DEMO: How to do rounded corners

I've been asked how I cropped my image so it has rounded corners. It's so easy in Photoshop but it's hard to explain it without images, so I decide to do an easy step-by- step demo here. Actually, the way I do it, the image is not cropped with rounded corners, but rather the rounded corners are part of the image, and then the image gets cropped the normal way.

1: Here is a demo image in Photoshop (Click to see large image)
In this case, the rounded corners I want will be in the lowest/background layer.


2: Go to PATH / NEW PATH, then name the path whatever you want; I name it "Rounded Corners" here.




3: Go to the tool bar, select the ROUNDED RECTANGLE TOOL, drag it across the image till you get the desired size and shape. You can also play with the RADIUS on the top for different curve of the rounded corners. Mine is set up to be 0.3.

Now you can see the shape of the rounded corners.


4: Hold down the COMMAND/APPLE key (I assume you use a MAC here) and go back to PATH and click that path (the blue area you see in the image above); you will see the "marching ants" here and that means you just selected the area.


5: Now go back to the background layer.


"COMMAND/APPLE key + J" will copy the selected the area from the background layer and paste it in the exact same spot in a brand new layer above it.

Fill the original background layer with white.
Now you can see, above the background layer, the copied-and-pasted layer with the rounded corners.


6: Now you can use the cropping tool to crop the final image. Since the background layer is white, it will look like you cropped the image that way, but in reality, the rounded corners are part of your image.


7: Here is the final result!


You can use this technique to "crop" your photo with rounded corners. (In that case, there will only be one layer: your photo.)

This is how I do it, and I do it so fast I don't even think about it anymore. If anyone has other way to do rounded corners faster, maybe you can share with us too.