step by step the rule of three

build your triptych in photoshop and convert to monochrome for a fine art finish

01 Create a new document

Go to File >new, set Name ‘Triptych’, Width 20 inches, Height 10 inches, Resolution 300 pixels/inch and Background Contents to White. Go to Photoshop> Preferences> guides, Grids & Slices, set a one-inch grid with two subdivisions, then use View> show> grid.

02 draw the frames

Click-and-hold on the Shape tool in the Tools panel and select the Rectangle tool. Drag out a box measuring 5x8 inches, using the grid as a guide. Select the Move tool, hold Alt and drag the box to create two copies and space them out evenly.

03 add an image

Open the images in Photoshop ACR. Select All, set Exposure +1.55, Contrast +20, Clarity +34, Saturation -100. Select image 1 and 2, set Blacks -15, Shadows -28, then open all images. Select the Move tool, check Auto-select Layer and Show Transform Controls.

04 drag and drop

Drag an image onto the tab of the ‘Triptych’ document then down to copy it in. In the Layers panel, move the image layer above the box layer you want it to fill. Alt-click the line between layers to add a clipping mask so only the area within the outline of the box is visible.

05 resize and reposition

Highlight the image layer and click the bounding box to transform it – hold down Shift and drag the corners to resize. When you’re happy with the positioning, hit Enter to apply. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to add and position the remaining two images.

06 add a key Line

To add a key line to the edges of each frame, make a new layer at the top of the stack, hold down Ctrl+ shift and click the box layer thumbnails to load their outlines as selections. Go to Edit> stroke. Set a Width of 10px, set Color to black and hit OK.