With Layer 1 selected, go back up to the Layer menu, choose Layer StylePaste Layer Style: once again, and this time, choose

Go to Layer > Layer Style > 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:

Double-click directly on "Bevel and Emboss" below Layer 1.

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:

Layer styles can be edited as many times as we want without affecting image quality.

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:

The Bevel and Emboss effect is complete.

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:

Click on the words Drop Shadow in the left column of the Layer Style dialog box.

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-30°. Increase the Distance of the shadow to 5 px, then increase the Size to 10 px: of the shadow to

The Drop Shadow options.

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box. With the drop shadow added, the photo mount is now complete:

The completed photo mount.

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):

Hold Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) and click on Layer 2 to select both layers.

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:

Go to Layer > Merge Layers.

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:

Rename the merged layer "Photo mount".

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:

Go to File > 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:

Save the photo mount as a Photoshop PSD file.

 

 

Add Bubbles With A Custom Bubble Brush In Photoshop

Let's get started!

Step 1: Create A New Document

Let's start by creating a new Photoshop document which we'll use to draw our bubble. Go up to the File menu in the Menu Bar at the top of the screen and choose New:

Go to File > New.

This opens Photoshop's New Document dialog box. Enter 600 pixels for both the Width and Height of the new document and 72 pixels/inch for the Resolution. There's no particular reason why we're using these specific settings other than it keeps us both on the same page. Finally, make sure the Background Contents option is set to White. Click OK when you're done to close out of the dialog box. The new document, with white as its background color, will appear on your screen:

The New Document dialog box.

Step 2: Select The Elliptical Marquee Tool

Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool from the Tools panel. By default, it's hiding behind the Rectangular Marquee Tool, so click on the Rectangular Marquee Tool and hold your mouse button down until a fly-out menu appears showing you the other tools available in that slot, then click on the Elliptical Marquee Tool to select it:

Click and hold on the Rectangular Marquee Tool, then select the Elliptical Marquee Tool from the menu.

Step 3: Draw An Elliptical Selection

With the Elliptical Marquee Tool selected, hold down Shift+Alt (Win) / Shift+Option (Mac), click in the center of the document, then drag out an elliptical selection outline which will become the basic shape of our bubble. Holding the Shift key down as you drag is what forces the selection outline into a perfect circle, while holding the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key tells Photoshop to use the spot you clicked on as the center of the selection, extending it out in all directions from that spot. When you're done, you should have a selection outline in the shape of a circle:

The selection outline will become the shape of the bubble.

Step 4: Copy The Selection To A New Layer

Go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen, choose New, then choose Layer via Copy, or press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) on your keyboard to quickly access the same command:

Go to Layer > New > Layer via Copy.

Photoshop copies the circular area inside the selection onto a new layer named Layer 1 above the Background layer in the Layers panel:

The selected area is copied to a new layer.

Step 5: Add An Inner Glow Layer Style

Click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Click on the Layer Styles icon.

Select Inner Glow from the list of layer styles that appears:

Click on Inner Glow.

This opens Photoshop's Layer Style dialog box set to the Inner Glow options in the middle column. First, change the Blend Mode from Screen to Multiply, which will turn our inner glow into an inner shadow. Click on the color swatchblack from the Color Picker. Click OK to close out of the Color Picker when you're done. Finally, increase the Size of the inner glow (shadow) to around 40 px: below the word "Noise" and choose

Changing the blend mode from Screen to Multiply turns the glow into a shadow.

Don't click OK yet to exit out of the Layer Style dialog box because we still have one more to add, but you should now see the outer edges of the bubble:

The Inner Glow provides the outer edges of the bubble.

 

Step 6: Add A Gradient Overlay

Click on the words Gradient Overlay in the list of layer styles along the left side of the Layer Style dialog box. Make sure you click directly on the words themselves, not just inside the checkbox, otherwise we won't have access to the Gradient Overlay options:

Click on the words Gradient Overlay.

This changes the middle column of the Layer Style dialog box to the options for the Gradient Overlay. First, if the black-to-white gradient isn't selected (mine already is but I'll pretend it isn't), click on the gradient preview bar to the right of the word Gradient:

Click on the gradient preview bar.

This opens the Gradient Editor. Select the black-to-white gradient from the list of Presets by clicking on its thumbnail (third from the left, top row). Click OK to exit out of the Gradient Editor when you're done:

Click on the black-to-white gradient's thumbnail.

Back in the Layer Style dialog box, change the Style of the gradient from Linear to Radial:

Change the Style to Radial.

The bubble should now look like this (don't close out of the Layer Style dialog box just yet):

The gradient after changing the style to Radial.

With the Layer Style dialog box still open, click in the center of the bubble in the document window and drag the black center of the gradient into the top left of the bubble to create a large highlight. Click OK when you're done to exit out of the Layer Style dialog box:

Drag the black center of the gradient into the top left of the bubble.

Step 7: Add A New Blank Layer

Click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a new blank layer above Layer 1:

Click on the New Layer icon.

Step 8: Select The Brush Tool

Select Photoshop's Brush Tool from the Tools panel:

Select the Brush Tool.

Step 9: Paint A Small Highlight In The Bottom Right Of The Bubble

With the Brush Tool selected, make sure black is selected as your Foreground color by pressing the letter D on your keyboard, which will reset the Foreground and Background colors to the defaults (black is the default Foreground color). Using a small, soft-edge round brush, click once in the bottom right of the bubble to add a second, smaller highlight:

Click once in the bottom right to add a small highlight.

Step 10: Load A Selection Around The Bubble

Hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and click directly on the preview thumbnail for Layer 1 in the Layers panel. This loads a selection outline around the bubble in the document window:

Hold Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) and click on Layer 1's preview thumbnail.

Step 11: Apply The Pinch Filter Three Times

Let's make the smaller highlight look more like it's curved around the shape of the bubble. Go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Distort, and then choose Pinch:

Go to Filter > Distort > Pinch.

When the Pinch filter's dialog box appears, drag the Amount slider along the bottom all the way to the left:

Drag the Amount slider all the way to the left.

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box, then press Ctrl+F (Win) / Command+FCtrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) when you're done to remove the selection outline from around the bubble, which should now look similar to this: (Mac) twice to apply the same filter two more times to the image. Each time you apply the filter, you'll see the smaller highlight appear more curved. Press

The smaller highlight now appears to curve around the bubble.

Step 12: Save The Bubble As A Brush

Now that we've drawn our bubble, let's save it as a brush. Go up to the EditDefine Brush Preset: menu and choose

Go to Edit > Define Brush Preset.

When the Brush Name dialog box appears, name the brush "Bubble", then click OK to exit out of the dialog box:

Name the new brush "Bubble".

And with that, we're done creating our initial bubble brush! We still need to customize its behavior, but we're done with the bubble's document window so you can close out of it at this point.

Step 13: Open Your Photo

Open the photo you want to add bubbles to. Here's the photo I'll be using:

Open your photo.

Step 14: Add A New Blank Layer

Click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a new blank layer above the Background layer. We'll add our bubbles to this new layer so we're not making any permanent changes to the photo itself:

Add a new blank layer above the photo.

Step 15: Select Your Bubble Brush

Select the Brush Tool from the Tools panel if it's not already selected. With the Brush Tool selected, right-click (Win) / Control-click (Mac) anywhere inside the document and choose your bubble brush by clicking on its thumbnail in the Brush Preset picker. It should be the last brush in the list. Press EnterReturn (Mac) when you're done to close out of the Brush Preset picker: (Win) /

Click on your bubble brush's thumbnail to select it.

Step 16: Set The Shape Dynamics Brush Options

Press F5 on your keyboard to quickly open Photoshop's main Brushes panel, which contains all of the Brush Dynamics options that allow us to control the behavior of the brush as we paint with it. With the Brushes panel open, click directly on the words Shape Dynamics on the left of the panel. Make sure you click on the words themselves, not in the checkbox to the left of the words, otherwise we won't have access to the Shape Dynamics options:

Press F5 to open the Brushes panel, then click on Shape Dynamics.

Increase the Size Jitter to 100% by dragging the slider all the way to the right. This will give us lots of random variations in the size of the bubbles as we paint them. Do the same thing for the Roundness Jitter, increasing it to 100%, which will give us random variations in the shapes of the bubbles so they don't all look perfectly round. Finally, set the Minimum Roundness to 25%, which will prevent any of the bubbles from appearing completely flat:

The Shape Dynamics options.

Step 17: Set The Scattering Options

Click directly on the words Scattering below Shape Dynamics on the left side of the Brushes panel, then increase the Scatter amount to around 250%, which will spread the bubbles out randomly as we paint them rather than having them all appear in a straight line. Press F5 again on your keyboard when you're done to close out of the Brushes panel:

The Scattering options.

Step 18: Set Your Foreground Color To White

We're ready to paint in our bubbles! We're going to want to paint them with white, so we need to make sure our Foreground color is set to white. Since we already reset the Foreground and Background colors to their defaults earlier, which made black the Foreground color and white the Background color, all we need to do now is flip them by pressing the letter X on the keyboard, making white the Foreground color:

Make sure your Foreground color is set to white.

Step 19: Paint In The Bubbles

Your bubble brush will most likely be too big at its default size, so press the left bracket key on your keyboard a few times to make the brush smaller (the right bracket key makes the brush larger). Then, with Layer 1 selected in the Layers panel, simply paint in your bubbles. For best results, paint in short strokes from the bottom of the photo to the top and leave some space between the strokes to create clusters of bubbles. If you're not happy with how the bubbles look, press Ctrl+Z (Win) / Command+Z (Mac) to undo the last brush stroke, or Ctrl+Alt+Z (Win) / Command+Option+Z (Mac) to undo multiple strokes, then try again. Here's my image after painting in my initial bubbles. I used a very small brush to create the main bubble columns, then a slightly larger brush to add in a few random larger ones:

The image after painting in vertical columns of bubbles.

Step 20: Duplicate The Bubbles Layer

At the moment, the bubbles look a little too crisp and sharp compared with the rest of the underwater image, so let's give them more of a mirky underwater glow. Press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to quickly duplicate the bubbles layer:

Press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to make a copy of Layer 1.

Step 21: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter

Go up to the Filter menu, choose Blur, then choose Gaussian Blur:

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

When the Gaussian Blur dialog box appears, increase the Radius value to around 8 px:

Set the Radius to 8 px.

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box. The blur adds a glow around the bubbles that helps them blend in better with the mirky water:

The Gaussian Blur filter added a soft glow to the bubbles.

As an optional last step, add another new blank layer to the document by clicking on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, then use a larger size brush to add a couple of additional columns of bubbles. The larger bubbles will appear to be closer to the viewer than the smaller bubbles. Finally, press Ctrl+F (Win) / Command+F (Mac) to re-apply the Gaussian Blur filter, which will completely blur out the bubbles as if they're too close for the viewer's eyes to focus on them. Here, I've added a blurred bubble column on either side of the diver:

The final result.