This tutorial was written May 31, 2003 using Paint Shop Pro 8. It is assumed that you have been working with PSP 7 or another version of PSP and have some familiarity with the program.

There are many changes and enhancements in PSP 8. The purpose of this tutorial is to create a background from your photo. It demonstrates the way to create and modify a selection, the use of the Blur and Add/Subtract Noise functions as well as how to create a beveled frame within the graphic.

If you do not already own Paint Shop Pro 8, you may purchase it or download a trial version of PSP 8 HERE.

The PSP8 tools that you'll be using are:

Paint Brush:
Picture Tube:
Move Tool:

OK, let's get started....

Open an image of your choice. This background will work best on an image which has something in the middle versus a focal point that goes to the edges of your image. If you want to use my photo, just right click on it and paste it onto your work space in PSP8.

Click on Shft+D two times to duplicate your image twice. Close the original and minimize one of the duplicates.

On one of the images we're going to make a tube out of the focal image. There is more than one way to do this, but for this one I'm using the Freehand Selection tool with the settings shown:

Use the Smart Edge and go all around the edges of your image by dragging the tool over a short area of the edge and then left click. Continue until you have gone all around your image and then right click to complete your selection. The first image below shows the Smart Edge tool and the approximate length I would use on a non-straight edge. The second image shows the flower with the main selection completed.

To add more interest to the image, we can adjust the selection to include some additional detail. In this example, I've decided to use that little bit of green at the base of the flower. First, set your Foreground color to white and your Background color to black.

Next, go to Selections>Edit Selection. Notice how your selected image turned red. This indicates the area that is already selected.

Using your Paint Brush tool with the settings shown below, if you're using my orchid photo, or another brush size for a photo with a larger area, start painting in the area you want to include in your selection. Use the left click to get the white paint. This will add more red to your image as shown below in the second image. If you select too much with your Paint Brush, right click where you want to decrease the selection and the black will be applied to do that.

When you have completed your selection, go to Selections>Edit Selection and the red will disappear and your marching ants will have returned. Unless your marching ants are right at the edge, you will probably want to go to Selections>Modify>Contract and contract the edge by 1 or 2 pixels. When you look at the Contract Selection window you'll be able to see your before and after edges. That will help you in decided how many pixels to use. For mine I decided to use 2 pixels.

Now you can tube your image. Go to Edit>Copy then Edit>Paste as New Image. Then go to File>Export as Picture Tube. By tubing your image you will be able to use it full size for the graphic we're creating here, as well as in smaller sizes in the future. For now, minimize the graphic that still has marching ants and make the other duplicated graphic active.

We need to blur the background so first go to Adjust>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use a Radius of about 9. You can check to see how that will look on your image by clicking on the eye next to the die. If you make a change to the Radius, just click on the eye again and your image will be updated.

Next we'll add some noise. Go to Adjust>Add/Remove Noise>Add Noise and use the settings shown. We're using the Gaussian noise to get an overall effect, Noise at 50%, as well as Monochrome which results in noise based on colors in your image:

For the remainder of the blur effect we're going to use Motion Blur. You'll be adding the Motion Blur four or five times starting with the dial set at 0. Go to Adjust>Blur>Motion Blur as shown in the settings below. Click on 'OK' to apply the first motion blur. Repeat this process 4 to 5 more times changing the dial settings in a clockwise manner. You don't need to be precise about any of this, but it will produce a nice blurred effect for the background, as shown below in a reduced sized image.

Now we add the Antique Mosaic Texture. Go to Effects>Texture>Antique Mosaic and use the settings below:

If you still have that image with the marching ants, make that image active. Go to Edit>Copy. Next make the mosaic background image active and Edit>Paste as New Layer. You can move the image if you think it would look better repostioned. Use your Mover Tool to move it around. If you no longer have your copy with the marching ants available, you can also add the image to your background by using your new tube. Again, place it as a new layer by adding a Raster Layer first. Once you have your image over the background, add a Drop Shadow, again previewing how it will look on your image by clicking on the 'eye'. I've used the settings below on mine. I often use 0 for both the vertical and horizontal as it's just enough to set the image off, but not too much to distract from it.

Now all that's left is to add a frame, after you have gone to Layers>Merge All Flatten. On this type of image I generally just use the image itself to provide the frame. To do this go to Selections>Select All; Selections>Modify>Contract and set the number of pixels to the size you want. Because my image is large, I used about 18 pixels. Next, go to Selections>Invert and then to Effects>3D Effects>Inner Bevel and use the following settings:

To set my frame off a bit I also used a drop shadow with the opacity set to 100 and the blur to 15 and kept the vertical and horizontal at 9. Since my photo and frame contain dark colors I selected one of the green colors from the leaf area as my shadow color. It's just enough to set the frame off from the image. I then applied the drop shadow again but changed the vertical and horizontal to -9.

That's it! Here's my final image, optimized at 30%. I have not resized it as it would have lost a lot of detail. The optimization results in an image that is less than 50K.

I hope you've enjoyed learning something about some of the PSP 8 functions. If you have any questions, please email me.