I feel dumb...but I need help choosing print size for frames with matte

I am about to send off some pictures to be printed (Nation Photo Lab) and I have to choose my print size.

Here is my dilemma, I have this frame and I want to keep the matte, so do I print my photo as an 8x10 (which is the "matted to" size) or do I print my photo as 11x14? I feel if I am choosing the latter, then I have to account for all that matte material as border and thus will be forced to choose which part of the picture gets blocked by the material.

Help!

Here is the frame info:

Print at 8x10 at the recommended ppi for your printer. You will print on larger paper (like letter size) and then mount the photo to the matte, aligning the image to the matte opening .

To do this, you will need to slightly crop your full-size image to a 4:5 aspect ratio and then change the size of the resulting image to 8" x 10" at (for example) 300 ppi. Or, in other words: 8" x 10" at 300 ppi = 2400 x 3000 pixels at 300 ppi.

Otherwise, if you print at the 11x14 size, the matte opening (which is 8" x 10") will obscure and cover a not insignificant portion of the image.

kirk

Size your image to 8.25 by 10.25. Then expand the canvas filling with white to 11 x 14 and order an 11 x 14 print. You get an 11 x 14 print with an 8.25 X 10.25 image in the center and a white border

You need the extra print surface to fit under the mat and hold it flat, and you need the extra image size to allow positioning inside the mat window. Using 8.25 by 10.25 gives you an extra 1/8 inch to play with when positioning the print inside the mat.

Generally when working with a pre cut mat it will be cut so that the opening will be a little smaller than the corresponding paper size. I usually print at 16×12 using a 20×16 frame and mount. The opening in the mount is usually cut so that it is 15½×11½, this allows you to mount the print and have it retained behind the mount. In this case I would simply order the print in 10×8 but just make sure you have a little space around the edge. Since you already seem to have the frame I would just take a ruler to the mount to check the exact opening size, and use that as a guide to how lose you need to crop so that you don't cut anything off.

Alan

What Alan said above is usually the case. The pre-cut mats are sized to accept a print (such as 8X10) with an opening that is smaller by 1/2" in height and width.

Simple. Round the measure up to the nearest whole numbers. If slightly under 8 x 10, as I suspect this is, round up to 8 x 10.