I had a request for this technique from a couple of sources so decided to include it in this newsletter. Basically, here's the scenario. You have a wonderful rectangular picture that you wish to make 3D and oval.

I went to Victoria Public School's website where I knew there was a nice picture of the school.

And, then, we open it with Adobe Photoshop Elements.

From the tools on the left, select the oval selector and then draw an oval over the picture selecting the area of the school to be made into the resultant picture.

From the "Edit Menu", select "Cut". Now, from the "File Menu", create a "New File". Photoshop Elements creates the new file in exactly the right size to handle the size of the picture that you've just cut. From the "Edit Menu", "Paste" the image that you have from the first step.

If you open your layers pallette, select the "Layer Styles" tab. Drag the style that you'd like out on top of your new picture. In my case, I selected the "Scalloped Edges" style. That's it. All that you need to do now is save your image.

What format? Well, flip back to the page dealing with File Formats! JPG will keep the photographic accuracy of your image. GIF will let you keep the transparent background.

JPG format

GIF format

In this case, I'd opt for the GIF format. You don't lose a great deal of the image of the school and you get the benefit of the transparent background.

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