As a photography hobbyist I have been looking more and more at other people’s galleries and how they display their digital photos to the world. One thing I have found is that more people seem to use simple frames around their photos and I am curious as to what looks better. Then again I suppose it is also a personal preference in whether or not you add a frame right? Is it like choosing a Glossy finish or a Matte finish when you get your photos developed?
Yesterday on a short walk after dinner in Vancouver, Robyn and I headed down towards Coal Harbour and of course I had my new Canon Digital Rebel XSi with me in hope to capture some decent photos.
I managed to come across a friendly Seagull who was roughly 20 feet away from me sitting on a metal railing watching the people walk by. I took a few shots (about 10) and found that I liked the following photo the best out of the bunch.
The above photo is obviously without a frame. It is usually how I post photos to Facebook or even here to my blog. I sometimes do small post processing tweaks of the photos in Photoshop if I see the need and usually it is limited to lighting levels, and sharpness.
Then I thought about what it would look like if I added a basic black frame around the photo and using Photoshop the above frame was relatively easy to do. I resized the image to 500 pixels wide (so it fits within my blogs content). Increased the canvas by 25 pixels on each size and filled in a black layer behind the photo. I then added a stroke of 1 pixel in white around the photo itself to give the border appearance.
I like the photo with the simple black frame around it and it was very easy to do with Photoshop. What do you think? Out of the two above photos which do you prefer and why? Do you like the frameless version, or the black framed one?
James - Photography By JetJul 25, 2008 at 08:45:48
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I do like the border better. I admit I am usually too lazy to add a border in Photoshop before posting. Sometimes, I’ll just use a border in WordPress or Livewriter, but different versions don’t always have the feature.
I like your border. Now you just need to make an PS action or droplet so you can size and border any photo quick.
Nice shot of the seagull too. Thought about cropping it just a bit for composition?
Tyler Ingram July 25th, 2008 at 09:11:19[Link]
Hi James! I’ll be looking at using actions in Photoshop to make the process a bit easier. I could even go as far as looking at processing the photo via a WordPress plugin that will add the background to it. Though that might be a bit server intensive using the GD library. Though for now the Photoshop Actions should be for now, quicker.
As for cropping it a bit, what would you suggest? Just cropping closer to the bird itself or perhaps the head?
RosieJul 25, 2008 at 12:04:31
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I’m not sure what I think of the border. I like it, but at the same time, it’s distracting me from the photo! Maybe a skinnier border would have been less distracting?
DerekJul 25, 2008 at 12:11:02
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I’m one that normally prefers a border around the photo when it is posted online, however I normally use some CSS to add a frame around it rather than manipulate the actual image.
If you were to size all of your pictures with a few standard sizes, you could create an empty frame and use that as the background style of a div that holds your image. That could be pretty quick to implement.
Tyler Ingram July 25th, 2008 at 12:24:32[Link]
Derek oh that’s a great idea, never though about using CSS to frame the image. I’ll have to look into that.
Rosie I’ll look to see what it may look like with a thinner border.
TawcanJul 25, 2008 at 13:44:00
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First of all, we both have the same camera. Great piece of equipment isn’t it?
I do like the border better. I really should stop being lazy and add them in my pics.
DerekJul 25, 2008 at 15:55:47
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Tyler, I just dusted off a post that I had in my draft posts and refined it to accomplish something similar to your frame using a pre-made image and then adding the picture over that.
Tyler IngramJul 25, 2008 at 22:10:42
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Tawcan it is a great little camera. I just bought the remote shutter release for it and was using it for a little bit today.
Derek that’s awesome (saw the post via RSS) I’ll have to try and see what I can do for CSS with varied height images since the widths are all 500px.
StefanAug 05, 2008 at 17:12:05
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I think it depends on where you want to publish the photo and what you want to express with it. In a simple blog I’d prefer the version without border, although sometimes it looks pretty cool.
Such an enhanced picture should be an eye-catcher. You would spoil this effect if you use it too often. In a photo blog perhaps, in a blog with some journalistic aspiration, well…. no. Just occasionally.
Try CSS, you just change your stylesheet once and leave it alone.
Bright Star (B*)Aug 06, 2008 at 17:22:36
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No offense to others, but I prefer unframed digital images when viewing them online. I agree with the commenter who said that it distracts from the photo.
Cam TardiAug 06, 2008 at 17:25:08
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I’d have to agree with Bright Star and Rosie. I do not like the boarders on a photo online, unless it is in a lightbox style gallery. For images in a blog, I think I would like seeing either a very thin black boarder, or a black line just off the edges.