Prints with Borders

wellseen

Hello,

Is there any way to get prints with white (or black) borders? It would be great for the customer to be able to choose, but I'd settle for just a default border of say 10% around each image. Prints without borders look very amateurish, not to mention difficult to frame. Right now I have to add this border to each image in Photoshop, which is time-consuming, makes the images look bad on the webpage, and there may be some customers who prefer no borders.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Andy

wellseen wrote:

Prints without borders look very amateurish,

I know many folks who will disagree with this. Doesn't mean it's not important to you, though!

Thanks for the feature request. For now, the only way is to do it in photoshop.

DavidTO

As for the difficulty, you could write or download an action to add a border.

And for the way it looks on the web, I prefer square thumbs, anyway, and would recommend using the Bulk Zoom Thumbnail hack. When you use the hack you could crop out the border.

The rest of your thoughts on this, I have no answers for.

BenA2

Results may vary...

Andy wrote:

I know many folks who will disagree with this. Doesn't mean it's not important to you, though!

Thanks for the feature request. For now, the only way is to do it in photoshop.

Prints with borders is also a feature I've been wanting as well. I've considered the Photoshop option, but I have a concern. In PS, I can add exactly the border I want to have. But, given the relatively large EZprints blead/trim tolerance (compared to, say, an eigth-inch border) there's no guarantee I'll get what I want in the final print. In fact, with a 38 pixel allowance, I could lose all of a boarder on one edge.

Any advice on dealing with this challenge?

Thanks

Andy

BenA2 wrote:

Any advice on dealing with this challenge?

Thanks

Hi Ben,

All printers of the type used in our lab have a bleed trim tolerance....

BenA2

Andy wrote:

Hi Ben,

All printers of the type used in our lab have a bleed trim tolerance....

So, just to be clear, the consequence of that is that you cannot reliably add boarders (at least typical, thin boarders) to your images and expect them to print well. This is always what I've understood, but your response to wellseen seems contradictory to that understanding.

Andy

BenA2 wrote:

So, just to be clear, the consequence of that is that you cannot reliably add boarders (at least typical, thin boarders) to your images and expect them to print well. This is always what I've understood, but your response to wellseen seems contradictory to that understanding.

I print stuff with borders all the time. The bleed/trim cutting is consistent, have you tried it? Make an order, couple of samples, I'll void the charge, and have a look

BenA2

Andy wrote:

I print stuff with borders all the time. The bleed/trim cutting is consistent, have you tried it? Make an order, couple of samples, I'll void the charge, and have a look

OK, cool. That's the kind of info I was looking for--someone with a good experience that it can be made to work even with the tolerance. That's all I wanted to know. I'll try it with confidence the next time I need borders.

Thanks Andy

sirsloop

We cant add borders outselves because we do not see what crop the customer choose. This would have to be something smugmug processed in for us... or pre-processed to exact measurements (pheer the 8x10 )

anyways... something I would like to have, especially for small prints that probably won't ever see a frame.

ebwest

wellseen wrote:

Hello,

Prints without borders look very amateurish, not to mention difficult to frame.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Another indication of how old I'm getting. Years ago I worked in a camera store. People always wanted borderless because "they looked more professional" and they had to pay extra to get it when they could. I guess things go full circle.

wellseen

Thanks everyone for the input... I would still really like to see this feature added. I currently create borders in Photoshop, which is simple enough, and the prints look fine. My main concern is how the photos look on the webpage, and also that if a customer chooses to crop an image, they will end up with a white border on only 2 or 3 sides, which would look pretty bad. Also, it would be nice for the customer to be able to choose the color and size of the border, depending on their intended use. Any chance of adding this option?

Thanks!

sirsloop wrote:

We cant add borders outselves because we do not see what crop the customer choose. This would have to be something smugmug processed in for us... or pre-processed to exact measurements (pheer the 8x10 )

anyways... something I would like to have, especially for small prints that probably won't ever see a frame.

cjyphoto

Count me in as one who would like borders. I've been with SmugMug for almost two years now and never ordered any prints until the other day. I've been getting my prints done at Adorama or my local lab and both offer borders so I just assumed that Smug did also. Very disappointing. You do realize most pre-cut mats work best with bordered photos. Why can't Smug offer this? Is it that difficult? Guess it is back to ordering from Adorama or locally. Yes the the bordered images do look better IMHO.

jensperl

cjyphoto wrote:

Count me in as one who would like borders. I've been with SmugMug for almost two years now and never ordered any prints until the other day. I've been getting my prints done at Adorama or my local lab and both offer borders so I just assumed that Smug did also. Very disappointing. You do realize most pre-cut mats work best with bordered photos. Why can't Smug offer this? Is it that difficult? Guess it is back to ordering from Adorama or locally. Yes the the bordered images do look better IMHO.

Same here. I have been using SM for a year and although my clients purchase prints through my page, I purchase them at a local lab for my self. It is also slightly more expensive for me to purchase through SM, but I would be willing to pay the extra if borders were an option...because I LOVE SMUGMUG!

CarolSwales

Sorry, I'm trying this for the first time and I still need more details. So if I have a 4 x 8 and I've added the border in Photoshop and then increased the canvas size so the size is now 4.25 x 8.25 then my image ratio is off, and I have the option to crop at checkout. Should I crop it? Or just leave it as it is and let the crop happen automatically?

miss5pink

CarolSwales wrote:

Sorry, I'm trying this for the first time and I still need more details. So if I have a 4 x 8 and I've added the border in Photoshop and then increased the canvas size so the size is now 4.25 x 8.25 then my image ratio is off, and I have the option to crop at checkout. Should I crop it? Or just leave it as it is and let the crop happen automatically?

Yes... good question. I can't wait to hear the answer. I am looking for a way to have borders also. I am just now signing up for smugmug (14 day trial for pro account), and have been using WHCC previously for my prints. You just order with border and it's that simple. I do a lot of TTV photography and have to have borders for it to look right when printed and then framed. This is something I am a little sad to find out about smugmug's prints......

DrDavid

miss5pink wrote:

Yes... good question. I can't wait to hear the answer. I am looking for a way to have borders also. I am just now signing up for smugmug (14 day trial for pro account), and have been using WHCC previously for my prints. You just order with border and it's that simple. I do a lot of TTV photography and have to have borders for it to look right when printed and then framed. This is something I am a little sad to find out about smugmug's prints......

It's pretty easy to do. resize the image to be a bit smaller than the final size without any resampling (this will preserve the quality of the image). THEN, increase the canvas size the little bit you sucked the image in. For example, you want a .25" margin all around... Crop the image to the right size (ex. 8x10). Shrink the image by .5" (without resample) horizontally and vertically. Then, increase the canvas size back to whatever size photo you want (8x10). Voila, borders. Create an action in Ps and never think about it again.

David

miss5pink

DrDavid wrote:

It's pretty easy to do. resize the image to be a bit smaller than the final size without any resampling (this will preserve the quality of the image). THEN, increase the canvas size the little bit you sucked the image in. For example, you want a .25" margin all around... Crop the image to the right size (ex. 8x10). Shrink the image by .5" (without resample) horizontally and vertically. Then, increase the canvas size back to whatever size photo you want (8x10). Voila, borders. Create an action in Ps and never think about it again.

Edit: an even easier way: http://www.ehow.com/how_6395_add-border-picture.html

David

thanks!!!!

cjyphoto

DrDavid wrote:

It's pretty easy to do. resize the image to be a bit smaller than the final size without any resampling (this will preserve the quality of the image). THEN, increase the canvas size the little bit you sucked the image in. For example, you want a .25" margin all around... Crop the image to the right size (ex. 8x10). Shrink the image by .5" (without resample) horizontally and vertically. Then, increase the canvas size back to whatever size photo you want (8x10). Voila, borders. Create an action in Ps and never think about it again.

David

That is great if you are preparing the image for yourself. I believe that the customer should be able to choose border or no border. Should be as simple as putting a check in the proper box. I fail to see why SmugMug or Ezprints does not make this option available.

miss5pink

cjyphoto wrote:

That is great if you are preparing the image for yourself. I believe that the customer should be able to choose border or no border. Should be as simple as putting a check in the proper box. I fail to see why SmugMug or Ezprints does not make this option available.

I totally agree. My customers want borders most of the time. I am ok with adding a border myself to my square images.... BUT I can't with other sizes because when the customers crop them in sm they won't work.... FRUSTRATING.

This really is a huge deal to me. Almost a deal breaker. What to do????????? I LOVE the ease of SM so far. I really need to allow customers to handle their own orders. All is really good in the trial so far but this one hitch.

JMarcos

cjyphoto wrote:

That is great if you are preparing the image for yourself. I believe that the customer should be able to choose border or no border. Should be as simple as putting a check in the proper box. I fail to see why SmugMug or Ezprints does not make this option available.

Another vote for this.

cjyphoto

If there is a reason that this is simply impossible can someone from from SM simply say that it is impossible to do. Seems like a no brainer to me. I had some prints done through SM and my local lab. My lab offers borders. When I asked the clients that I did the shoot for which they liked better guess which ones they preferred? That's right. The bordered prints. So my local lab is loving the business but it would be nice to be able to offer this choice to everyone who views my SM galleries.

miss5pink

cjyphoto wrote:

If there is a reason that this is simply impossible can someone from from SM simply say that it is impossible to do. Seems like a no brainer to me. I had some prints done through SM and my local lab. My lab offers borders. When I asked the clients that I did the shoot for which they liked better guess which ones they preferred? That's right. The bordered prints. So my local lab is loving the business but it would be nice to be able to offer this choice to everyone who views my SM galleries.

So, is there any update on prints with borders? Just wondering if anyone has kicked the idea around.