This tutorial will teach you to easily complement your images with a predefined frame using Photoshop’s Actions palette.

You will be able to automatically create the frames like these:

A lot of presentations put out there on the web or used in desktop publishing are ornamented with an outline of some sort. Sooner or later, you will want a departure from the same old boring frames that consist of a simple outline. While a more eye-catching frame is simple to do in practice, it can become a time consuming task with every single image. To save time and expedite these presentations, you could do worse than using recordable actions to streamline the process.

Open up the image you wish to process.

Bring up the actions palette by pressing Shift + F9. The purpose of creating actions is to simply record a manual process and then save it for later use.

Create a fresh set of frames by clicking the little folder icon at the bottom of the palette. Once done, click the little paper icon right next to it to create the action. A dialogue box will open up prompting you to begin recording the process. You may, at any time, stop recording the process for a given reason by simply clicking the square “stop” icon at the left end of the bottom of the palette, and, likewise, resume recording by clicking the “record” button right next to it.

Now, create a new layer and name it “frame” as part of the ongoing recording process. This is a good idea if you don’t want to tarnish the image permanently. It will also be recorded as such.

Ready made frames - Part 2 >>>