PCPhoto

Bordering On The Edge

Enhance your images using mattes and borders

By John Shaw, Photography by John Shaw

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Bordering On The Edge

Creating a print is the ultimate goal for a photographer. From the moment the shutter is released, it’s the image on paper that each photographer likely has in mind when the scene is captured on the camera’s CCD or film. Yet the creativity involved in making the image in-camera doesn’t have to end when it comes time to output that final photograph.

Although I usually create a borderless print or one with a simple border, I occasionally like to add a matte border effect. I wouldn’t do this to every photograph, but it’s fun for selected pictures.

You make this effect by stacking layers in your image-editing program. I use Photoshop—and the directions here are specifically for Photoshop—but you could work in other programs just as well.

1. Make a new plain white background document the same dimensions as the paper you plan to use in printing. Give it the same resolution (dpi) and the same color space as your image. When you print the final image later, you’ll get a warning message that part of the image is outside of the printable area; don’t worry, as that part will be white and has nothing on it. You’re just making a canvas on which to drop the other layers.

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