Creating Photoshop Templates For Photo Effects In CS2 / CS3

Photoshop tutorials on creating Photoshop templates, photo templates, and digital photo templates.

Step 2: Convert The Image Into A Smart Object

Here's where things get a little different than if we were simply creating this effect once with no intention of using it again with other images. To be able to use this Photoshop document as a template, we need to convert our image into a Smart Object, which, as I mentioned on the previous page, will mean we'll no longer be working on the image itself. Instead, we'll be working on a reference to the image. The actual image will be safely stored in a separate file, untouched and unharmed by whatever crazy things we do next.

To convert the image into a Smart Object, go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen, choose Smart Objects, and then, in Photoshop CS3, choose Convert to Smart Object, or if you're using Photoshop CS2, choose Group into New Smart Object. Nothing will seem to have happened to your image, but if we look in the Layers palette again, we can see a few changes with the Background layer. For one thing, it's no longer named "Background". Photoshop has renamed it "Layer 0". More importantly though, if we look closely at the layer's preview thumbnail, we can see that it now has a white highlight box around it, along with an icon in its bottom right corner. That icon is telling us that the image has now been converted into a Smart Object:

Step 3: Duplicate The Layer

Adobe Photoshop tutorials on digital photo templates, photo templates and Photoshop templates.

Now that our image has been converted into a Smart Object, let's duplicate it. Duplicating a Smart Object is no different from duplicating a normal layer, and the easiest way to do it is with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac). If we look again in the Layers palette, we can see that we now have two layers, the original "Layer 0" on the bottom and the new "Layer 0 copy" above it, both of which contain a copy of the Smart Object :

It's important to note here that even though we've duplicated the Smart Object, we don't really have two separate Smart Objects. Both of them are referencing the exact same photo, which means that when we replace the original image with a different image, as we'll do at the end of the tutorial, both layers will then show the same new photo. If we were to create 3, or 5, or 10 or more copies of the Smart Object and then replace the image, since they're all copies of the exact same Smart Object, they would all show the new photo!

Step 4: Resize And Reposition The Image On The New Layer With Free Transform

Let's move and resize the image on our newly created copy layer. Again, there's no difference between moving and resizing a Smart Object and a normal layer. Press Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up Photoshop's Free Transform box and handles around the image on the new layer. Then hold down Shift+Alt (Win) / Shift+Option (Mac) and drag any of the four corner handles inward to resize the image until it's about 60% of its original size. Holding "Shift" constrains the width and height proportions of the image as we resize it so we don't accidentally distort its shape, and holding "Alt" (Win) / "Option" (Mac) tells Photoshop to resize the image from its center:

I'm also going to move the image down a bit by clicking anywhere inside of the Free Transform box (except for on the small target icon in the center) and simply dragging the image down with my mouse. As I drag, I'm going to hold Shift which will force the image to move down in a straight line, preventing me from accidentally moving it left or right:

Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the transformation and exit out of Free Transform.

Step 5: Add A Stroke To The Resized Image

Looking for Photoshop tutorials on Photoshop templates, digital photo templates, or photo templates? You'll find them here.

As we've seen so far, working with Smart Objects isn't much different from working with normal layers, and the same is true even when adding Layer Styles. Click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers palette (in Photoshop CS2 it looks like a circle with an "f" inside, and in Photoshop CS3 it's simply the letters "fx") and select Stroke from the bottom of the list:

This brings up Photoshop's Layer Style dialog box set to the Stroke options in the middle column. Change the Size of the stroke to 1 px and the Position to Inside, then click on the red color swatch to the right of the word "Color", which will bring up Photoshop's Color Picker, and choose white as the stroke color:

Click OK to exit out of the Color Picker, but don't exit out of the Layer Style dialog box just yet. We have a couple more layer styles to add first, which we'll do next.