Cut-Around (Photoshop Elements)

I was working on a page this week about my son’s recent birthday. The inspiration for this page came from a page I saw in a recent scrapbooking magazine. One of the things I really liked about this page was the way they cut a piece of paper around the photos to accent them. Confused? Ok, let me show you:

Would you like to learn how to do this? It involves making a selection around multiple layers, which you may not have realized you can do. Come along and I’ll show you how!

Step 1) Getting Ready

Let’s assume our layout looks like the top one above. Yes, it is a bit busy, and it has lots of pieces to put together, but that is exactly why this technique is so valuable. It draws the photos out without putting a mat under them or using the “stroke” command to outline them.

In my example, I have already applied drop shadows to everything, but that, of course, could be added later. We’ll be using the Move tool for the entire tutorial, so make sure that is the chosen tool in the Tool Bar to the left.

Step 2) Make a Selection Around Multiple Layers

Making a selection around something is different than making that layer active. To make a layer active, you click on it in the Layer’s palette, and it will become “highlighted.” But to put a selection around everything on a layer, you hold down Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) and click on the thumbnail of that layer in the Layers palette. Once you do this, you will see those “marching ants” that indicate you have something selected.

Where this tutorial gets tricky is putting a selection around several layers. You see, each of my photos is on its own layer. And my goal is to put a selection around all of them, expand the selection, and then delete that part of the red paper.

• First, I had to figure out where my 8 photo layers were in my Layers palette. I have 24 layers on this page, so sorting through my Layers palette can be a challenge. Clicking on my photo layers while watching the Layers palette told me which layers they were. Fortunately, they were all together in the Layers palette. To keep track of them, I renamed the bottom photo layer “photo start” and the top photo layer “photo end”, with all of the other 6 photo layers being sandwiched in between. This is not necessary, but if you’re selecting multiple layers, it might be helpful. (To rename a layer in the Layers palette, double click on that layer’s NAME ONLY which will highlight the name. Type in the new name, and press Enter.)

• I’m starting with the bottom photo layer (the one named “photo start”), but it really doesn’t matter which layer you begin with. Hold down the Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) key and place your mouse over the thumbnail of one of the layers you want to put a selection around. See the pointer finger with the little box in the image below? That means if you click, you’ll put a selection around that layer, which is exactly what we want to do, so go ahead and click. Now when you look at your page, you should see a selection (marching ants) around the contents of that layer.

• Still holding down the Ctrl key (Mac: Cmd key), add the Shift key and move your mouse over the thumbnail of another layer you want to put a selection around. See how the little box now has a plus sign in it? That means if you click, you will be adding a selection to this layer, while retaining the selection(s) you’ve already made. Go ahead and click, and now you should see those marching ants around the contents of two layers. For me, that is two photos.

• Continue to add to your selection, layer by layer, until you have everything selected that you want.

Step 3) Expand the selection

• Choose Select >Modify > Expand and enter 50 pixels. This number may vary according to how much space you want to leave between the photos and the edge of the cut-around paper. The smaller the number, the smaller the space. Click OK.

Step 4) Cut-Around paper

• Go back to your Layers palette and make the paper layer the active layer. You can do this by either clicking on it in the Layers palette (if you can find it), or clicking on it on your page (as long as you’re still using the Move tool.)
• To cut away the paper inside your selection, simply press Backspace (Mac: Delete).
• Press Ctrl D (Mac: Cmd D) to get rid of all of those selection outlines.

This is a great way to bring out photos that may get lost on a busy page. Good luck and have a great week!

Credits: Tutorial by Jenny Binder, www.HeirloomScrapbooks.com. Page: Elements by Fee Jardine, Hip Hooray kit; Title letters by Misty Cato, Going Places Alpha; Paper by Amanda Heimann, Come Out and Play kit. Font: CK Regal.

Download a PDF version of this “Cut-Around” tutorial.

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