Three Image Photo Frame Template With Smart Objects In Photoshop
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Step 15: Open The First Photo To Add To The Frame
Open the first image you want to add to the frame document. Here's the photo I'll be using:
Step 16: Copy The Photo To The Clipboard
Press Ctrl+A (Win) / Command+A (Mac) to quickly select the entire photo. You'll see a selection outline appear around the image. Then press Ctrl+C (Win) / Command+C (Mac) to copy the image to the clipboard. You can close out of the photo's document window once you've copied the image to the clipboard.
Step 17: Select The "Placeholder Left" Layer
Switch back over to the frame document by clicking anywhere inside its document window, then click on the placeholder left layer in the Layers panel to select it:
Step 18: Paste The Photo Into The Frame Document
Press Ctrl+V (Win) / Command+V (Mac) to paste the photo into the frame document. Photoshop will place the photo on its own layer directly above the layer that was selected, and if we look in the Layers panel, we can see that sure enough, the photo appears on its own layer directly above the "placeholder left" layer that we selected in the previous step:
The only problem is that I want this photo to appear as the left image in the frame, but at the moment, not only is it appearing in the middle, it's hidden behind the middle shape due to the "placeholder middle" layer being above the photo in the Layers panel. All I can see of the image are the outer edges that extend beyond the shape:
Step 19: Drag The Photo Over The "Placeholder Left" Shape
With the Move Tool still selected, click inside the document and drag the photo towards the left until it appears over top of the "placeholder left" shape:
Step 20: Create A Clipping Mask
Once the photo is over top of the "placeholder left" shape, go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and select Create Clipping Mask:
Photoshop will "clip" the photo to the placeholder shape below it, allowing only the area of the photo that falls within the boundaries of the shape to remain visible. The rest of the photo that extends outside of the shape becomes hidden from view. The white stroke around the shape is now visible once again:
Step 21: Resize The Photo With The Free Transform Command
Let's resize the photo so that we can see the entire image rather than just whatever part happens to be over the placeholder shape. Press Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to quickly bring up Photoshop's Free Transform box and handles around the image. Even though we can only see the area of the photo that's directly over the shape, the Free Transform handles appear around the actual dimensions of the image. If you can't see the Free Transform handles because your image is so large that the edges extend out beyond the visible area of the document window, press Ctrl+0 (Win) / Command+0 (Mac) to have Photoshop zoom out until everything fits inside the document window (known as the Fit on Screen view). Press it again when you're done resizing the image.
Drag the Free Transform corner handles (the little squares) inward until they line up with the corners of the placeholder shape so that both the shape and the photo are the same size. Of course, this assumes that you're using a photo with the same 4x6 aspect ratio as the placeholder shape, as I am here. If your photo uses a different aspect ratio, simply resize the image until as much of it fits within the shape as possible. Hold down your Shift key as you drag the handles to constrain the aspect ratio of the photo so you don't accidentally distort the look of it as you're resizing it. You can reposition the photo if needed by clicking anywhere inside the Free Transform box and dragging it around with your mouse:
When you're done resizing the image, press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to accept the transformation and exit out of the Free Transform command: