Photoshop for beginners: Strokes

People that create images in Photoshop, in particular Photoshop CS3 and above, will use strokes. They also use them with text and shapes. Photoshop provides different variations of what strokes you can add to your image.

Using Photoshop CS5, select a file that you wish to use to implement a stroke with. Choose the layer in which you want to use to apply the stroke. You will fnd this in the Layers palette. When it is chosen, the layer will be highlighted.

Using the right click button from your mouse, select “Blending Options”. You will see the Layer Style dialog box.

In the Layer Style box, you will find the “Stroke” component in the Styles listing. You will see it on the left side of the box.

This is where you can set up your stoke with a variety of different options:

• Stroke size - This is how many pixels think you want the stroke to be
• Position - This is where you select wether the stroke lies on the outside, inside, or on the perimeter
• Opacity - This is where you can select exactly how solid the line appears, this is good for adding transparency and making your stroke more subtle
• Colour - This is where you can choose the colour of the stroke

More advanced options like blend mode and fill type are also present.