Fine-tune your inkjet photo printer

This test won't help you improve the quality of the actual printed image, but it can help ensure your borders are even.

Using your favorite graphics application, create an image space that's, say, 4.5 inches wide by 5 inches high. To conserve ink, make the image a simple black line around the outer edges of the area. Use the application's Print Preview option to center the image on the paper. Place a sheet of plain 8.5x11-inch paper in the feed tray, making sure it's properly seated. Print a test page, verify that the box is the dimensions you specified, and measure the widths of the borders. If the box isn't centered on the page, make a note of how you'll have to shift it to even things out. This way, you don't have to mess with scissors, rulers, and other trimming implements to produce prints with perfectly even, absolutely straight white borders.

Some printers are capable of producing borderless prints. If yours isn't, don't try to fool it by entering the wrong paper dimensions. If you're very lucky, you'll get the desired result. If you're not, you'll foul the inside of the printer with spilled ink. To get borderless prints from a printer that can't produce them, use a larger paper size and trim away the border when you're done.