Tutorial: Photos with Rounded Corners using Photoshop

April 23rd, 2008

Tutorial: Photos with Rounded Corners using Photoshop

Rounded Corners Photoshop Tutorial by Growing Happiness

Round/rounded, curved/smooth corner, there are many names for this effect and there are a few methods to create it. In this tutorial, I’m gonna teach you how to get your photos to have rounded corners using what I consider the easiest and most flexible method – using clipping masks.

There are 7 images in this tutorial (totaling 320kb), not including the header image above .

Before that
Open the image file you’d like to use (make sure you have a backup copy, just in case) and resize it to desired size using the Image>Image Size… from your menu bar. In this tutorial, I’m using an image that is 350px wide. I am using Photoshop CS2.

Step 1
Your image is by default a Background layer, which is locked. To unlock it, double click the layer. At the “New Layer” dialog box, you may choose to rename the layer, in this example, “Spring”, or leave it as “Layer 0″, and click OK.
Photos with Rounded Corner Tutorial Step 1

Step 2
Click-hold the Shape Tool on your tools palette and select Rounded Rectangle Tool. If the tools palette is not visible, go to the menubar and click Window > Tools.
At your Shape options bar, enter a Radius of 20px (you can experiment with different values later).

Photos with Rounded Corners Tutorial Step 2

Step 3
Click and drag a Rounded Rectangle Shape over your photo. Note that the actual cursor is a hairline cross, not a Giant Arrow. A Shape 1 layer is automatically created above your photo layer. Move the shape around until you are roughly satisfied with the positioning.
Photos with Rounded Corners Tutorial Step 3

Step 4
Drag the Shape 1 layer below your photo layer. An outline of the shape will be visible on your photo layer.

Photos with Rounded Corners Tutorial Step 4

Step 5
Select the photo layer (Important:Make sure you have the photo layer selected before moving to the next step!).

Click on the little arrow at the top right corner, then click on Create Clipping Mask.

Voila! Your photo layer is now masked to the shape layer below. At this point, you can select the Shape layer and move it around or transform its size, if you like.
Photos with Rounded Corners Tutorial Step 5

Step 6
Before saving this image, you might want to crop away the unecessary transparent pixels surrounding your photo. From your menu bar, go to Image>Trim…
Copy the options below. The file will be cropped exactly to the edge of your photo.

Photos with Rounded Corners Tutorial Step 6

Have fun!
Autumn Foliage with Round Corners

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File in: tutorials Tags: design, photo editing, photos, photoshop, photoshop tips, rounded corners, tips, tutorials
Comments: 27 Comments | Add your comment

Great tutorial :D I love the picture you used for it!

Zech at 11:17 am on April 23, 2008

Thanks, the header picture was taken at Lake Jindabyne on beautiful, cloudless day.

Ginger M at 11:38 am on April 23, 2008

Thank you thank you thank you! My wife has always had to do this for me, now the tutorial will help me on my own!

Damien Riley at 10:26 am on April 29, 2008

Glad to be of help. :)

Ginger M at 9:09 am on April 30, 2008

thanks so much for this tutorial. it was very well written and easy to follow.

han at 3:22 pm on July 23, 2008

okay, well i got stuck at step 5. the "create clipping mask" is not available for me to click on...

Alexa at 11:06 pm on July 31, 2008

If "create clipping mask" is unavailable in step 5, please check that you have the right layer selected (the photo layer and not the vector shape layer).

Ginger M at 12:07 am on August 1, 2008

hi there, the first couple of times i did this it worked fine, but now, every time i create the clipping mask, the whole photo disappears and i'm left with the shape on a transparent background, i'm flummoxed...

gladbeast at 5:46 am on August 4, 2008

hey hey... i've sussed it, it was the fill, or lack of itwithout the fill in the shape, pshop assumes your just after the shape's outline...

gladbeast at 5:54 am on August 4, 2008

thanks for that. Been scratching my head about how to do this since I got PS and this is a simple and straightforward explanation (how is curing hiccups a related link though?)

Steve M at 4:22 am on September 26, 2008

Hi! When I´m getting rid of the transparent pixels, the ones in the corners wont go away. When I´m saving my pictures, there are still some ugly ass pixels where the old corners used to be... Do I have to add a white background to get it the way I want it to be? I want my pictures to look just like you´r "Rounded Corners" sample photo at the top of this page. How do I do that?

Richard Palasoff at 2:20 pm on December 27, 2008

I don't quite understand your "ugly pixel" problem but you could try adding a plain white background layer below your rounded image.

Ginger M at 11:28 am on December 29, 2008

Thank you so much for this tutorial it is awsome!! thank you =D!!

Shane at 5:30 pm on March 29, 2009

[...] 2. Tutorial: Photos with Rounded Corners using Photoshop [...]

12+ Excellent Photoshop Rounded Corners Tutorials at 9:02 am on April 3, 2009

Thanks so much for sharing your excellent Photoshop knowledge and skills so generously and effectively. A little rounding goes a long way!

T. Leach at 6:11 pm on May 3, 2009

great tutorial :)

honour chick at 3:32 am on May 11, 2009

Thanks so much for this tutorial! It was exactly what I needed - no more, no less. Really appreciate it. Michael

Michael at 11:05 am on June 14, 2009

Ain't sure whether you are a lady or gentleman, but SIR or MADAM! Thank you so much! this tutorial is simple and great. I however still have the remaining sharp edges on each rounded corner. how can I remove them and just only have the corner rounds with no shit extending? Thanks.

Noble One at 9:20 am on July 15, 2009

Hi? Marlina! Thanks for your tutorial, it helped me a great deal. BUT, do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? coz that would make your happiness for REAL and FOREVER. I hope you do, but if not yet, please consider a new birth. I can help explain this whole 'relatinship and new birth' thing. if yes pliz let me know thruogh my email. God Loves YOU!

Noble One at 9:52 am on July 15, 2009

thanks a lot , its simple and got it done the first trial:)

Triton at 10:39 pm on July 16, 2009

Great tutorial - straight and to the point - gets the job done quick and easy!

Carol at 11:53 am on February 16, 2010

Nice tutorial ! However when I try to add borders (stroke) to the resulting image, the borders at the rounded corners do no appear and they appear just fine on all the sides. How to make the borders appear on the rounded corners ?

Kashif at 11:10 pm on February 25, 2010

Nice tutorial

Tommy at 9:23 pm on March 22, 2010

I can't seem to get this to work for me. When I add the rounded rectangle to my image, I'm not getting a separate shape layer, its just adding the rectangle to the background layer. I'm not sure why this is happening.

Lisa at 2:29 pm on April 13, 2010

@Lisa, make sure you have "Shape layers" selected instead of "Paths" at your Shape options bar.

Ginger M at 2:08 am on April 16, 2010

Hi, thank you for this great tutorial. I tried it and almost everything worked out. But if I save the image as a Jpg I still have some white corners. I don´t know how to get rid of them. Thanks Rosa

Rosa at 7:27 am on April 19, 2010

thank you SO much for this EASY tutorial! I could not figure it out for the life of me!

Randi at 11:21 pm on June 14, 2010

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