Borders/Size of actual Picture

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xanyc

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If you were printing from a 35mm negative onto an 11x14 paper what size boarders would you put on the paper? What dimensions would the actual picture be?
 
What I usually would do is print without any border. I have an easel that makes borderless prints (darkroom).

That way when I matted I didn’t have to worry about some of the white border sticking out from the edge of the mat.
 
Bill Clark said:
What I usually would do is print without any border. I have an easel that makes borderless prints (darkroom).

That way when I matted I didn’t have to worry about some of the white border sticking out from the edge of the mat.
Click to expand...

Haven't printed for quite some time, but I recall I used to do the opposite: I printed with border, and this was my replacement of the passe-partout (if I understand «mat» correctly).
 
xanyc said:
If you were printing from a 35mm negative onto an 11x14 paper what size boarders would you put on the paper? What dimensions would the actual picture be?
Click to expand...

I don't do any darkroom printing, but when I print I usually try to leave a minimum of 1/2" border. I think it's always a good idea to have matting (if the print is directly up against glass, over time it can stick to the glass and be ruined) and having the border gives overlap of the the print and matte opening.

You will also need to account for format size/ratio. A 35mm frame is 2:3, which doesn't fit exactly to 11x14 paper, unless you crop.

If I were;printing (inkjet) a 35mm photo on 11x14 paper, I would probably keep the actual image size at 8x12.

I'm no expert though, and I know darkroom printing is a different beast entirely.
 
Like Colton and Bill mention, I create the "border" on prints with the way they are matted for framing. I haven't done darkroom work in a number of years, but used to print borderless or with a 1/4 or less border, then matte the print to create the final presentation.

Best,
-Tim
 
I print to the proportions of the negative, not the paper. Then I trim the print & float mount it with approx 3/8” space to the beveled overmat.
 
xanyc said:
If you were printing from a 35mm negative onto an 11x14 paper what size boarders would you put on the paper? What dimensions would the actual picture be?
Click to expand...

The dimensions for me are always a function of the aspect ratio. I always use the aspect ratio that I deem works best with that particular image, not what the camera manufacturer decided it should be, nor what the paper manufacturer decided.

I always use mats for framed photos. In general, the total area of the mat approximates the total image area.
 
I usually use the full 24 x 36 of the negative. I leave at least a 1/8" border so the easel can hold the paper down on all four sides. so I will get a print 13.75" by 9.25" Or thereabouts.
 
Always minimum 1" border for all wet prints. Window mat either leaves a 1/4" or so of print border showing, or covers border entirely. Basically the border is what I need when I use archival corners to hold the print in place, I never dry mount prints to the board. If it's not corners, it's archival tape hinges keeping the print in place. Tape also used to hinge print board and window mat.
 
Like Deardorff38, I print the image format dimensions, not the paper dimensions. The border size varied when I printed in the chemical darkroom. Today, printing digitally, I've standardized on 6x9" on 8.5x11 paper and 12x18" on 13x19 paper.

As I understand it, historically the border was there to protect the image area when handling unmounted prints. Paper corners could become dogeared and less than perfectly clean fingers could leave residue on the image without a border.
 
I would have said that the border was a function of the frame/easel in the old days holding the paper under an edge that was ¼" wide. Well, it was in the 50's when I started printing at school...

Regards, David

PS And we had a lot wider choice of paper sizes too.
 
4x6 commercial 3/16. Or none usually.

Any print to be framed, it depends on frame size If frame is same size as print, I use a spacer to keep print off glass.

If properly matted, Use paper 2" larger and use photo corners, archival ones.
If dry mounting, which I rarely do any more smaller border is ok.

Linen tape hanging is also nice as it allows print to expand and contract with humidity. Photo corners the same if you use them loosely.
 
I choose the border size based on the image I want to print. I do crop photos and am not of the 'full image' religion. For a horizontal image on 11X14, I will have at least a one-inch border on the left, right, and top margins and a bigger one - 1.5 to 2 inches on the bottom. I will do the same thing for a vertical - larger border on the bottom than on the sides and top. I will occasionally put a black line around the image to set it apart from the border. The lines are printed on a Beard easel but, more commonly, drawn with an extra fine Sharpie. Doing this gives me room to frame the prints with a contrasting mat and allows me to store them either in paper boxes or in a folio. The extra margin also provides some protection for the image - if it becomes damaged on the edge, that can be trimmed off without harming the photo itself.
 
If I am going to the trouble of properly printing on FB paper, I print about 8x12 or a little larger on 11x14 paper. That leaves enough space for matting for mounted or framed prints, and edge to hold if looking at them directly, and a little buffer in case the edge gets damaged.

Marty
 
Not that it should matter to you what I do but for 11x14 it's fat 1/2" borders on top and sides, and whatever the image's demands leaves on the bottom. Often 1-1 1/2 ". Then a floating matte that shows 1/4" of the paper border so the viewer sees the image as either art, or artisanal, but certainly as artifact and not merely something ephemeral on a monitor. It seems important at times that they hold the paper print before it goes behind matte and glass.
 
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