Hydro Car Park Sunset

Thank you all for your considered comments on yesterday's blip. I am still not entirely convinced that the gray mat and drop shadow is the way to go but if you'd like to try a gray mat and drop shadow for yourself, here is ONE way to do it, using Photoshop Elements and layers. Feel free to experiment with the suggested parameter settings and have fun.

Making a mat in Photoshop Elements

1. Open an image in the Editor

2. Go to the Layers  menu across the top of the screen and Duplicate Layer. Don't worry about renaming the new top layer.

3. In the Layers window, select the Background  Layer. Go to the Image  menu (top of screen) and select Image/Resize/Canvas Size.  A Canvas Size  dialogue box will appear.

4. Enter about 500 pixels into both the width and height  parameters. For the Canvas Extension Colour  parameter choose "gray".

5. Now select the top layer. Go to the Layers  menu. Choose Layer Style/Style Settings. The Styles Setting  dialogue box will appear.

6. Set the Lighting Angle  to 145 degrees. Select the Drop Shadow  box. Then set the Size  slider to 180,  the Distance  slider to 90 and the Opacity  slider to 50.

7. Go to the Layers  menu and Flatten Image.  Voila.