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A picture’s standard square corners can be somewhat lifeless and do little to set mood. On the other hand, rounded corners can enliven a picture, giving it either comedic context or a touch of class.

You can easily add corners to your photos using Photoshop CS4 or CS5 — just follow these simple steps and your photos will be ready for online sharing!

1. In Photoshop, choose File->New. Create document that is 250-by-250 pixels (with a resolution of 300 pixels per inch) and choose a transparent background; when you’re done, click OK.
2. Click the Paint Bucket tool and then fill the document with a solid white.
3. Use the Elliptical Marquee tool to create a circle the full width and height of the document. Smart Guides (View->Show->Smart Guides) can make this process easier; magenta lines will appear when you’re flush with each edge. If the size or positioning of the circle is not correct, choose Select->Modify->Expand or Contract to adjust the size. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to reposition the circle (do not use the Move tool in the toolbar).
4. Choose Edit->Clear (or press the Delete key) to remove the circle. This leaves you with a transparent circle and opaque corners.
5. Choose Image->Canvas Size. Set a new width and height of 125-by-125 pixels and choose to anchor the crop to the top left. Click OK. You’re then warned that you’re about the crop the photo to a smaller size; to continue, click Proceed and then OK.
6. You now have your top left corner. Choose Select->All and then Edit->Copy. Open the photo you want to add the corners to, and then choose Edit->Paste.
7. Ensure that the Snap function is active (View->Snap) and that it’s set to snap to the edges of the document (View->Snap To->Document Bounds), and then use the Move Tool to drag your corner to the top left.
8. To place a corner at the top right, choose Layer->Duplicate Layer from the Layers Panel (which gives you Layer 1 copy), choose Select->All, and then choose Edit->Transform->Flip Horizontal.
9. Choose Layer->Merge Down to merge the two corner layers.
10. To place the corners along the bottom, choose Layer->Duplicate Layer, and choose Select->All, but this time, choose Edit->Transform->Flip Vertical.
11. Choose Layer->Merge Down to again combine the two corner layers into one.
12. The final step is to make the corners transparent. First, choose Select->Deselect. Now look at the Layers Panel. If the layer your photo is on is called Background, control-click (or right click) the layer and choose Layer from Background. Give the layer a name if you like (by default, it’s named Layer 0) and click OK. Now click your corners layer and choose Layer->Layer Style->Blending Options. Under Advanced Blending, reduce the Fill Opacity to 0 and then, from the Knockout pop-up menu, choose Deep. To lock in your changes, click OK.

Once you’ve completed your corners, choose File->Save As. To preserve each layer of the file, choose PSD format; to flatten the file but maintain corner transparency, choose PNG format; or to flatten the file and lock in the white corners, choose JPG format. Then upload your photos and alert your friends — you’ll be surprised just how well they respond to your crafty new corners!