Resize Canvas Option - Make Uneven Borders

[ozphoto]

I see how to make an even border all around my photo but how do I get an uneven border lets says I want 1" on top and 1.5" on the sides and 2" on the bottom, this anchor thing is confusing me. I need to be able to specify exactly in inches what I want  on each side of the photo.

 

Cheers Mark

[Old Bruce]

Resize by current size plus (1.5 * 2) 3 inches with the anchor in the centre. then select all your Layers and shift by a half inch down using the Transform studio.

[ozphoto]

(Affinity Photo) Totally lost me on this resize by current size is where? and I dont have any layers and what is transform studio?

[R C-R]

The Transform Studio is usually in the tabbed Studio group of panels on the right, along with the Layers & other Studio panels. You can change the canvas size from the Document > Resize Canvas menu item.

The center square in the 9 square display is the center anchor:

[ozphoto]

I see the transform studio tab but it is greyed out with my photo on the screen? Can someone show me how to use the anchor point for top, sides and bottom use? I can do a border all the way around using the center point but when I select the one above the center anchor point thinking this would add a border on the top it will not work?

[Old Bruce]

Use the Move Tool (the second from the top) keyboard shortcut 'V' and select the layer (View > Studio > Layers) to select the photo then mess about with the Transform panel values. Note that there is a tiny icon of a chain which will link the boxes so the value entered in one will make the other increase. Play around with these linked and unlinked. In order to have the not greyed out values you have to have a layer or you image selected.

[ozphoto]

Ok getting closer here the transform box is still greyed out and the photo is selected as shown

[Old Bruce]

That layer is locked, I can tell by the little blue x in the corner of the image.

[ozphoto]

Old Bruce yes it was locked Ok I did get the transform box up so thats good so I will play around. The box shows in pixels how do I get it to show in inches? And why in the resize canvas option what are the other anchor points for I tried one on the side and it changes 3 sides?

[R C-R]

38 minutes ago, ozphoto said:

The box shows in pixels how do I get it to show in inches?

The Transform panel shows values in the current document's units. There are several ways to change that, one of the easiest being to switch to the View Tool (looks like a hand) & change the "Units:" setting in the context toolbar. However, you can enter values using any supported units by including their suffix in the field, replacing the displayed unit with the one you want to use. This also works with expressions, so for example you could enter "1.5*2 in" in the width field to set it to 3 inches.

48 minutes ago, ozphoto said:

And why in the resize canvas option what are the other anchor points for I tried one on the side and it changes 3 sides?

Those anchor points determine the corner or side the size grows or shrinks from -- IOW, they pin or anchor the content to that corner or edge of the canvas.

[ozphoto]

I guess the question remains should I be able to apply different borders sizes on a photo using the resize canvas option and the anchor point tool that it has. If so I am still baffled on how to do this?

[walt.farrell]

46 minutes ago, ozphoto said:

I guess the question remains should I be able to apply different borders sizes on a photo using the resize canvas option and the anchor point tool that it has. If so I am still baffled on how to do this?

You cannot do what you want without manually moving  the layers, as Old Bruce suggested in the first response to your original post. The anchor points will not help you do what you've asked for. They are for other situations.

[R C-R]

The basic steps are really fairly simple:

1. Determine the canvas size needed for the border
2. Set or resize the canvas to that size
3. Add a fill layer, move it to the bottom of the layer stack, & set its color to the desired border color
4. Position the photo on the canvas wherever you want it to be

So for example, say your photo is 4 inches wide x 6 inches high & you want a 1 inch border at the top, a 1.5 inch border on each side, & a 2 inch border on the bottom. The canvas should be 7 inches wide (4 + 1.5 + 1.5) & 9 inches high (6 + 1 + 2).

For convenience, you can use expressions in the Transform panel, one of the anchor points when resizing a canvas that already has a photo on it, & so on, but you don't have to. Just keep in mind the size of the photo & of the canvas, & you should be able to figure it out.

[firstdefence]

If this is a repeating option on consistently sized images why not set a simple macro up to do the canvas resize, So you would go through the process once then apply the macro to each image. The problem I think would be the macro flexibility i.e. the ability to input or change the border size or input different border widths. If you were, say, applying the 1", 1.5", 2" border dimensions to a 10" x 8" image and it was always going to be 1", 1.5", 2" then Affinity Photo's macro will fit the bill.

You could always set up multiple macros for different sized images because once a macro has been created adding the border is a simple click.  

[ozphoto]

I am back to the problem on how to add different border sizes to sides in a photo without expanding it. For example I want 1" on top and 2" on the bottom. This I know will reduce the size of the photo which is ok. I read above that the transform will do this for me? but it is greyed out for some reason?

[carl123]

8 hours ago, ozphoto said:

I am back to the problem on how to add different border sizes to sides in a photo without expanding it. For example I want 1" on top and 2" on the bottom. This I know will reduce the size of the photo which is ok. I read above that the transform will do this for me? but it is greyed out for some reason?

I'm confused...

If you don't want to expand the size of the document an don't mind reducing the size of the photo

Why not just add a 1" rectangle on the top of your image and a 2" rectangle on the bottom in the colours you want

What am I missing here?

 

[HVDB Photography]

Here's another 2 steps quick method ...

 

[R C-R]

13 hours ago, ozphoto said:

I am back to the problem on how to add different border sizes to sides in a photo without expanding it. For example I want 1" on top and 2" on the bottom. This I know will reduce the size of the photo which is ok. I read above that the transform will do this for me? but it is greyed out for some reason?

If the fields in the Transform panel are greyed out, make sure you have selected the photo layer with the Move Tool & that the layer is not locked.