The Digital Darkroom
Create A Torn Effect In Photoshop
Darryl C. Nicholas, November, 2003
There are several great plug-ins
for Adobe Photoshop that will create all sorts of edge effects, borders,
and frames. But, this procedure uses only the basic Photoshop tools
to create a very nice ragged edge. The procedure also demonstrates several
features that can be applied to lots of other Photoshop tasks.
Let’s start with a nice picture (#1).
This is a lily from my Koi
pond.
Use the Rectangular Marquee tool and create a Selection a short distance
inside the edges of the picture. In this case, I am using an 8x10 image
with the resolution set to 300 ppi (#2).
Select the Quick Mask mode by clicking on the right-hand button (#3).
When the Quick Mask mode is selected, the image will look like #4.
|
|
Go to Filter to Stylize to
Diffuse (#5). The default option for Diffuse is Normal. Leave it there
and click on OK. You will not see any change in the picture.
Then, go to Filter again, and this time the Diffuse option will have moved
to the top. Slide down and click on it again. And, again, nothing will
appear to have changed in the image. Go back to Filter and slide down
to Diffuse and click on it again (#6). Repeat this about 100 times! Yes,
I know that is a lot, but when the image is set to 300 ppi, it takes a
lot to create the effect.
Besides, it’s easy to do with your mouse/trackball. Just go to Filter
to Diffuse over and over again. Gradually, you will begin to see the edge
of the selection get a little jagged. The more times you do it, the more
pronounced the jagged effect will be.
When the edge is jagged enough to suit you, go back to the Quick Mask
mode tool and click on the left-hand button (#3). Your image will now
look like #7, with the “dancing ants” looking very jagged.
|
|
Go to Edit to Copy (#8). That
will copy the selection with the jagged edge to the clipboard. Think of
the clipboard as an invisible storage space in
the computer.
Now, it’s time to create a new, blank, canvas to put the jagged-edge
picture on. Go to File to New (#9).
That will bring up a dialog
box where you can set the parameters of the new, blank, canvas. In my
case, since I was working with an 8x10 horizontal image, I set the Width
to 10” and the Height to 8”. I also set the Resolution to
300 ppi and the mode to RGB (#10). |
|
With the new canvas ready
and made active by clicking on it, go to Edit to Paste (#11).
That will paste the jagged-edge
image from the clipboard directly into the center of the new canvas (#12).
At this point, the jagged edges
are very apparent and you could stop here and have a finished picture.
But, if you’d like to fancy it up a bit, go back to the Tool Palette
and select the Eyedropper tool (#13).
I placed the tip of the Eyedropper
tool directly in the center of the flower and clicked. This caused the
Foreground Color to become the same as the center of the flower (#14).
|
|
Go to the Layers Palette and
look at the Background Layer. Notice that in my case (and I suspect in
your case) the Background Layer is “locked” (see the little
padlock symbol) (#15).
In order to unlock the Background
Layer, place your Move tool cursor in the large white square area of the
Background Layer and double click. That will cause a dialog box to appear
(#16).
Ignore the box and click OK
on it. The box will close and the Background Layer will be unlocked. See
(#17) with no padlock symbol. |
|
Now that the Background Layer
is unlocked, we can fill it with the Foreground Color that we selected
using the Eyedropper tool. With the Background Layer highlighted (to make
it active), go to Edit to Fill, and click on OK (#18).
That will fill the Background
Layer with the Foreground Color. The result will be #19.
So, there you have your choice of two images. One has a white frame around
it (#20).
And, the other has a rich orange
frame around it (#19).
For more information on digital
imaging, you might want to visit my website, www.colorbat.com. |
|
