Once you have processed an image, you might want to put it in its own frame. Try not to use too many different frame effects in your book, however. Remember the gestalt principles: a unified design produces a harmonious overall look and feel. Too many design elements make a book seem fragmented.
The simplest type of frame is a colored border. Most providers offer them in one of their image adjustment tools. Generally, you can select your own color and thickness settings.
Figure 8.1: Blurb, like most providers, allows you to select the color and thickness of the borders you apply to your images
Figure 8.2: Picaboo’s framing effects can be found in the Shapes & Corners tool panel, along with a selection of decorative corner effects that you can apply to the frame itself
Figure 8.3: The AdoramaPix Frames tab includes a large selection of cutouts and traditional frame effects
Figure 8.4: SmileBooks offers a wide range of image masks, including the color gradient effect shown above
(Photos: Lutz Schnier)
Picaboo, SmileBooks, and AdoramaPix offer a range of decorative frames, image masks (Picaboo calls them “shapes”), and corners. They can generally be found in a separate tool tab or menu item. The effects vary considerably. Picaboo offers a small set of interesting shapes and a larger selection of decorative corner elements. AdoramaPix has a large selection of frame effects (which it calls “cutouts”), as well as a collection of more traditional-looking frames.
SmileBooks, too, offers a wide range of frames and frame effects, and allows you to download and apply third-party framing effects from the Internet.
Image masks, shapes, and cutouts cannot usually be edited. All you have to do to apply them is select an image and click or drag on your chosen effect. If you don’t like the result, you can simply undo it and try again using a different effect.
If your software includes gradient frame effects, you can use them to soften the transitions between images.
Figure 8.5: The two images on this double-page spread are blended with a gradient frame effect. This softens the transition and makes the two photos appear almost like one.
(Photos: Lutz Schnier)
Figure 8.6: A white background can help you visualize how the gradient effect works. Here, gradients were inserted on the right edge of the left-hand image and the left edge of the right-hand image.
WORKAROUND If your software doesn’t include the effects you want, you can apply them separately in an image processing program before you place the photo in your layout. Experienced Photoshop users can create any number of frame effects using the program’s painting and drawing tools. A quick YouTube search for “Photoshop frames” will turn up lots of video tutorials. “Borders” and “knockouts” are good search terms, too.
Alternatively, Photoshop Express and other free programs such as XnView, PhotoFiltre (for Windows), and Image Tricks (for Mac) include preset frame effects that you can apply directly to your images. Image Tricks frames can be found in the Masks panel, while PhotoFiltre and XnView offer the optional PhotoMasque add-on, which includes frame effects similar to those available with most provider software. [Fig. 8.7]
Figure 8.7: PhotoFiltre freeware includes the PhotoMasque dialog for applying and adjusting mask effects. The same module is also part of XnView.
Figure 8.8: Image Tricks is a free Mac software that offers extensive mask effects for frame design
The PhotoMasque Settings dialog gives you options for adjusting the look of your selected mask. You can apply it to the background, change its color, adjust its opacity, or blur the edges. Click the Preview button to see the effect your settings will have.
Mac users can apply similar masks and adjustments using the Image Tricks Masks dialog. [Fig. 8.8]
Some border effects, such as the popular Polaroid look, are offered by the Picnik online photo editing service, although some are only available to fee-paying Premium users. [Fig. 8.9]
The online photo service ClipYourPhotos.com also offers a range of framing effects, which can be found in their Framer tool [Fig. 8.10] 
Figure 8.9: Picnik offers a range of online border and frame effects
Figure 8.10: ClipYourPhotos.com is a dedicated online image service with its own frame effects tool called Framer
Figure 8.11: A virtual picture frame makes an effective photo book detail (Photo: Gerd Altmann/PIXELIO)
You can also use a photo of a real picture frame to pep up the images in a photo book. You can either photograph a frame yourself and crop it to fit—or, if you are in a hurry, you can simply use an image of a frame from an online database. (See also section 3.3, “Third-party Image Sources.”) [Fig. 8.11]
If you would like to use the frame from an existing image, you can simply insert the entire image on a layer beneath the image you want to frame in your layout. A more elegant solution involves selecting the center of the frame and saving the image in PNG format with a transparent alpha channel, as described in section 7.4, “Isolating Image Details.” In this case, you will have to insert the frame image on a layer above your own image. This technique can also be used to create circular frame effects or any other shape using graphics software.
TIPS & TRICKS If your chosen frame effect (rounded corners, for example) leaves white space around the edges of the finished image, you can make it transparent using the techniques described in section 7.4, “Isolating Image Details”. If you don’t do this, the differences between the white tones in the image background and the page color can leave obvious traces of the frame effects you have applied. 
PRO-GRADE SOFTWARE Pro software offers extensive options for designing frame effects. [Fig. 8.12, 8.13]
Figure 8.12: The InDesign Object > Corner Options menu allows you to adjust the look of a frame’s corners
Figure 8.13: The InDesign Stroke panel can be used to fine-tune the color and thickness of image borders
InDesign also allows you to save frame settings as an Object Style that you can then apply to other objects with a single mouse click. See also section 6.2, “Creating and Saving Your Own Layouts.” 
Shadows are an effective variation on borders that help to emphasize a photo against its background. [Fig. 8.14]
Shadow effects are already part of some MyPublisher layout templates. Picaboo offers shadow effects as part of its Photo Tools tab. AdoramaPix has a Shadow button in its Toolbox.
MyPublisher and Picaboo offer no additional settings for their shadow effects, while Adorama Pix allows you to select a shadow’s color. Gray is a much better choice than the default black. SmileBooks includes a separate dialog for adjusting shadow width, direction, and spacing. [Fig. 8.16]
Figure 8.14: Shadow effects help to emphasize photos against their backgrounds
Figure 8.15: Picaboo’s Photo Tools tab includes various shadow effects
Figure 8.16: The SmileBooks Edit Border dialog includes individual width, direction, and spacing settings for shadows
WORKAROUND If you are using a provider like Blurb that doesn’t offer shadow effects, you can produce your own. Create a gray box with the same proportions as your image in a graphics program (see section 9.3, “Creating Your Own Backgrounds,” for more details). Using a gradient for the shape’s border will soften the edges. You can then insert your new “shadow” beneath your image, offset either to the right or the left. [Fig. 8.17]
Figure 8.17: This illustration demonstrates the shadow creation process described above. All you have to do is create a gray box and insert it beneath your image.
Complex book layouts often include colored boxes or other graphic shapes that clarify the structure of a page or emphasize text against the background. Such elements can be very useful in constructing a photo book, but unfortunately they are not among the basic tools offered by most service providers. However, there are a number of tricks you can use to work around this deficiency without resorting to a dedicated graphics program.
Figure 8.18: Picaboo’s shape effects can be used to create design elements like this circular title background
Rectangular elements such as boxes or lines can be created using text boxes (also called “captions” by some providers) with colored backgrounds and no content. If you need to, you can always superimpose text on top of a colored box with a separate text box (see next page).
Some providers have limited text box positioning functionality and only allow you to place text boxes on top of images. For some, like SmileBooks, you can overcome this limitation by upgrading to the latest software version. If that doesn’t help, see the workaround box on the next page for more ideas.
WORKAROUND If, like Blurb, your provider’s software doesn’t include tools for creating graphic shapes, you can use just about any graphics utility to do the job yourself. Windows Paint, Apple’s Paintbrush, or the PhotoFiltre freeware introduced earlier are all capable of producing simple colored shapes.
First, create a new picture with dimensions of at least 2000 × 2000 pixels. This ensures that the resulting element will have sufficient resolution for printing and won’t cause your provider’s software to warn you that it doesn’t. Some programs (PhotoFiltre, for example) allow you to choose the background color when you create a shape, while others (like Paint) require you to fill in a white background using the paint bucket tool. [Fig. 8.19]
Once you have saved your shape as a separate file, you can insert it into an image box and use it as a separate colored object. If you use this technique a lot, it’s a good idea to create and save backgrounds in all the colors you use regularly.
It’s slightly more difficult to produce colored geometric shapes like circles. If your provider’s software includes mask functionality, you can simply apply a mask of the appropriate shape to a square or rectangular colored background. Otherwise, you will have to use a separate graphics program to create a PNG file with your desired shape and a transparent background. See section 7.4, “Isolating Image Details,” for more information on how to do this. The principle is the same; the only difference is that here, you are isolating a colored shape rather than an image detail.
If, like Mixbook, your provider supports the use of empty text boxes with frame effects, you can take things a step further and customize the frame on its own or complete with its contents. This technique can be used to create attractive “inner frames” by inserting an empty text box on top of an image. In this way, you can also create a wide variety of outlines and subtle framing effects.
Figure 8.19: It’s simple to create colored boxes using most graphic design tools. This illustration shows the PhotoFiltre interface, but the Paint utility included with Windows and the Mac Paintbrush software do exactly the same job.
WORKAROUND Most provider software doesn’t support the use of empty boxes with frame effects. You can, however, work around this limitation if your provider supports transparent PNG files. All you have to do is apply your desired frame effect to a transparent image and insert it into your layout. If this causes problems, you will have to apply the frame effect to your image using an image processing program before inserting it into your layout. [Fig. 8.20, 8.21]
Figure 8.20: Mixbook lets you apply border effects to empty text boxes, giving you a decorative “inner frame” that can be slanted if you wish
Figure 8.21: This method can also be used to create lines as additional graphic elements
Figure 8.22: InDesign includes functionality for creating and applying preset and freely drawn graphic elements
PRO-GRADE SOFTWARE Pro software can be used to create graphic objects in an endless variety of shapes and sizes, and with a wide range of effects such as transparency and shadows. [Fig. 8.22]
