My image Road to Rails is a perfect example.
The comment was I dont agree with the border, and I have seen that many times. I dont understand it. To me it seems like people are saying we shouldnt put the borders. But on images where the aspect ratio is different from that of a desktop image there is no choice, right? Perhaps you are trying to say that the borders shouldnt be black but another color? Or perhaps something else? Please explain this to me because I dont understand this comment.

As I was looking at that image for a few minutes I found my eye wondering around.I then held up two pieces of paper to cover the border on either side.I found this more appealing.Like I said ,I liked the dark tones and the textures of the stones and the pieces of wood etc..I dont have anything against borders and I think that I understand the reason that you used it for that was for the perspective.Thats just my opinion on it,my eye.

I'd say that your only other option to having borders is to do some serious cropping.

tbh i have shortcut's running down the left and right sides of my screen so there aint any problem with there being borders infact that the are there means all the image can be seen

I think that some people just prefer having a desktop that takes up the entire screen. So if people are looking for a desktop they will often say they don't like the border, whereas if they are looking at the image from an artistic POV they probably won't comment on it. There isn't anything you can do about it I don't think, just remember that when you upload something with borders (especially large ones) it is going to reduce its appeal as a desktop to some people.

i find that relatively thin horizontal boarders work alright, its when there are big ominous, in almost every case veritcal ones that people sometimes do not like them. i do not particularly either, as sometimes i want a tall shot. i think with shots like that its best to just put it so it doesnt quite fill the 1600x1200 completely vertically, then frame it with a few classy contrasting lines. it doesnt work so great if people want a full screen desktop, but i find i prefer pictures more if they're a bit smaller, and boarders can really help if done right

Hmm....the only border job I have done was with Snow Dragon, but that was due to the nature of the photo. The rest of my stuff doesn't have borders because it is a work of art. I can try and do some stuff with borders if it looks right, otherwise it is business as usual.

It really is down to the individuals..but im all for borders. I have worked with a variety of border sizes some of these have been simple, some more complex. I will use a border when an image would be best complimented by one.. specifically if i want to emphisise the shape of the image,as with a lot of panoramic work or as with your own vertical photo.. to promote more sense of depth or distance. But as mentioned here.. it would seem that the average caedes viewer prefers fullscreen views uninterupted by borders. Early on during my caedes life i posted the same image twice to see if this was true. The bordered image 'with' has stood the test of time and is tucked away in the galleries now.. whereas the without border image has vanished without a trace.. in this particular case the border saved the image. so its all down to specific personal opinions and specific images. So dont lose heart, keep using borders when you think an image needs them! but next time someone plonks a 'i dont like the border' comment on you, try poking them in the general direction of my post on the Negative Comments vs Positive Critique discussion!

LOL Graeme, You know when I saw the images with the borders I thought, how absolutely stunning. These were from the most professional of our group here in my opinion. Then I really wanted to learn how to do that with my images. It was all a part of learning. Sometimes I prefer without, but most of the time, if done correctly, I think it makes the wallpapers look rich? Only my opinion of course but I am thankful to have learned what I have lately. I am now just trying to learn to do something more because of a wonderfullly boredered image posted lately. I agree whole heartedly in Neg vs Pos.
JuneBug

Hmmm, just as a matter of interest, how much border would you prefer? 1" either side or more?

Noobguy;
Welcome to the club of Border putdowns.To date I have posted 29 images. Of those 29 there are 15 with borders Of those 15 bordered images there are 5 horizontal and 10 vertical ones. As I just posted image number 15, I am expecting negative feedback from some members. I look at the situation like this ,do what you feel is the correct way to present your images and stand tall that you did it the way that you felt was the correct method of displaying your images. As a professional phonographer, for more than 46 years, I have always considered the matte of a photo image as important as the image itself. I have never sold a photograph as a wall art without a matte.
Then I joined Caedes only to find negative comments about my borders. Some don't like the borders, others the color of the borders or my new method of using other items for backgrounds, such as maps. Tiring of the complaints about the color of the border I uploaded one image that has a totally neutral background. I received a comment that this person liked the image but hated gray backgrounds. You will never win. Please only your self. That is the most important thing to do.I have looked at your Gallery and found that your Road to Rails image is very nice. I am not the only one who liked it, with a C-index of 69 there are others that like your image too.
fotobob

hmm, I couldnt change the size of the borders of I wanted to the picture is that size and thats the only way it fits into a 1600x1200 frame. Perhaps I'll only try and upload landscape shots from now on? I'll have to keep in mind that this is a desktop wallpaper site.

as said before i think that the matter of borders is personal preference. but as a person who does alot of photography i like the borders. you use matting when you frame a beautiful print so why not here. especially when there is something that you dislike in the image and want to crop it out without losing any quality. about adding the pin stripes to the edges of the border....well that's personal opinion also. :)

I dont like or dislike borders. I pretty much use them out of necessity. But, this is not an art gallery its a wallpaper site, and for the most part people seem to dislike large borders on their desktops. BUT, I'm still going to keep uploading in bw :-p

Anthony, that image has three comments that mention the borders. One posative comment, one negative and one constructive. I think the balance in that instance is tipped in favour of the borders. So one person doesn’t agree, that’s just the opinion of one person. Really it just proves that “You can’t please all the people all the time”.

Personally I see nothing wrong with borders if they are done tastefully and not overdone. I use them occasionally because some images simply need a border. Yes some people say they don't’ like them but far more say they do like them in my experience.

Please don’t let this get you down, just keep doing it your way because there’s nothing wrong with your way.

oh dont worry, its no biggie. I've come to realize there is a difference between my personal gallery, my portfolio, and my caedes.net gallery. I'd rather just keep images in my caedes.net gallery that are generally accepted as high quality desktop wallpapers. Hence why I keep my gallery with images of c-index 70 or higher (with the exception of my last 2 uploads which were 68 and 69, they will prolly be deleted eventually when I get to cleaning my gallery). The aspect ratio for desktop images is 4x3 so I guess it makes sense to try and keep your images as close to that ratio as possible.

I am not a photographer, I am a jewelry designer. However, I am an artist, and I am able to see what is good work and what is not. I have had much critisim of my designs over the many years I have done beadwork, and I never take it to heart. Not even from another beadweaver. I create my peices to please myself, no one else. If someone likes it them, I am pleased. If they don't, then that is their problem, not mine. I know it is hard to hear such things when you are young and just starting. Hang in there, if you feel a border is needed, then do it. Work to please yourself. I have looked at your gallery and I find your work lovely. I thank you for sharing it with me.

thank you very much for your comments on my gallery. comments like yours are why I post on caedes.net
being a photography major, I have to learn how to please others with my images as well as myself. but thats what we have personal galleries for right?

Gotta pipe in here. Most of the thousands of users on line every day ARE just shopping for an attractive wallpaper that fits their particular interest. Most are going to head straight for a topic of their choice. Very few of them are going to spend hours slogging through the 'new images' catagory like we do on a daily basis.

Where we might be trying to get placement in a permanent gallery, we also post our work, our progress, and our ideas in the new images gallery for each other to see. Ninety per cent of the new images aren't going to make a gallery. Quite a few are still snapshots, but we go through them every day looking for something that appeals to us. Your last couple of comments here have made me think that you might not have posted that particular shot if you had thought about it as strictly a wallpaper.

If you've got a piece of work that's good and you're happy with it, post it! Give it a time limit or an index limit, whatever you feel you have to do but keep posting good pieces of work like that one. As one of the regulars, I'm here to see it!

only 10% make a gallery? maybe only 10% (if that on a lucky day) make it into photoshop, but i figgure why post anything less than what i'm happy with. if i dont have anything worthwhile to post, i wont. i know sometimes i get quite thrilled with a picture, only to look at it a month later, and say 'what could i have thought was so good about this', but i find even if i lose appreciation of my pictures, theres usually somebody on here who can :)

I have seen a few images with borders that i have downloaded for desktops, but I just like a full screen. Like with a landscape, i like the wide open spaces of a full screen, it gives me a sense, of being there. Dwight

I got a comment on my most recent image thats a prime example of what I was trying to say
The person asked for a copy of the image without the borders - sort of implying that I placed them there on purpose
I think the problem is that some people dont realize that those borders arent always there because of the authors taste, or because the author cropped some of the image and placed borders, but that some images just arent at a 4x3 ratio and in order to place them onto caedes.net there must be some padding
Perhaps the easiest solution would be to explain in the description of each image where borders are placed that either you placed the borders there out of necessity because of incompatabilities in proportions, or you placed the borders there because you decided to crop or add to the composition or some other reason. This way people will perhaps not pay attention to the borders on images where they are only there for necessity.
If you have any other suggestions tho...

That’s worth a try Anthony, it just might stop a few comments about the borders.

[quote]i have shortcut's running down the left and right sides of my screen so there aint any problem with there being borders [/quote]

Same as, however I got fed up with people whining about them so now I do a fullsize version for here and one for my own PC with a space or border area I can shove my Icons and shortcuts/files.

I really can't see why people moan cos most of the time the image behind icons makes it so you can't read what is on your desktop....

Goes to show, you can only please some of the people some of the time.

I wouldn't necessarily call it whining; after all, feedback is one of the things we want when we post images here, right? If someone doesn't like a particular aspect of an image, they should say so shouldn't they? As long as it's constructive...

I felt it to be kind of discouraging when I first posted a vertical photo on a black background, and after uploading several photos which had received good reviews, I had some expectations for this one. Well the response was so underwhelming that I felt like I had just thrown a basketball into a garbage can only to hear that hollow sound of the ball bouncing around in an empty drum. I thought maybe it wasn't any good, so I tried another, and got the same result. Here it is now almost a year later, and I have completely given up on posting vertical images.

I have grown a bit more secure in my art, and realized that the vertical images will have to exist for my pleasure instead of sharing them, so Caedes.net only gets half of what I do. The rest I keep for my own dark pleasure. They're on the internet, but on my website instead of Caedes. It is one of the things about which I keep nagging Caedes - set up an area for vertical images, so those who aren't interested won't have to see them.

I know what you mean Regmar. Trying to post a portrait-oriented image is like trying to put a square peg into a round hole. Most of the time it just isn’t worth the trouble.

I tend to like borders on quite a few of my dektops. It gives me a place to put my icons without feeling like they are "interrupting" the image. But this is just a personal thing :) I'd gladly post an image without it's borders if someone specifically requested it, or if it was possible.

noobguy, thank you for starting this post, it came out way before i started doing borders, and i like the majority was looking for a pure desktop, but fotobob's still life's and our overcast weather gave me an idea to try a still life, even though i still did not get vertical with it, i knew i would have to have a border for the still life, i want to try more in the vertical form, because they look better and i say horse feathers to the c-index...

*joins the Horsefeathers Alliance (HA)*

As you can see from my experimentation recently, I figure there are ways of incorporating borders into a desktop that add beauty to the image, give a place for icons without covering the main image, and still work with the imposed aspect ratios regardless of the image's ratio. I've enjoyed the creative borders that some have been doing lately.

unfortunately I dont think I would enjoy a creative border around my photography. Call me stubborn but I think that would take away from the photograph as the main focal point. I typically use pure black or pure white borders as a method of reducing distraction from the main image as much as possible. Perhaps I could start doing borders as I would frame my images for a gallery?

I dont like borders myself I think the fact that they are there distract from the picture,maybe just blur the borders.