Expert: LizaL - 10/25/2004

Question
I need to put a think white border only on the top and left side of a pic.  Please help with how I would do this.

Thanks in advance

Answer
Hi George,

You can do this pretty easily, and in a number of ways, too. The first and easiest would be to create a new layer, then select the rectangular marquee tool from the tool palette (this would be the square one, the top tool on the left). Make sure your color swatches are set to the default, which is black and white, with white on top. If white is behind the black, click on the little curved arrow to the right of the swatches to bring the white to the front.

Then select Fill from the Edit menu, making sure that Foreground Color is the choice in the pop-up menu of the Fill dialog box. Your rectangle will fill with white, and you can repeat the process for the top of the picture, making sure you put the next white border piece on its own separate layer.

If you'd like to add a drop shadow, you can select one of these layers that have the white border, then go to the Layer pulldown menu. Then go to Layer Style > Drop Shadow, and you'll be presented with a number of options for adding a shadow to this white box.

If you create your borders this way, it's best to keep them on separate layers from your picture. That way if you change your mind about their size, you can go back and resize them without affecting your picture. I'd put each border piece on a separate layer, in fact.

Hope this helps!

Lisa