Using Windows XP > Digital Photography

Remove black borders

Published: June 2, 2005

Photo Story 3 for Windows is a easy-to-use program that allows you to create visually compelling and fun stories using your photos and music. This article explains why Photo Story 3 will sometimes add black borders around your pictures, and describes three different ways you can improve the look and feel of your photo story by removing these black borders.

When you import your pictures into Photo Story 3, they are viewed in a frame that uses the same ratio of length to height as most computer monitors. If your pictures don't conform to this length and height ratio, a black border gets added to fill the area surrounding the picture. You might not mind this border, but if you do, Photo Story 3 offers three different ways to remove it.

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Related Links
•Download Photo Story 3
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On This Page
Using the Remove black borders buttonUsing the Remove black borders button
Using Edit to remove black bordersUsing Edit to remove black borders
Using Customize Motion to remove black bordersUsing Customize Motion to remove black borders

Using the Remove black borders button

The easiest way to remove black borders is by using the Remove black borders button. This feature helps you automatically crop any portrait-oriented pictures so that they are landscape-oriented. When you import pictures that are portrait-oriented, the Remove black borders button will appear on the Import and arrange your pictures page.

To remove black borders using the Remove black borders button

1.

Open a photo story that includes pictures with black borders.

2.

On the Import and arrange your pictures page, click Remove black borders.

3.

In the Removing Black Borders dialog box, a cropping rectangle is displayed in the Before box, and the cropped picture is previewed in the After box, as shown in the following screen shot.

Screen shot of the Removing Black Borders dialog box

Do one of the following:

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Click Yes if you are satisfied with the automatically cropped picture shown in the After box. This will take you to the next picture that has black borders.

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If you are not satisfied with the automatically cropped picture shown in the After box, change the cropped region by either dragging the entire crop rectangle, or drag a handle of the rectangle to resize the crop rectangle. When you do this, the cropped picture will appear on the After box. Once you are satisfied with the cropped picture shown in the After box, click Yes. This will take you to the next picture that has black borders.

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If you decide to leave the black borders around the picture, click No. This will take you to the next picture that has black borders.

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Click Yes to All to let Photo Story automatically crop your pictures without previewing them. This will take you back to the Import and arrange your pictures page.

Note: Removing black borders does not affect the original picture that is stored on your computer, a network folder, or the Internet. You can make additional edits to the pictures after removing black borders.

Using Edit to remove black borders

You can manually crop pictures to remove black borders by using the Edit button.

To remove black borders using the Edit button

1.

Open a photo story that includes pictures with black borders.

2.

On the Import and arrange your pictures page, click a picture with black borders, and then click Edit.

3.

In the Edit Pictures dialog box, on the Rotate and Crop tab, select the Crop check box.

A rectangle with handles appears on the picture, as shown in the following screen shot.

Screen shot of the Rotate and Crop tab with the Crop check box selected.

4.

To resize the rectangle, point to a side or corner of the rectangle. When the pointer becomes a double-headed arrow, drag the handle.

5.

To move the whole rectangle, point to the center of the rectangle. When the pointer becomes a four-headed arrow, drag the rectangle to the area of the picture you want to keep.

6.

When you are done cropping the picture, click Save.

7.

To crop or edit another picture in the story, click the Go to Next Picture button or the Go to Previous Picture button until you reach the picture you want to edit, and then crop or edit the picture.

8.

Repeat steps 3 through 6 until you have cropped or edited all your pictures the way you want.

9.

When you are done cropping and editing your pictures, click Close to close the Edit Pictures dialog box.

Note: You can also edit your pictures on any page in Photo Story on which the film strip appears. To access the Edit menu, right-click a picture in the film strip, point to Edit, and then click Crop. Then repeat steps 3 through 6.

Using Customize Motion to remove black borders

Another way to remove black borders is with the pan and zoom effects. If you do not want Photo Story to determine the pan and zoom effects automatically, you can choose to control these effects manually in the Customize Motion dialog box. By setting the motion manually, you can select the areas inside the black borders that will appear at the beginning and at the end of the picture's video clip.

To customize motion and remove black borders

1.

Open a photo story that includes pictures with black borders.

2.

On the Narrate your pictures and customize motion page, click a picture with black borders, and then click Customize Motion.

3.

In the Customize Motion dialog box, select the Specify start and end position of motion check box.

A rectangle with handles appears on the picture in the Start position and End position boxes, as shown in the following screen shot.

Screen shot of the Customize Motion dialog box with the Specify start and end position of motion check box selected

4.

In the Start position box, do one or both of the following:

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To resize the rectangle, point to a side or corner of the rectangle. When the pointer becomes a double-headed arrow, drag the handle. Make sure the black borders are outside the crop rectangle.

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To move the whole rectangle, point to the center of the rectangle. When the pointer becomes a four-headed arrow, drag the rectangle to the area of the picture that you want to be in focus when the picture first appears in your story. Make sure the black borders are outside the crop rectangle.

5.

In the End position box, do one or both of the following:

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To resize the rectangle, point to a side or corner of the rectangle. When the pointer becomes a double-headed arrow, drag the handle. Make sure the black borders are outside the crop rectangle.

•

To move the whole rectangle, point to the center of the rectangle. When the pointer becomes a four-headed arrow, drag the rectangle to the area of the picture that you want to be in focus at the end of the motion. Make sure the black borders are outside the crop rectangle, as shown in the following screen shot.

Screen shot showing the start and end positions

6.

To preview the pan and zoom effects, click Preview.

7.

Click Save and then click Close to close the Customize Motion dialog box.

Note: You should preview the pan and zoom effects for the picture to ensure that you achieved the desired effects. If you do not achieve the desired effect, you may want to try different start and end positions.