tell me what i'm doing wrong....

Hi, really could do with some help here, slowly going mad trying to get my pics the right crop ratio.

Right here's what i've got a problem with.......

I recently took some photos at a wedding reception and the couple wanted the photos in a 6x4 crop ratio. No problem, i edited the photos and all print fine at 6x4 - However, she wanted the photos on DVD so she could show people and send copies to family etc [I had no problem with them doing this on this occasion, as i'm a friend of the bride] so, i did a 2nd disc with the photos with an added frame so the photos would look nicer when she showed people [example below]

Simple maths... adding 440 pixels to each side will violate the 6:4 or 3:2 ratio because 3 is not a factor of 440. Increasing the canvas size by 420 with maintain the ratio.

As mentioned think of the 6x4 as a ratio. Simplify and you get 3:2. The quick and dirty way to figure this out is to take 440 and divide by 3. You get 146.67 rounded of to the hundredths (so it does not divide evenly). 420/3 gets you 120 which is even. The same can be done without simplifying. 440/6 = 73.33 and 420/6 = 70 (goes into it evenly).

I don't think you guys still have it right. Since it is a ratio you have to add pixels as a ratio. So if the image is 6 wide and 4 tall (6x4) then you have to add 3 pixels of width for every 2 pixels of height.

Further:

If the image is 1800x1200 pixels and you add a border, say 400 pixels to the width, your image needs to have 266.67 pixels added to the height (400* 2/3). Now your final image is 2200x1467 which still yields a 3:2 ratio.

In2Photos wrote in post #4452189
If the image is 1800x1200 pixels and you add a border, say 400 pixels to the width, your image needs to have 266.67 pixels added to the height (400* 2/3). Now your final image is 2200x1467 which still yields a 3:2 ratio.

Yea what he said, i had this same problem at a wedding i shot! Came the above conclusion which resolved my issue

In Elements, I just crop my photos to 3x5 and then add 1/2 inch of border all the way around in the "Image Resize canvas".