# Photoshop CC - adding a border



## lulu2608 (Feb 25, 2018)

Operating System:Win 10
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info): Adobe Photoshop Version: 2017.1.2 20171103.r.18 2017/11/03: 1143982  x64

OMG I hate Photoshop!!    I'm trying to add a border to my file so I can print it.  I've added a new layer from background to form the border them I'm trying to adjust the canvas size to add additional space around my image.  I know what size I want the paper to fit the frame and I know what width I want the image to be but I don't know the height  (I want to maintain the aspect ratio so the top/bottom border should be larger than the left/right border).  Everytime I adjust the canvas or image size it gets smaller and smaller!  What should I do?  

I want the paper to be 34cm x 16cm.  This is 1cm bigger than the aperture of the mount which is 32cm x 14cm.  I want a 1.5cm border to the image in the width (making the image 29cm wide) and I'll take the appropriate height that maintains the aspect ratio.

1) Have I done right to create the border using a new 'layer from background'?  (I found this advice on Youtube).  If not how should I do it?
2) Should I adjust the canvas size first or the image size?  It doesn't matter which order I do this in, going back and adjusting the other again seems to shrink things from where I am at that point in time.

Thank you lovely people in advance for your assistance.


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## prbimages (Feb 26, 2018)

It can be hard to get your mind around this stuff. 

Whenever I want to add a border in Photoshop, I just use _Image -> Canvas Size_, tick the "_Relative_" box, and type in how many additional pixels I want for the width and height. I don't know why you would use "Layer from Background" (but I'm sure there may be some good reason; Photoshop is very complicated and there are always multiple ways of doing things).

You should adjust the image size first. It seems you know what size the image should be, so it's just a matter of entering the right values into the dialog box, checking that the _Resolution _is set to the value required for your printer, and ticking "Resample".

Next, you might want to apply a mild sharpening to the image, to counteract any softening that the size adjustment might have made.

Then, add your borders as described above.

I'm not sure what's happening when you say that "it gets smaller and smaller" ... If that continues to be a problem, ask again and we'll try to figure it out.


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## Johan Elzenga (Feb 26, 2018)

There is no reason to create a layer from the background. All you need to do is the following:
1: In Lightroom, you'll have to make sure that the aspect ratio of the image is correct. You want the image to be 29cm wide, but what height do you want? You may have to crop the image to get the correct height, because it needs to fit the aperture of the frame nicely. Do you want the same border all around? Then the height has to be 14 - 3= 11 cm. Is it OK to get a slightly smaller border? Then you could make it 12 cm or so. So set the aspect ratio of the crop tool to these values (29 x 12) and crop the image so it best fits into that ratio.
2: Now open the image in Photoshop.
3: Use 'Image Size' to set the size of your image to 29 cm wide and the print resolution you want to use (300 ppi). Check the 'resample' option at the bottom so Photoshop can resize the image.
4: Then use 'Canvas Size' and set the size of the canvas to 34 x 16 cm. This will add the border and make the end result 34 x 16 cm. Print this borderless.


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## lulu2608 (Feb 26, 2018)

Morning,
Thanks for your quick replies.  So my questions were:

1) Have I done right to create the border using a new 'layer from background'? (I found this advice on Youtube). If not how should I do it?
Clearly not!  Given my problems using image and canvas size I googled for further advice and found this process that someone else uses.  I'll ditch this!  

2) Should I adjust the canvas size first or the image size? It doesn't matter which order I do this in, going back and adjusting the other again seems to shrink things from where I am at that point in time.
You've both said image first then canvas (I was doing canvas first).  One little bit missed in your notes was to not tick 'relative' in the canvas size box.  That was automatically ticked when I first used it so I unticked it 'just in case' and found that was the cause of my huge border!  Now I know.  
Previously I was adjusting canvas size first then image size.  This resulted in a smaller picture on my screen (from the canvas adjustments), but even though the image settings were smaller than the canvas, there was no border.  Going back and forth, each dialogue box had the settings from the other (ie open canvas size and it shows image size settings).  I've also started sporadically getting some weird splotches over the border!  Never seen this before and they don't appear in other applications but luckily closing PS gets rid.  





Anyhoo, I have now managed to get a border by adjusting image size first then canvas size, so off to the printers!  

Thanks again.


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