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Note: This tutorial is written using Adobe Photoshop CS2 using a PC.
One of my favorite tools in the Photoshop arsenal is the
Stroke command, but if I'm honest, I'll admit to you that
when I was just getting started, it terrified me when people bandied
the term "stroke" about in forums. What can they mean? I
wondered. With a bit of help, I soon learned precisely what a stroke
was and how to use it in its most basic functions.
But I am here to
tell you that there are many other ways you can use this wonderful tool,
and once you learn them, I'm pretty sure you'll never want
to do without them again. So today, prepare for some de-mystification!
(Is that a word?)
Ok, here is where you start. You need to know what a stroke
is. The basic definition is that it is an outline of a selection that
is of a constant pixel dimension. In other words, all the way around
your object, you will create a line of pixels that is say, 25 pixels
deep, the entire way around, and can be whatever color you select.
This line will precisely follow the shape of your selection.
There are quite a few uses for a stroke. I'll show you a few of
them here. But I'm quite sure I've not exhausted the many
ways that a stroke can be used, so I encourage you to experiment! And
when you find a really awesome technique, share with the rest of us
on the message board!
Begin by opening an image. I've opened an alpha
shape that has a plain edge. I'm going to show you how to change
the characteristic of its edge in a variety of ways. After I have my
image opened, I duplicated it so I'll have two examples to work
with. I expanded the size of my canvas so I'd have a bit of space
around the outside edges of my shape.
Begin by selecting the shape; do this by holding the Control key while you click on the layer's thumbnail.
You'll see marching ants around the shape you've
selected. Make sure that layer is active and highlighted. Now go to
Edit> Stroke. A dialog box will pop up, giving you
the option of choosing what color you want your stroke to be, how many
pixels, where on the selection you want the stroke to appear, and any
Blend Modes you'd like to apply.
I chose to make my stroke 20 pixels wide and colored it
black (you can adjust this by clicking inside the color box). I chose
for the stroke to appear on the inside of the selection and left the
Blend Mode at "Normal." On the left, you can see my result.
I now have a basic black outline around my letter that has very crisp
edges. If I had chosen to have my stroke appear on the outside of the
letter, I would have gotten more rounded corners as the stroke followed
the contours of my shape.
Now, that black outline is nice, but perhaps a little
boring. I want to jazz it up a bit. I'm going to move over to
the 'A' on the right and show you how to shake things up.
First, I'm going to add an empty layer above that layer, then
I'll select the A shape, but keep the empty layer active. Go to
Select> Feather, and in the pop-up window, type
in 10 for the pixel value. Now go to Edit> Stroke
and click "OK." The settings you chose before remain the same. Now, you can see there is an edge that looks more like
an inked edge.
Since you created this stroke on its own layer, you can
change this look further if you'd like. One way to do this is
to change the Blend Mode. Go to the Blend Mode option directly underneath
the Word layer on the Layers Palette and choose "Overlay." The result is a very subtle, aged look.
Now, if you undo
that last bit and simply add a straight stroke as we did on the first
letter, you can add another fun effect. You'll need to unselect
the letter first by pressing Ctrl+D (that got rid of
the feather effect). This time, Ctrl+Click in the Stroke
layer's thumbnail to select only the stroke, and then copy it by using
the Ctrl+C command. Now open a paper you'd love
to have as a border around your alpha. Paste your stroke layer onto
your preferred paper.
Then, select that layer, copy it and go back to your original
letter. You should still have that stroked outline selected and that
layer active, paste the new paper border onto your letter. Now you have
a perfectly matted alpha! You can rearrange, add drop shadows, play
with Blend Modes, or even add another small stroke around your paper
border to give it a finished look, as I did in the example above.
Now, one last technique with stroke that I love is a very
simple one, but if you take a look at my gallery, you'll see that I
use this technique on nearly every layout I do. I LOVE it that much.
This technique gives your photographs a white border so they look like
you had them printed in a specialty lab. The great thing about this
is that if you want to have your photos printed with this border without
paying the extra cash at a specialty photo lab, all you have to do is
put this border on the inside of your 4 x 6 photos digitally before
you take them to the lab and they'll come out with the border you wanted
to have.
Open a photo, select it, and go to Edit> Stroke.
Change the color to white and the pixel size to around 50 and click
"OK." You'll end up with a beautifully bordered photo. Of
course, you can do this in any color. You can add more borders to it
by adding layers and stroking either inside or outside the selection.
The options are endless. Have fun stroking!
Layout by Ursula Schneider
larger view
Tutorial written by Ursula Schneider
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