OK, so you've got this great picture.

When it is displayed, you get the picture. If you're a regular reader of the GEC Computers in the Classroom newsletter, you've probably noticed that I always (when I remember) have Dreamweaver MX put a border around the image when I put it on a page and it appears like this.

I like the look and it makes the image stand out from the background. In my newsletter, I use a GIF background to give a pale texturized background to kind of give the look that the text is displayed on a sheet of paper. This is about as artistically deep as I get! If you look closely, at the first picture, you'll see that the background around the two children is actually white and you'll note that the image is actually overlaid on top of the background image. The frame naturally draws a difference between the two.

Choose this option by highlighting your image and then selecting "Border" in the Properties pane.

But, when you are in a multimedia program like Hyperstudio or Kidpix or SMART Ideas or even a desktop publisher or word processor, you don't always have that feature. With a little pre-editing in Adobe Photoshop Elements or Macromedia Fireworks MX, you can have the same utlity and more.

Adobe Photoshop Elements

To explore the framing technique with Photoshop Elements, load the image into the program. Make sure that the "Effects" tab is showing at the top of the screen. If it isn't, enable it by selecting "Show Effects Browser". In the top left of the Effects Browser, you can filter the effects to just display the "Frames" for your picture.

Select the frame that you want and drag it and drop it on your image. Watch Elements do its thing and your image is perfectly framed. In the example below, I chose the "Brushed Aluminum" Frame. Very nice effect and it finishes the picture off nicely.

Fireworks MX

The same functionality is available in Fireworks MX. As above, open the application and bring in the picture to be framed.

From the "Commands" menu, we're going to be "Creative" and "Add Picture Frame". Select from Fireworks' large collection of frames, choose your width and let it be applied to your image. Below, I chose "Smear 3". For additional effects, these can be additive. Apply the same effect twice and see what happens!

In Fireworks, there is another way to finish off your picture as well. Select your image and then head to the "Filters", "Alien Skin Splat LE", and "Edges" screen. You'll have a number of edges that you can use. In the example below, I chose "Rough". Adjust the sliders for the thickness, margin, feature size, colour, etc. and watch what happens to your image! Since this filter is generated randomly, subsequent clicks on the random seed button chooses additional random effects.

There you go! Don't ever settle for plain and blah images again!

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