A border does more work than it appears to. It separates the image from whatever surrounds it, which matters when a photograph with dark edges is placed on a dark page and simply dissolves into the background. It gives a set of images a consistent presentation, so a grid of product shots looks deliberate rather than assembled. And a generous white border is the oldest presentation trick there is — it is what a gallery mount does, and it makes a picture read as a considered object.
The border is added by expanding the canvas rather than by cropping, so nothing in your image is lost. A 16-pixel border on a 1000 × 800 photo produces a 1032 × 832 file with the original untouched at its centre.
The border is drawn locally in your browser. The images are not uploaded to be framed.
| Image width | Suggested border | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Under 600 px | 8 px | A clean edge without eating the frame |
| 800–1200 px | 16 px | Clearly visible, still restrained |
| 1500–2500 px | 32 px | Proportionally similar to 16 px on a smaller file |
| Over 3000 px | 64 px | The only width that reads as a border at this scale |
Border width is absolute, not proportional, so the same setting looks completely different on a thumbnail and on a full-resolution photograph. If you are borrowing a look across a set of differently sized images, resize them to a common width first and then add the border.
White is the default for a reason: it mimics a gallery mount, it separates the image from almost any background, and it never competes with the content. Black frames bright or high-key images well and gives photographs a cinematic weight, though it disappears on a dark page.
A brand colour ties a set of images together and is worth it for product grids and social posts, but keep the width modest — a wide band of saturated colour draws the eye away from the picture it is supposed to be presenting.
No. The canvas is expanded and the border drawn around the outside, so the original image is fully preserved at the centre. The output dimensions grow by twice the border width.
The options are 8, 16, 32 and 64 pixels. For a different thickness, apply a border twice — 32 then 32 gives you 64, and mixing colours gives a double frame.
Yes. The colour picker accepts any value, so brand colours and custom tones all work.
Only if they are the same size. The width is in absolute pixels, so 16 px is prominent on a 600 px image and nearly invisible on a 4000 px one. Resize to a common width first for a consistent set.
PNG output keeps its alpha channel, and the border itself is drawn as solid colour. Note that the border sits behind a transparent image area rather than around the visible content.
No. The canvas is expanded and painted in your browser.