- 1). Evaluate the aspect ratio of your image. Aspect ratio is a comparison of the short side of an image to its long side. The most common ratio used is from 35 mm film, which uses a negative that is 24-by-36 mm, or a ratio of 2:3. To illustrate, we will consider the full-frame effect will be printed on an 8-by-10 inch sheet of paper, which has a 4:5 ratio. The image and the full-frame border effect has to be printed within the 8-by-10 inch area, preferably with white space on all sides.
- 2). Calculate your image size. Let's decide to leave a minimum 1/2-inch border, printing in landscape (horizontal) orientation. Subtracting 1 inch from the paper length, for a 1/2-inch border on each side, means the image length will be 9 inches. Applying the 2:3 ratio determines that the image width will be 6 inches.
- 3). Resize your image to 6-by-9 inches in your imaging software. In Photoshop, for example, select "Image" from the toolbar, then "Image Size..." from the drop-down menu. Selecting a "Document Size" of 9 inches wide with the "Constrain Proportions" box checked will re-size a full-frame DSLR properly. Other imaging software will have similar steps. You can crop an area of your image, but keep the 2:3 aspect ratio in mind as you do.
- 4). Copy the image and paste it on a new canvas that is 8-by-10 inches. Adding a black stroke effect, 8 to 10 pixels wide, approximates the blank film printed around a full-frame negative. However, this will not effectively fake the true effect.
- 5). Locate or purchase a full-frame print border image (an example is included in the Resources section) to re-size around your photograph. Add this image as a layer on your 8-by-10 inch canvas, between the background and the image layer. Adjust the size of the border layer to fit around the image. Your image is ready to print.