How to create a mat around a photo and fill with color

[defaultlqjgf8eedbfq]

This used to be a fairly easy process in CS5, but since updating to PS 2021 I have not been able to do it. I often want an ellipse-shaped mat, but want to color the outside of the ellipse a color and cut out the center of the ellipse where the main subject shows. If you don't want to explain the process, even if you can point me in the direction to search for the correct terminology, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

[davescm]

Hi

a. Use the elliptical marquee tool to draw your ellipse as a selection

b. Invert the selection Shift +Ctrl+I

c. Use menu Layer > New Fill Layer Solid Color

If you want a softer edge you can feather the selection between steps a and b

Dave

[defaultlqjgf8eedbfq]

I am probably missing something, but when I did this, the picture was still covered, and when I did the shift + ctrl+ +l, it filled in the whole space with color in that layer, 

[NB, colourmanagement]

Perhaps this will work for you. I(oops, I noticed that I'd missed the "elliptical mat" part of your original question,

as I've written this out and made the screenshots I'll leave it up as it may assist someone)

I am presuming that by "mat" you mean like a frame makers mat -  a border around the image?

1:set your background colour swatch to the desired border (mat) colour (as an illustration I used orange) 

2: Go to Image/canvas size in Photoshop's menu and set how much you'd like to add, in this case, I increased the canvas by a small percentage, you'd need to experiment here I guess.

you can see the background colour here (screenshot below) - so, click OK and you now have an image with an orange border added to 5% the width of the original image.

I hope this helps

neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management
[please only use the blue reply button at the top of the page, this maintains the original thread title and chronological order of posts]

[defaultlqjgf8eedbfq]

I don't want to increase the canvas size; it's already at the right print size. I just want the area outside the ellipse to be a color (the mat), and my photo to show inside the ellipse. I've selected the color for the mat, but can't get it to fill the area around the ellipse. How to I get the middle of the ellipse to be clear or cut away entirely? 

[defaultlqjgf8eedbfq]

I don't want to increase the canvas size; it's already at the right print size. I just want the area outside the ellipse to be a color (the mat), and my photo to show inside the ellipse. I've selected the color for the mat, but can't get it to fill the area around the ellipse. How to I get the middle of the ellipse to be clear or cut away entirely? 

[davescm]

Follow the exact steps I showed earlier. It creates a solid color fill layer with an associated mask. Where the mask is white the associated color fill layer is visible. Where the mask is black then the color fill layer is hidden and the image on the layer below shows through.

Dave