Rounded Corners Tutorial

Here are a pair of tutorials on cropping photos and backgrounds so they have rounded corners. The first tutorial only works in Photoshop Element versions that have the cookie cutter tool (versions 3-5, I think). The second tutorial should work for both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. While these tutorial focus on the rounded rectangle/square shape, you can use this technique to crop photos and backgrounds into any number of different shapes.

TECHNIQUE 1: Using the Cookie Cutter Tool in PSE

Open the photo or background paper you want to crop. Do a 'Save As' and give it a new name so you don't accidentally overwrite your original. Select the cookie cutter tool from the tools palette. It looks like a heart shaped cookie cutter. Click on the small downward arrow to the right of the word "Shape:" in the options toolbar at the top of your workspace. Select the 'rounded square' from the drop down menu of shapes.



Click and drag on your canvas to draw your rounded square. Holding the shift key as you do so will keep the sides proportionate.



Once you are done dragging PSE will automatically crop your paper/photo. If you like the final result, click the check mark in the options toolbar at the top of the workspace to finalize the crop. If you don't like your selection, click the crossed out circle in the toolbar to revert to the original size and try again.



Now your background/object is cropped and ready to be used on a page.

You may want to follow up this tutorial with the technique described in the Burn It tutorial to give your edges more definition.

TECHNIQUE 2: The Custom Shape Tool

Open the photo or background paper you want to crop. Do a 'Save As' and give it a new name so you don't accidentally overwrite your original.



Key Shift+Ctrl+N to create a new, empty layer.



Right click on the Custom Shape tool in the layers palette and select the Rounded Rectangle tool from the drop down menu. Adjust the Radius setting in the options toolbar at the top of your workspace as desired. The larger the radius, the more rounded your corners. I will be using a radius setting of 90.

Click and drag on your canvas to draw your rounded rectangle. In the layer palette, move the opacity slider to around 55 so you can see your background/photo below the custom shape. Move your custom shape on the canvas until it is over the area you want to crop.



Once you have the custom shape in place, move the opacity slider back to 100. Hold down the control key and click on the rounded rectangle layer icon in the layers palette. You should now have 'marching ants' around your shape.



Click on the background/photo layer in the layers palette to set it as the active layer. Go to Layer->New->Layer via Copy.

Photoshop will cut a rounded rectangle out of your background.



You can now get rid of the original background layer and the custom shape layer by dragging them to the trash icon in your layers palette. Now you should just have your rounded rectangle ready to go into a layout.



You may want to follow up this tutorial with the technique described in the Burn It tutorial to give your edges more definition.