When you’re creating a product using an image from the public domain how do you get it to stand out from the others? I usually upload the image to Photoshop and using the color dropper icon I simply pick a color from the image to use as a background or frame.
In my Images of History store I started off with Catherine of Aragon and one of her older sisters Juana. The next image I used was of Anne Boleyn and then I had to decide whether to stick with the rest of the ‘Spanish’ women or the other wives of Henry VIII. I decided to do Henry VIII’s six wives first.
When I found an image of Catherine Parr it was tall and not very wide so didn’t sit well on a greeting card. I picked a color from the skirt of her gown and put that as a background with the image over the top. That just made the image look flat and just ‘not right’.
I took a color from her kirtle and added that as a very thin frame around the image, but the background still didn’t seem right it needed texture.
I created an image of just the background color and used one of the filters on Photoshop to give the background some texture and then added the original image with it’s frame onto it.
This is the end result –
I think it turned out really good in the end, don’t you? If you know a fan of the Tudor image then you really should check out my store next time you want to send them a greeting card.
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article – more information can be found on our disclosure page.