My photo strips are off center? (Understanding Bleed)
Darkroom Booth | Documentation
First, an explanation about Bleed.
Note: The bleed adjustment is not for adjusting the alignment on a 2x6 but it does have an affect on that alignment.
Windows Printers
From the beginning Booth was designed to be simple and visual. Printers that make 2x6 strips are actually printing a 4x6 and then cutting that in half. Rather than force you to design 2x6 photo strips as a 2 sided 4x6 we allow you to design as a single 2x6 and then Booth will duplicate that single strip to both sides. This works well in the majority of cases but for some, especially those with intricate detail in their design, this can result in one of the two strips being off center. To allow more control you can design as a 2 sided 4x6. With a 2x6 if you move the images to the right you will be moving both 2x6 strips to the right. By designing as a 2 sided 4x6 you gain independent control over both sides. In the illustration the blue line represents the center cut and the red line represent the Bleed adjustment in the printer section. As you can see, the bleed enlarges the print on the top, bottom and left for one strip and the top, bottom and right for the other. Windows sets the default bleed to 30 pixels but in Booth we allow you to adjust that. In most cases 15 to 20 is a better setting. As a 2 sided 4x6 you can adjust the right and left strips separately. The bleed adjustment is not for adjusting the alignment on a 2x6 but it does have an affect on that alignment. In most all software Windows applies an automatic bleed of 30 pixels to give a border-less print. This bleed is a slight enlargement or overprint of the image so it does not have a border. Darkroom allow you to adjust that bleed for your printer but it should generally be a set it and forget adjustment. Once you have set the best bleed for your printer you should not need to adjust it again under most situations. In the illustration below you can see that the higher you go on the bleed the more is cut off on the outside edges of the strips but none is cut off on the inside edges.
DNP Printers
The
strip alignment comes preset and should be close but printers vary and
with paper changes may need slight adjustments. With the DNP DS40,
DS620A and the RX-1 there is a centering adjustment that allows you to
fine tune the centering on the cut line. The photo below shows a 2x6
print oriented how it comes out of the printer. In the printer
properties dialog window there is a Fine Adjust section. you can enter
negative or positive numbers to move the 4x6 image up and down or side
to side.
The bleed may also be helpful this will give you the option to zoom in or out.
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