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05/08/2003 03:20:26 PM · #1 |
Hi All
is there a general rule for borders
i.e when do you use a white border or black border
thin or thick ???
regards
tony |
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05/08/2003 04:07:27 PM · #2 |
I never use borders. I feel they're irrelevant, and use space I could give to a few more KB of actual image. Of course, since I don't have a graphics program that can PUT borders on, I suppose my opinion doesn't weigh as heavy as some might. :->
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05/08/2003 04:20:22 PM · #3 |
I always use borders. I feel they can help the image to be viewed as you intended more than the sites grey background - when done properly. As they are single colour they compress *very* well, allowing you to save your image at a higher quality level.
Eloise, The Gimp is capable of doing borders and is free. Others may be able to suggest an easier to use freebie program though.
My 'rules' for making borders are single line around the image, then the main border around that. I usually stick with black and white, though occasionally mess with shades of grey. I got brave in the Fauna challenge and used a subtle brown border that I thought worked well.
For the main border use black to make your image look darker, white to make it look lighter. Other than that all I can say is experiment - I knew *nothing* about borders when they became DPC legal, now I don't think twice about them. |
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05/08/2003 05:03:19 PM · #4 |
Gimp, unfortunately, doesn't do 90% of the things I need to do to most of my shots - and I really don't think 'ability to put on borders' is enough of a killer app to repay me for the pain in the butt of having to run an image through two different programs sequentially.
When judging, I see borders as being like mattes in physical installations - they frame the picture, but they can also be distracting as hell if done badly.
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05/08/2003 05:28:57 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by bod:
As they are single colour they compress *very* well, allowing you to save your image at a higher quality level. |
Not wishing to be pedantic here, but jpegs don't compress solid colours particularly well. The reason is the algorithm is specifically designed to cope with variations.
I tried saving a 50x50 pixel solid white image as a jpeg in Photoshop 7 at high quality (what I tend to use for photos) and the resultant image came out as 8.29KB. As a comparison, as BMP is 7.47KB and a GIF is 92 bytes.
Clearly here we can only use jpegs (the main element being a photo I hope!), but adding borders does affect size.
Paul. |
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05/08/2003 07:22:52 PM · #6 |
A solid border will end up smaller in JPEG than the equivalent number of pixels of detailed image, even if it doesn't compress them as small as other formats. But, for example, I had an entry that was 151k. When I added an 8-pixel solid border (over part of the image), the size dropped to 148k.
The detail in your image makes a difference, too. I had an image which was at about 140k in JPEG, but it looked a little dull. I went back to the "original" (uncompressed TIFF) and ran the Unsharp Mask filter again, and when saved in JPEG (same settings) the file was now about 160k... |
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05/08/2003 07:40:42 PM · #7 |
In a former life (and former Rant), I was anti-border because I only noticed the bad ones. During the Rant discussion, I was converted to a borderphile. The transformation came as people pointed out how many of the really good shots have borders. The trick is that the border should support the image but not try to be the star.
I generally use a small light border of 4 pixels either from the image or white and a larger dark border of 16 either from the image or black. (I picked this up from one of the how to's - don't remember who - but thanks.) Sometimes a solid white or black is needed - just depends.
The border on my "Hibiscus" in the Multi-Image challenge was, well, done poorly as some pointed out. Other than that, I think most of my recent images are enhanced with the borders I am applying.
Can't give them up now.
Dennis
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05/08/2003 07:48:34 PM · #8 |
Welcome Dennis! I've been moving the other way, trying to simplify and reduce my borders (not always successfully resisting however!).
Borderphilia is a manageable if not curable condition. Fortunately, it is still legal in all 50 states and much of the rest of the world...
Message edited by author 2003-05-08 19:50:52. |
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05/08/2003 07:52:14 PM · #9 |
I have mixed opinions about borders. I agree with Dennis that the border shouldn't try to be the star ever.
Sometimes a border is useful in defining the edge of an image, and a two colour border can be useful where the different edges of the image are different colours. Let me give an example:
If you have a photo of snow in the foreground and black sky in the background (and perhaps a lovely building in the centre). A black border would be lost in the sky, a white border would be lost in the snow. A two colour (black and white) border would work all the way around. As far as deciding which colour goes where I would say to try both and see which compliments the image. The final option might be to use a colour in the building instead, but often this will look tacky.
Looking at first and third place of transport shows how a border can add to an image. The first one uses black to add a moody feel to the image (picture it with a white border - yuck). The third one uses white to lighten the image slightly and contrast the darkness of the image.
At the end of the day I don't add a border unless I feel the image really needs one, but that's perhaps because I'm not yet confident that I know which border is truly best. I guess it's something I should make a conscious effort to work on. |
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05/08/2003 08:08:31 PM · #10 |
Imagine you just bought this (hypothetical) photo, and you're taking it to a framing shop. You have 3 basic choices:
- Glass and foamcore with thin metal clips, essentially the equivalent of gluing/taping the unframed print to the wall.
- Glass and artboard, with a thin metal or wood frame.
- Mounted in a cut mat board, with a surrounding frame. Please note that this mat is often quite WIDE in relation to the image size.
I don't think people pay big buck for this to have their pictures look worse. Pick which style of frame (or none) would look best with THAT particular image and use that. There is no one solution for all photos.
Message edited by author 2003-05-08 20:09:19. |
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