How to create out of frame photo effect in Photoshop

You will learn how to manipulate a photograph in a way it will look like an object, melting snowman in my case, is sticking out of a photo using Photoshop CS5.

Open  an image.

Press Ctrl + J twice to duplicate a layer twice. You should end up with 3 same layers.

Deactivate the layer visibility (eye button) on the first two layers and select the original (Backgorund) layer (see picture).

In the menu click Layer, New Fill Layer and choose Gradient...

Click OK.

In the Gradient Fill window click the Gradient ...

..., a Gradient Editor window shows up.

Choose the Black to White gradient (see picture)

Don't close the window yet ...

Choose a grey color for the left color slider (see picture).

Click OK and again click OK.

Now activate the second layer visibility and select the layer as well (see picture).

Choose the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M for the keyboard shortcut).

Create a selection similar ti mine around the object you want to make it look like it's sticking out of the picture (see picture).

Right click the selection and choose Transform Selection.

Whie in free transform mode, again right click the selection and choose Warp.

Drag the upper edge of the selection inside/to the left the bottom one out of the center a bit (see picture).

Don't confirm the changes yet ...

While still in free transform mode right click the selection and choose Scale.

Drag the upper edge down and the bottom edge up to the center a bit (see picture).

Press Enter to confirm the changes.

Click the Add layer mask button.

The layer mask will hide everything around the selection.

In the menu click Layer, Layer Style and choose Stroke...

In the settings window set Size to about 10, Position to Inside and Color to white (see picture).

Click OK.

No select the first (upper most) layer and make it visible again.

Choose the Lasso Tool (L for the keyboard shortcut).

You can also choose the Quick Selection Tool, if you find it easier to select objects.

Click here for the Quick Selection Tool tutorial

Select the object on your image that you want to expose by making it look like it's coming out of the picture.

Check out the final result to get the picture.

Click the Add layer mask button.

Select the second layer (see picture).

Click the link icon that represent the link between the layer and its mask (see picture).

Now select the layer mask of that layer (black and white rectangle on the right of the layer's thumbnail picture).

In the menu click Edit, Transform and choose Warp.

Now lift up all four corners using the Warp tool (see picture).

Press Enter to confirm the changes.

Let's now create a shadow beneath the photograph.

Hold Ctrl and click the mask of the selected layer to create a selection around that mask (see picture).

Create a new layer.

Press D, to set the black/white color.

Press Alt + Delete, to fill the selection with black color.

Now move the new Layer 2 beneath the Layer 1 (see picture).

Simply click, hold and drag the layer.

Choose the Move Tool (V for the keyboard shortcut).

Now move the shadow layer down and to the right a bit (see picture).

In the menu click Filter, Blur and choose Gaussian Blur...

Set the Radius to about 8 and click OK.

We made the shadow a bit blurry to make it look more realistic.

That's all, congrats!

If you get stuck in the middle of the process, don't be shy, click the Comment and tell us how we can help you.