Gallery wrap look

Occasionally I have seen images with the edges processed to give them a "gallery wrap look". Can anyone point me to a tutorial on how this is done? I am using PS CS5. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Larry Reitz

??? I'm not sure what you mean by a "gallery wrap look". If you mean an image that has been extended to cover the sides of stretchers without cropping into the original framing you can do that using Content Aware Fill. Extend the canvas of the image on all sides by the depth of your stretchers. The extension should be transparent, then do a selection of each side over the extended canvas but include a small amount of the image area (a few rows of pixels). Fill that area using Content Aware Fill and it will 'stretch' the pixel area to cover the extended area. You can then stretch the image without losing any of your original composition on the sides.

On a related note, has anyone else had problems with stretched images flaking? I had a picture printed on canvas using a high end commercial Canon printer (not sure of the model, it prints up to 44") and after I stretched it I applied a protective spray that was designed for canvas prints. Within days after color flaked off in several places. The spots are small but the image is predominantly dark, a shot of flying geese silhouettes against a dawn sky in the mountains, so any white spots are painfully evident.

...after I stretched it I applied a protective spray that was designed for canvas prints. Within days after color flaked off in several places.

I've never printed and stretched canvas myself, but I have several from Bay Photo and Canvas on Demand, and haven't had an issue with either and haven't been TOO careful about handling. It sounds to me like either the canvas, or especially the spray, let you down. Isn't the spray designed to coat the piece and prevent flaking?

Can you link to an example image?

Jim,
Thanks for the reply. Actually what I am looking for is the technique that modifies a flat image so that when posted on line it looks like a picture of a stretched canvas with edges rounded. I've seen it done a few times on images posted on this site. I have transitioned to 100% canvas for all the prints that I display at outdoor art festival and thought it might be a reasonably good idea to show that kind of presentation on my web site. Since I've never been particularly successful in photographing the stretched canvas and getting them to look acceptable for posting I was hoping to find an alternative. I know it can be done. It's just a question of what is involved and whether a reasonably simple action can be written to automate the process.

I'm afraid I can't offer definitive help with the flaking problem. It sounds like the type of spray you used could be incompatible with the canvas. Was it the one recommended by the canvas manufacturer? I print my own on Breathing Color canvas and have never had a problem with their water based coatings which can be sprayed or rolled on. Typically canvas is coated before stretching, but, I can't see why this would make a difference. Another possibility could be the length of time between printing and coating, but that's seems like a stretch, no pun intended. I have read where some manufacturers tout their canvas / coating system being immune from cracking when stretched, the inference being that not all are. Just some food for thought.

Here's a link. I kind of hate to contact someone directly in case there is a lot involved in the process.

http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=58029&CGISESSID=080eed23d5f008f0e4415daeb76fdb8b&u=16543

Larry - I can't give you exact commands, but to me that just looks like you take the image, create a blank layer, increase the canvas size to get the BG, fill the BG color, then apply some layer styles to the FG image layer. It looks like a drop shadow, and a button effect.

Many thanks guys. I'll give the Action Central a try.

I'll throw out one caveat...Adding pixels increases file size. To keep file sizes reasonable for web presentation, you'll need to compress larger files to a greater degree. Therefore jpeg compression may cause loss of fine detail.

In my opinion, it's best to keep frames and borders as simple as possible while providing an inviting presentation. Remember, you're selling photos, not the web framing.

Just my 0.0002.

--P

Okay Larry,

Now that I know what you are asking, I can help. First search the web for the Extensis Photo Bevel 2.0 filter. It's free (great price). Install it in your Photoshop/PSP/Whatever plugins. It will work in any editor that accepts Photoshop plugins.

Open and size your image a bit smaller (by 20-30 pixels) than the space it will occupy on your web page. Do any post resize sharpening that is necessary. Apply the Extensis Photo Bevel filter using the "Round" bevel shape. I used a width of 8 in the example here and rotate the light so it is coming from above. To get a full effect you now want to duplicate the layer and expand the canvas on the new layer by the 20-30 pixels you left for shadow space. It will expand with a transparent surround but the background layer should expand as white. You may select and change the expanded area of the background to match the webpage background if you are placing the image on something other than white. Select the copy of the background (the transparent edge layer which is on top) and double click on that layer to set layer style (or select layer style from the menu) and choose Drop Shadow. Play with the settings to get the drop shadow effect you want. I hope that helps.

Thanks Jim. Good luck getting to the bottom of the ink flaking from the canvas flaking issue.

Oh, and I forgot to say you may need to increase the highlight and shadow intensities in Photo Bevel from the defaults. My example used 50 for the highlight and 30 for the shadow. Both are significantly higher than the defaults.