Written By Steve Patterson

In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, we're going to look at a great way to create unique and interesting photo borders by using other photos as displacement maps! Previously, we looked at how to create photo borders with masks and filters, which is an easy way to come up with interesting results simply by applying some of Photoshop's built-in filters to a layer mask. The downside to using that method though is that you're using the same filters every other Photoshop user has access to, which means you run the risk of creating the exact same border effects everyone else is creating. That may or may not be an issue for you, but the method we're going to look at here completely avoids that problem because it uses your own photos to create the effect, and since presumably you're the one who took your photos, you can use them to create photo borders that are as unique as you are!

What do I mean when I say we'll be using other photos as displacement maps? Well, first of all, don't let the term "displacement map" scare you off if you've never used one before. A displacement map is nothing more than a black and white photo or image which Photoshop uses to move, distort and reshape the pixels in another image. We've already looked at displacement maps in a previous tutorial where we used them to create photo realistic drop shadows. Any photo can be used as a displacement map, but if you're using them to create photo borders as we'll be doing here, you'll want to choose photos that have a lot of detail to them. The more detail, the more interesting the end result. In fact, your best bet is to avoid using traditional types of photos and try using "texture" photos instead. By "texture" photo, I mean photos of things like rocks, stones, wood, rust, bricks, fabrics - anything that has an interesting surface to it.

Where do you get these types of photos? The easiest way is to grab your digital camera, go outside and take pictures! Zoom in on the sidewalk and snap a photo of the concrete with all its nicks and cracks. Walk up to a tree and snap a close-up photo of the bark. See a piece of rusted metal somewhere? Point the camera and press the button! We'll see a couple of examples of texture photos I've taken in this tutorial. I could spend the whole day wandering around the neighborhood finding great textures. Of course, the neighbors may stop and stare at me, but life just isn't worth living if someone isn't thinking you've lost your mind.

Here's the photo I'll be using as my main photo in this tutorial (in other words, the photo I'll be applying the border to):

And here's what it will look like when we're done:

Of course, the main focus of this Photoshop tutorial is creating that jagged border we see around the main part of the image. The dark brown area around the edges of the photo was just something I added in for more interest, but we'll see how to do that as well at the end of the tutorial. Let's get started!

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Step 1: Duplicate The Background Layer

As always, let's begin by duplicating our Background layer so we're not working directly on our original image information. To do that, go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen, choose New, and then choose Layer via Copy, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac):

If we look now in our Layers palette, we can see the original Background layer on the bottom and a copy of the Background layer, which Photoshop has automatically named "Layer 1", above it:

Step 2: Add A New Blank Layer Between The Two Existing Layers

We need to add a new blank layer between our existing two layers. We currently have "Layer 1" selected in the Layers palette (the currently selected layer is highlighted in blue). Normally, Photoshop adds a new layer directly above the layer that's currently selected, but we need our new layer to appear below "Layer 1", not above it. To tell Photoshop to add the new layer below "Layer 1", we simply hold down the Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key on the keyboard and click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

If we look in our Layers palette again, we can see that we now have a new blank layer, which Photoshop has named "Layer 2", between "Layer 1" and the Background layer:

Step 3: Fill The New Layer With White

Even though at the end of this tutorial I'll be doing something a little more interesting, for the time being let's use white as our border color. For that, we'll need to fill our new blank layer with white. Go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and choose Fill, or use the keyboard shortcut Shift+F5:

Either way brings up Photoshop's Fill dialog box. In the Contents section at the top of the dialog box, choose White from the selection box. Then, down in the Blending section at the bottom, make sure that Mode is set to Normal and Opacity is set to 100%:

Click OK in the top right corner when you're done to exit out of the dialog box and have Photoshop fill the new layer with white. Nothing will appear to have happened to the image and that's because "Layer 1" is above our new layer and blocking it from view, but if we look at the preview thumbnail for "Layer 2" in the Layers palette, we can see that the thumbnail is now filled with solid white, which tells us that the layer itself is now filled with white: