Rounded corners for a photo

Rounding only the outside of a bordered photo leaves square picture corners sitting inside a rounded card — the most common thing that looks slightly wrong about a rounded border and is hard to name. This page treats the two as separate numbers. Outside rounds the frame’s outer edge; Picture corners rounds the opening the photograph shows through. With no border the two describe the same edge, which is how this route opens: a photograph with 48 px corners and nothing else.

A radius can be typed in pixels, which stays the same on every picture, or in percent of the picture’s short edge, which keeps the same proportion. Switching unit converts the number rather than resetting it. The four corner presets and the puck on the stage’s top-left corner still work, and choosing a preset hands control back to it.

1. 1Open the photograph. Its corners are rounded at 48 px straight away.
2. 2Under Finish, change Outside and Picture corners, in px or %.
3. 3To put a border round it, set a width under Border; the two radii stay independent.
4. 4Save as PNG or WebP for clear corners, or JPG with a background colour.

• A radius larger than half the short edge is clamped to it, so the shape becomes a capsule rather than something that folds over itself.
• Cut edges — scallops, tears, perforations — draw their own outline, so there is no corner to round on those styles.

Why are the corners white instead of clear?

JPG has no clear channel, so anything outside the rounded corners is written in the background colour, white unless you change it. Save as PNG or WebP and the corners stay transparent; the stage shows a chequerboard where the file will be clear.

Can I round the photo and the border by different amounts?

Yes. Turn on Exact radius under Finish and set Outside and Picture corners separately. A 40 px outside radius with 12 px picture corners gives a rounded card holding a softly rounded print; the same number in both gives one smooth shape when there is no border.

What does the percentage mean?

Percent of the picture’s short edge. On a 3000 × 2000 photo, 5% is a 100 px radius. Percent keeps the same look on pictures of different sizes; pixels keep the same number on all of them.

Does rounding crop my photo?

Only the corners. Everything outside the curve is removed from those four corners and nothing else is touched; the file keeps its size unless you add a border around it.

• Add white borderAn exact white border in pixels, percent, millimetres or inches, on every side or each side.
• Drop shadowDrop, long and floating shadows with an angle, a distance and a softness; the canvas grows to hold them.
• Photo frame editorAll 39 frames drawn on your own photo, recoloured from the picture and saved at full size.