Dashed border

Dashed borders are a nice alternative to the plain and sometimes boring solid borders. This tutorial is formed of two main parts, first we need to make a pattern that we will use after to make the dashed border.

First step: making the pattern

Create a new image ( File > New or Ctrl+N ) with this settings:
Width: 8 pixels
Height: 8 pixels
Background: Transparent

Take the pencil tool (right click on the Brush tool and select Pen tool) and make something like the image below (image is zoomed).

Now we'll make it a pattern. Go to Edit > Define Pattern. Put the name you want and click OK.

Second step: adding the border

You can close that image now. Open the image you want to apply the dashed border. I used this one:

Select all of it but leaving a margin of 1 pixel with the border, like this (note that this is just a part of the image zoomed):

Invert the selection by going to Select > Inverse. Create a new layer to put the border (press Shft+Ctrl+N) and go to Edit > Fill. Select Pattern from the dropdown menu and select the pattern you made before. Click OK and deselect the area ( Select > Deselect or Ctrl+D ). Ready! there you have your dashed border, now just save it (File > Save for web)

Alternate step: change border color

If you want the border to be another color, just go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and select the color you like or that most fits the image. My final result is below.

Tutorial © Melfina. Do not reproduce in any way without previous permission from the author. Printed from http://celestial-star.net