Fading out borders of a pic

[njgamble60]

Hi all!

I've searched tutorials and youtube vids for details on how to fade the square edges of photos with no luck.  I design for t shirts and want to upload my pics onto the front of a tshirt.  The hard edges or square looks odd.  I'm trying to create a pop out kind of look.  No edges, but a fading out.   I just purchased Affinity photo and am a newbie. Thanks so much in advance!

 

[Bri-Toon]

Maybe you could make a mask around the photo with slight slants on the edges. After you do that, click on the mask icon (not the layer icon, but mask icon), and then go into the FX menu and add a gaussian blur.

[njgamble60]

Thanks for your reply! Well, I don’t know how to make slight slants unless that would be by the curve selection? I’m a serious newbie!  

[applewoodj]

While there may be a better way of doing this, take the box tool and create a box to cover the part of the photo you want. (basically, where you want the photo to fade). Make sure the box is black. (you can do the same thing with an oval). Drag the box layer down over the photo layer until you see a vertical blue line. (not the horizontal one). Go to effects and crank up the gaussian blur. you should now have the effect you're looking for.

 

[Bri-Toon]

3 hours ago, njgamble60 said:

Thanks for your reply! Well, I don’t know how to make slight slants unless that would be by the curve selection? I’m a serious newbie!  

Not a problem. Here is a recording explaining it better, but it's what ever approach works for you.

 

[njgamble60]

6 hours ago, applewoodj said:

While there may be a better way of doing this, take the box tool and create a box to cover the part of the photo you want. (basically, where you want the photo to fade). Make sure the box is black. (you can do the same thing with an oval). Drag the box layer down over the photo layer until you see a vertical blue line. (not the horizontal one). Go to effects and crank up the gaussian blur. you should now have the effect you're looking for.

 

My pixel layer or photo layer is always on top of the mask layer and cannot be brought down, so where am I going wrong?  

Opened the photo, drew a rectangle column along the left edge, filled it black then added a mask layer underneath.  That's where I can't bring the mask layer down over the pixel layer or background layer (pic).  

[Bri-Toon]

8 minutes ago, njgamble60 said:

My pixel layer or photo layer is always on top of the mask layer and cannot be brought down, so where am I going wrong?  

Opened the photo, drew a rectangle column along the left edge, filled it black then added a mask layer underneath.  That's where I can't bring the mask layer down over the pixel layer or background layer (pic).  

Sorry. I probably went through that too fast. Bring that shape just to the right of the photo layer's "thumbnail." There will be a vertical blue bar indicating where to place it.

[applewoodj]

If you have the shape above your photo, just right click on the rectangle and choose mask to below. Then click on the rectangle layer and go to effects>gaussian blur.

[njgamble60]

35 minutes ago, Bri-Toon said:

Sorry. I probably went through that too fast. Bring that shape just to the right of the photo layer's "thumbnail." There will be a vertical blue bar indicating where to place it.

Thanks for all your help.  Ha, now to find a way to save it without the square affect!  When I export as and save to my download file - it saves as a square...exactly what I was trying to remove!  So much for working with t shirts!  Thanks again, Nina

[applewoodj]

Not sure I understand what you mean by square effect. Maybe attach the photo here so it will be easier to solve the problem.

[njgamble60]

15 minutes ago, applewoodj said:

Not sure I understand what you mean by square effect. Maybe attach the photo here so it will be easier to solve the problem.

  If I save this file and upload to a tshirt template....the actual picture above will print onto shirt as a square with the faded edges.  I'm trying to get rid of the square all together...may not be possible  for what I'm doing!  Thanks again!

[applewoodj]

Something like this?

[njgamble60]

Yes, but the image below will upload to a template (with a square outline) as you can see below on your pic...the faded edges are perfect, but will not print without a square border around the image.  Darn it! lol

 

11 minutes ago, applewoodj said:

Something like this?

42 minutes ago, applewoodj said:

Not sure I understand what you mean by square effect. Maybe attach the photo here so it will be easier to solve the problem.

  If I save this file and upload to a tshirt template....the actual picture above will print onto shirt as a square with the faded edges.  I'm trying to get rid of the square all together...may not be possible  for what I'm doing!  Thanks again!

[Ron P.]

Will a PNG file work? To do this I just placed a white mask over the image, then used a Texture brush to erase the edges. Hum, looking at it uploaded it still shows a rectangle outline. I'm not sure what your screen printing/t-shirt method allows. This image has no rectangle border, the browser and forum software are what's showing the border size of the image.

[njgamble60]

18 hours ago, Ron P. said:

Will a PNG file work? To do this I just placed a white mask over the image, then used a Texture brush to erase the edges. Hum, looking at it uploaded it still shows a rectangle outline. I'm not sure what your screen printing/t-shirt method allows. This image has no rectangle border, the browser and forum software are what's showing the border size of the image.

 

23 hours ago, applewoodj said:

Something like this?

 

18 hours ago, Ron P. said:

Will a PNG file work? To do this I just placed a white mask over the image, then used a Texture brush to erase the edges. Hum, looking at it uploaded it still shows a rectangle outline. I'm not sure what your screen printing/t-shirt method allows. This image has no rectangle border, the browser and forum software are what's showing the border size of the image.

Yes, but the image below will upload to a template (with a square outline) as you can see below on your pic...the faded edges are perfect, but will not print without a square border around the image.  Darn it! lol

 

23 hours ago, applewoodj said:

Something like this?

23 hours ago, applewoodj said:

Not sure I understand what you mean by square effect. Maybe attach the photo here so it will be easier to solve the problem.

  If I save this file and upload to a tshirt template....the actual picture above will print onto shirt as a square with the faded edges.  I'm trying to get rid of the square all together...may not be possible  for what I'm doing!  Thanks again!

[njgamble60]

18 hours ago, Ron P. said:

Will a PNG file work? To do this I just placed a white mask over the image, then used a Texture brush to erase the edges. Hum, looking at it uploaded it still shows a rectangle outline. I'm not sure what your screen printing/t-shirt method allows. This image has no rectangle border, the browser and forum software are what's showing the border size of the image.

Thank you for taking the time to show me this!!

[applewoodj]

Using Ron's technique, there won't be a square outline...

[njgamble60]

Can someone post steps to achieve this technique? I must be missing a step along the way.  Thanks in advance! 

 

[Ron P.]

Sure, it's super simple.

 

Place a white mask on the image. Grab your paint brush, and I used I think it was the Grunge 9 brush under Textures. Use a larger soft brush. To get the extreme outside erased I had the opacity at 100%, then dropped it to around 30ish to get the rough faded edge. That's it. Export it to PNG.. 

[njgamble60]

Woohoo! Ron, and applewood j...It worked perfectly!  Thanks to both of you.  Sorry for all the trouble...you saved my sanity...lol

[Capt Randy]

Hi Ron,

I am trying to do the exact same thing with a photo of my dog. I found this thread after a long search and it seemed to be the right place for answers.

I see that njgamble60 is a happy printer now with your help. I was stumped at the first part of your description to "Place a white mask on the image"

Where would I find that on the photoshop layout? I am using an old version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.

I would be willing to email you the image and have you do exactly what was shown in the thread and email me back a .jpg of the image.

I could send you a payment with PayPal for your trouble.

Thanks, Capt. Randy

[Capt Randy]

Hi Ron,

My Bad, I just realized that you guys are using a different Photo program than I am, so maybe I can not do what you have done with the Affinity program.

Attached is the photo that I am trying to work with. I would like to get rid of my fingers in the photo also.

Capt Randy

[Ron P.]

1 hour ago, Capt Randy said:

Hi Ron,

My Bad, I just realized that you guys are using a different Photo program than I am, so maybe I can not do what you have done with the Affinity program.

Attached is the photo that I am trying to work with. I would like to get rid of my fingers in the photo also.

Capt Randy

I don't have Photoshop Elements to reference. It's been years since I've used it or Photoshop, so I'm at loss how the border would be done. For removing your fingers you would need to use a clone brush or tool. I'm sorry I can't be of more help.

[Capt Randy]

Thank anyway Ron, I will keep on trying

CaptRandy

[GarryP]

Capt Randy: This is a forum for users of the Affinity range of applications, not Photoshop Elements. You can probably get more help for that software elsewhere.