Border
An area of unprinted paper deliberately left around an image.
Measured in
mm
In depth
A border serves practical and visual purposes: it gives handling room without touching the image, allows for signing and mounting, and visually separates the picture from its surroundings. Traditional proportions weight the bottom margin slightly heavier than the top, which stops the image appearing to sink within its frame.
Examples in practice
An A2 print is made with a 5 cm border at the sides and top and 6 cm at the bottom for optical balance.