# Borders - need help!



## chelsea.a (Jul 25, 2011)

I want to add a simple black/white border around my picture... I am using photoshop elements 9. I understand HOW to do it (change canvas size) and this looks wonderful - the problem is PRINTING.. my borders are cut off, uneven. Even edited pictures I gave to my sister, she got them printed & they were cut off too. What can I do? I have tried a few things , and now I NEED HELP!!


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## NikonME (Jul 25, 2011)

Are you saving the files you intend to print, to the size you intend to print? If not, that will cause the crop. If your canvas size is 8x10 and you print 8x10, it should come out fine. If your canvas size is 8x10 and you print 4x6 you are are going to get some cropping.


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## chelsea.a (Jul 25, 2011)

thanks for the reply. (I am fairly new at this!!)
Yes, I am saving the images 4x6 inches (it actually works out to be 5.something x 4) but it still crops the image and cuts off some of the border! Is there a different way I should save /resize the image to prevent this?


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## Peano (Jul 25, 2011)

Try cropping to 4x6 first, then place the borders inside that frame rather than outside it.


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## NikonME (Jul 25, 2011)

Here is an example image sized at 4x5.7







If you print it as a 4x6 photo without any cropping you will have some blank (white) space on either side.






If you print it as a 4x6 photo and crop it to fit, you will loose some of your border.






So, what you want to do is resize the image to 4x6 before adding the border.


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## NikonME (Jul 25, 2011)

I hope that is helpful. It took me a few minutes to do.


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## KmH (Jul 26, 2011)

Who is doing the printing? An online lab? You?

From one of the online lab Mpix's *Support* pages - *How To Prepare Your Images* - Mpix.com - Help



> Exact Sizing
> Digital printers have what is called over sizing. Over sizing is a process in which the image being developed onto the photo paper is magnified by a certain percentage to counteract paper shift within the printer. Photographic paper is loaded into the printers in rolls. As the paper travels from the roll through the machine it can drift up to 1/8 of an inch by the time it reaches the lasers that expose the paper with the image. No amount of calibration on the paper path can prevent this drift. A 1/8 of an inch is about half the radius of the pen or pencil on your desk. The over sizing that is applied to each image runs between 1.5% -1.7%; we generally quote the percentage at 2% for a round number to work with. How can you use this information? Well the over sizing is so minimal, that 99% of your orders will not be effected by it. However, in certain instances where you may have images butted up against the outer edge like in a collage, text, or a pin stripe around an image's perimeter, you will want to take this 2% value into consideration. In most cases you can do very simple math to calculate the expected over sizing. Our message is to add the 2% additional space to the perimeter of any potentially affected image. For regular prints, such as an 8x10, the additional leeway you need to provide is 1/16 of an inch in the 8-inch dimension and 1/5 of an inch in the 10-inch dimension. Of course, the larger the print dimensions, the more image space effected by over sizing, thus the more padding that is needed.


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## Peano (Jul 27, 2011)

NikonME said:


> Here is an example image sized at 4x5.7
> <snip>
> So, what you want to do is resize the image to 4x6 before adding the border.



A couple of points:

1. If the original image is 4x5.7, you can't resize it to 4x6. You'd have to crop it to get that ratio.

2. If you crop to 4x6 and then add borders outside the frame, the ratio will no longer be 4x6. You must add the borders inside the frame to preserve the 4x6 ratio.


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