How to Apply a Stroke in Photoshop

A stroke is an outline that can be added to any object in Adobe Photoshop CS3. A stroke can add a lot of interest when added to text, shapes or images. Once added you can set the many different options to get exactly the type of stroke you want. Keep reading to find out how to add a stroke to an object in your Photoshop document.

Things You'll Need

• Adobe Photoshop CS3

Instructions

1. Start Adobe Photoshop CS3 and open a document from your files that contains an object or layer that you want to create a stroke around.

2. Select the layer that contains the object you want to apply the stroke to in the Layers palette. The layer will become highlighted once it is selected.

3. Right-click on the selected layer and choose "Blending Options" from the submenu. The "Layer Style" dialog box will open onto the desktop.

4. Click on the "Stroke" option in the "Styles" list of the "Layer Style" dialog box. The stroke settings will be brought up on the right side of the dialog box.

5. Change the size of the stroke by moving the slider to the right to increase the size and to the left to decrease the size. Choose "Outside," "Inside" or "Center" to set the position of the stroke. You can choose to apply blend mode or change the opacity of the stroke, as well. The "Fill Type" can be set to "Color," "Gradient" or "Pattern" and then the settings for those can be set here.

6. Select the "OK" button to save the stroke settings, close the "Layer Style" dialog box and return you back to your Photoshop document. The stroke you specified will now be added to the selected layer in your document.