Step 8: Apply The "Spatter" Filter To The Layer Mask

At this point, creating our border effect is simply a matter of applying one of Photoshop's filters to the layer mask we just created. The only thing you need to make sure of is that you have the layer mask, not the layer itself, selected before applying the filter, otherwise you could end up applying the filter to the contents of the layer by mistake. Since we just finished adding our layer mask, it should be selected, but just in case, look at the two thumbnails for "Layer 1" in the Layers palette. Whichever one has the white highlight box around it is the one that's currently selected. You should see the highlight box around the layer mask thumbnail, but if for some reason you don't, simply click on the layer mask thumbnail to select it:

Now that we're sure we have the layer mask selected and not the layer itself, we can apply our filter. As I mentioned at the beginning of this tutorial, there's lots of filters to choose from in Photoshop that work great when it comes to creating interesting photo borders. We'll look at a few examples here, but you'll definitely want to experiment on your own with other filters. First, we'll try one of my favorite filters, the "Spatter" brush filter. Go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Brush Strokes, and then choose Spatter. When the dialog box appears, I'm going to enter a value of 10 for the Spray Radius and 5 for the Smoothness:

You can see a preview of what the border is going to look like in the large preview area on the left of the dialog box, so feel free to experiment with different values for the Spray Radius and Smoothness to see what sort of effect you get. Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box and apply the filter. Here's my photo border after applying the Spatter filter to the layer mask:

Step 9: Apply The "Glass" Filter

Let's try a different filter for a different photo border effect. First, press Ctrl+Z (Win) / Command+Z (Mac) to undo the Spatter filter. Then go back up to the Filter menu, this time choose Distort, and then choose Glass. When the "Glass" filter dialog box appears, I'm going to enter 8 for the Distortion amount and 4 for Smoothness. I'm going to leave the Texture option set to Frosted and the Scaling set to 100%:

Again, you can experiement on your own with these settings if you like using the large preview area on the left of the dialog box to preview the border effect you're creating. Click OK when you're done to apply the filter to the layer mask and exit out of the dialog box. Here's my photo border created using the "Glass" filter:

Step 10: Apply The "Sprayed Strokes" Filter

Let's try one more. Press Ctrl+Z (Win) / Command+Z (Mac) once again to undo the last filter we applied. This time, go up to the Filter menu, choose Brush Strokes, and then choose Sprayed Strokes. When the dialog box appears, I'm going to enter 6 for the Stroke Length, 10 for the Spray Radius, and I'll set the Stroke Direction to Right Diagonal:

Again, you can experiment on your own with these settings if you like using the preview area on the left. When you're done, click OK to exit out of the dialog box and apply the filter to the layer mask. Here's my photo border created using the "Sprayed Strokes" filter:

We've looked at just three of the many filters in Photoshop that you can use to create interesting and unique photo borders, but this should give you an idea of how easy they are to create simply by applying various filters to the layer mask. We're going to finish things off by removing all the excess border area around our photo next.