Blinky2004

I don't recall if PS7 has any special crop tool abilities beyond the basic moves, but with PS CS/CS2 you can simply use the Crop tool to make this effect very easy to create. PS7 users may as well try this to see if they can use the Crop tool in this way also.



Let me explain...

1) Open you photo into PS.

2) Crop your photo so it's square; since most polaroids aren't rectangular.
This of course is optional. If you want a rectangular photo, there's nothing wrong with that. It'll work here all the same.

If this image is merely for the Web, then you can scale it down to a workable size; like 600x600 or something like that. Or even a bit smaller.
If it's to be printed out then you should leave it at it's original huge size. But zoom out to 25% so you have room to work around the photo.

3) Now set your background swatch colour to white. For beginners to be sure this is done, simply press D.

4) Right-Click on the document's titlebar and choose "Canvas Size"; also found under the IMAGE menu. Set the measurement type to Pixels. Then add an equal amount of pixels to both height and width. This number will vary from person to person because everyone's photos will be a different size. My example below was a scaled down photo for this tute, and was originally a hi-res copy (i.e. very large).

Here's some suggestions:

If your photo is left at a hi-res print size, then try add 200 pixels to height and width. See how that looks. If it's too much or too little, just UNDO and redo the Canvas Size.

If your photo is scaled down for Web use, then increase the canvas size by 20 pixels all round and see how that looks.

5) Once you've increased the canvas size all around the photo, you'll have a white border. Now comes the easy part. To add the extra space below the photo for text and whatnot, grab the Crop tool from the Toolbar (press C).

Now open the VIEW menu and make sure "Snap To > Document Bounds" is turned on.

Before we do this, we need extra space around our document. So press the F key once. You should now see you document surrounded by lots of extra space, and the window for your document should not be visible.

Click and drag the Crop tool from the top left corner down to the right bottom corner. Release the mouse button at this point. And now, grab the center control handle at the bottom and drag it down until you feel you've added enough space below the photo to add text to. The Crop tool is extended down beyond the document's border (see example), and the amount of extra space you see within the Crop tool area is what will get added to your document once you apply the tool.



If you feel you've added enough new area, then double-click within the Crop tool square, or press the Enter key to apply the change.

6) Now that you have your basic image, you can either leave it like this and just add your text. Or you can add a couple extra steps to enhance the effect -- a slight bevel to the photo paper and a drop shadow.

A] A Bevel:
- Since layer styles cannot be applied to background layers, you must change it to a normal layer. Do that by double-clicking on the layer thumbnail and then pressing OK in the resulting window.
- Now add a New Layer to your palette and move it below your photo layer. Then fill it with white -- open the EDIT menu and choose FILL. Change the 'Contents' menu option to White. Press OK to apply.
- Again we'll need to resize our canvas larger to accomodate the drop shadow effect. So under the IMAGE menu choose "Canvas Size...". Set the measurement type to Percentage and change the height/width to 110%. Apply this change.
- Double-click your photo layer now to open the Layer Effects window.
First, set the Drop Shadow to On. Then setup the options as seen in the image here:


- Now turn On the Bevel/Emboss option and set it up as seen in this image:


- And last, turn On the Gradient Overlay option ans set it up as seen in this image:


Once these have been added you can Apply the effects by pressing OK.

One other small effect i like to add is a slight edge around the actual photo hole in the paper. To help show that the white area is actually the photo paper, separate from the photo. Add a New Layer above the others. Grab the Rectangle selection tool (M key) and select as close as you can around your photo. If you need to you can use the Magic Wand selection tool to select the white paper, then press Ctrl+Shift+I to Inverse the selection.
Now open the EDIT menu and choose Stroke. Set the amount to 1 pixel and the colour to black. Press OK to apply.
Deselect (Ctrl+D).
Now reduce the layer's Opacity to 25%.
You'll notice how this creates a subtle 'edge' to the inside of the photo paper.

NOTE: For those using a large print version of their photo, you'll need to add more than 1 pixel here. Try 3.

Now all you need do is add that special text to customize your photo.

I hope this helps out here.
Any question, just ask in the General Photoshop board. :B