Critique my border(s):

[jacobsen1]

I've gone through several border changes in the last year... I started with this:
http://www.awesomeroadtrips.com/wp-content/gallery/canada-day5/IMG_1344.jpg

narrowed the white portion to 1px:
http://www.benjacobsen.com/wp-content/gallery/seal-point/100_2007.jpg

made the name my actual handwriting:
http://www.benjacobsen.com/wp-content/gallery/okemo-12-26-07/IMG_4013.jpg

changed the signature again:
http://www.benjacobsen.com/wp-content/gallery/eaj-week-21-update/img_9245.jpg

now I'm playing with it again...
I'm getting sick of the black border...
I'm going with white, but with 1px black on either side and changing everything else up a bit as well:

http://www.benjacobsen.com/wp-content/gallery/random-crap/img_1325-white-border-no-drop-bjpcom.jpg

the url change is because I own both urls. But benjacobsen.com is mostly the blog for my family and it's very much dominated by my son these days (he just turned 5 months old and it's how our families keep up). I also own benjacobsenphoto.com and it's where anything "commercial" goes. A lot of the fun stuff I link here is on BJ.com but having people goto BJP.com is better for me anyway as it's more professional.

thoughts?

[12mnkys]

to be honest....I like the 3rd the best.

In a paragraph or less could you explain to me how to create a border like that?

[jacobsen1]

DL it here: http://www.newschoolofphotography.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1270
or go here and read how: http://www.newschoolofphotography.com/?p=58

but basically it's (in photoshop):

resize for the web (go a tad smaller than usual)
image -> canvas size
pick the color you want at the bottom of the box
check the relative box and then pick pixels from the drop down
put in the size you want for the first color (that's 2px white)
do it again with the other color/size (40px black)

done. You can also do it with strokes if you like.

[symes]

The third one is by far the most powerful - I would stick away from BJ as the signature for a number of reasons - aside from rather lude, it just doesn't look as professional as your full name.

Cheers,

[12mnkys]

DL it here: http://www.newschoolofphotography.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1270
or go here and read how: http://www.newschoolofphotography.com/?p=58

but basically it's (in photoshop):
resize for the web (go a tad smaller than usual)
image -> canvas size
pick the color you want at the bottom of the box
check the relative box and then pick pixels from the drop down
put in the size you want for the first color (that's 2px white)
do it again with the other color/size (40px black)
done. You can also do it with strokes if you like.

Thanks! I will give that a shot!

[troymm]

I used to use that way to make borders, but now I use

select > all
edit > stroke

enter the amount of px you want your border. done

[Dizzle]

Ben, your actions ROCK!

[jacobsen1]

I used to use that way to make borders, but now I use

select > all
edit > stroke

enter the amount of px you want your border. done

both work, not sure why one is considered easier than the other though as they're both very easy.

[officer_hardass]

DL it here: http://www.newschoolofphotography.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1270
or go here and read how: http://www.newschoolofphotography.com/?p=58

but basically it's (in photoshop):

resize for the web (go a tad smaller than usual)
image -> canvas size
pick the color you want at the bottom of the box
check the relative box and then pick pixels from the drop down
put in the size you want for the first color (that's 2px white)
do it again with the other color/size (40px black)

done. You can also do it with strokes if you like.

I tend to crop a lot of my photos, and what happens is that the borders are never the same on each photo - they're either thicker or thinner, depending on the pixel dimensions. Is there a way to automate this process for photos with varying dimensions? Thanks

[jacobsen1]

well I resize the long edges to 800px for anything that goes online. You can set your actions to do just that regardless of the height. The issue you'll have is the text/sig will need to be done manually each time you have an odd size....

[ilantis]

#3 gets my vote as well. The handwriting is legible and visually pleasing (unlike my own, lol) and the little hint of red is a nice touch.