Creating a special edge around photos or images

For Version 3


Finished image

This tip is pretty basic and involves removing the sharp edges around an image. As you can see, the original image was altered so as to remove the sharp rectangular edges. The result is a blending of the image's edges into the background. This effect works best against a white background.

The trick is to create a mask for the image you wish to alter. In this case, a mask with a symmetrical border was created. The mask was then blurred to the desired effect.

The mask was created by first loading in the original image (Set to 16 million colors) and resampling to the desired size.


Original image

The next step was to create an empty mask (Image | Create empty mask). Your newly formed mask should have a white background, if not apply the negative image feature (Colors | Negative Image). Add a black border to the mask, you will have to resize the mask back to original size.

 

   

   
   

Empty Mask with Black Border

Next "blur more" the mask for the desired effect.

   
   
   
   

Finished Mask

Select the original image and then add the mask (Image | Add Mask...), make sure the invert mask is checked in the mask dialog box. Apply Color | Adjust | Brightness/Contrast..., change the brightness to 100. You've now created the image, save as usual.

This is the "Add Mask" Dialog Box. A couple things to note:

  • Make sure you select the "masked image" from the "Source Windows" Selection box.

  • Make sure "Source Luminance" is selected.

  • Make sure "Invert mask data" is checked.
   

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