My Favorite Photo Frame Plug-In – OnOne PhotoFrames (hum!)

Ever since I got my first copy of OnOne PhotoFrames a few years ago, I have not been able to find anything comparable and as easy to use. There are several other Photoshop plug-ins that do have some very nice finishing frame effects, but nothing is as easy to use and so easy to modify to fit the mood of your image. The palm tree photo was actually put into a template type frame (in Photographic category named Instant Film sx70 5×5) of which there are many choices. (The image was processed using Topaz Black & White Effects.)

PhotoFrames 4.6 Professional (see sidebar in my Tidbits Blog for website link) has many different categories in the Library tab but my two favorites are the Grunge frames and the Gurus frames. The next image is an HDR image from downtown Jackson, Mississippi and the gray frame is perfect for this image. (HDR Photo Merge in Photoshop was used to process the HDR and then Topaz Adjust was applied.) The frame is from the Gurus group and is called Dave Cross 13 (Dave Cross is one of the original Photoshop Guys from NAPP and total Photoshop guru). When applied first, it was just a white color, but by sampling the image in different places, you can instantly see how another color would look. In this case, a neutral gray color was selected. When you first open up the plug-in, your image is already added to thumbnails so you can quickly see what it looks like. You can also add the frame and try different options on it (or delete the frame) before you actually apply it to your image. A preset can be created to save down all the frames (more than one can be applied to an image and appear on their own layers in Photoshop) with options you selected.

The vintage effect applied below (using a combination of Topaz Adjust, Topaz Detail, and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2) created the perfect result for an OnOne PhotoFrame. The frame is in the Gurus section and is called Kevin Kubota Bunko (a great photographer known for his Photoshop actions) – layer was set to a 53% opacity. A greenish color was sampled from the trees for the frame color.

When the frame is applied in Photoshop, the PhotoFrame group already has a layer mask where parts of the frame can be  painted away if not needed in your image. Below some of the frame was lightly painted out over the flowers in the layer mask – this is a great example of some of the unique effects the frames can give an image – they do not all look exactly like frames. This one is in the Grunge category and is called Acid Burn Controlled 13.

Sometimes you just want a nice simple frame. Below is one called Weather Wood 18 in the Grunge category which adds just a bit of interest without taking away the main focus of the image.
You can download a 30-day free trial at their website  (see sidebar in my Tidbits Blog for website link) or while in website go to the Products header  -> Free Products and select Edge and Framing Effects where you can download 30 frames to use for free! Give it a try!  There are many times I do not use frames on my images – they can sometimes distract from what you want the viewer to focus on. But there are times when a nice frame can really enhance an image, cover up something that is distracting, add a particular feel or emotion to an image. OnOne’s PhotoFrames has so many choices, and so many different options for adjusting the frames, that it makes it very easy to get the results you need. As I said above, I do not even need to look at other plug-ins, this one does exactly what is needed and in a quick and easy way. Definitely one of my favorite plug-ins!…..Digital Lady Syd

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