If you’re  looking for something new to do with your photos, here’s a great idea! Try converting some of your favorite images into fine art posters.  It is amazing fun to turn an ordinary photo into a stunning piece of wall decor by adding a simple white border around the image and a caption along the bottom edge.  Here’s how to do make a 24″ x 36″  poster in Photoshop.

First, choose a beautiful image.  I’ve chosen an image of a red boat that was resting along the shore of Davis Park on Fire Island.Second, open the image in Photoshop.  Since we are looking to create a final overall size of 24″ x 36″ we need to CROP the image so that it fits inside a 24″ x 36″ canvas.  Grab your crop tool and crop the image to 19″ x 34″.  This will allow the canvas to hang over the image by 1″ on the top, right and left side and 3″ along the bottom.

Next, build your canvas out one side at a time.  1.- Choose ‘Image’, ‘Canvas Size’, Change the height to 20″, click the bottom / middle anchor, choose the canvas color that you want and hit OK.  2.- Choose ‘Image’, ‘Canvas Size’, Change the width to 35″, click the left / middle anchor, choose the canvas color that you want and hit OK. 3.- Choose ‘Image’, ‘Canvas Size’, Change the width to 36″, click the right / middle anchor, choose the canvas color that you want and hit OK.  4.- Finally, Choose ‘Image’, ‘Canvas Size’, Change the height to 24″, click the top / middle anchor, choose the canvas color that you want and hit OK.

Time to add a caption along the bottom edge.  First, create a new layer.  Next, select your Type Tool, choose your font and size and type your caption inside the wide border along the bottom edge.  Center our text.  To add your name, create a new layer, select the Type Tool, choose your font and size and type your name under the caption.  Center your name under the caption.

Finally, flatten your image and ‘Save As’ to add it to your image library without losing your original image.  Here is my result.

Posters make great wall art and even better gifts!

View more Fine Art Posters at Long Island Photo Gallery.