So we all know what an optical illusion is, right? I mean after all their entire museum is dedicated to them But did you know that when you mount your photos in the center it can also create an optical illusion? Hi, I'm Erin and today I want to give you a tip that will literally change the way people see your photography So what exactly is optical print centering? Simply put it is the visual balance of your image. That means it's not about the mathematical center or the geometric midpoint But it's where your eye perceives the center to actually be in other words when we mount our images in the center or behind a pre-cut Mapboard it will give the illusion that the top half of the map is actually larger than the bottom half So overall it'll look as if our image is set too low or possibly sinking on the map Here's a visual example. Do you see how the optical center is slightly higher than the geometric midpoint when looking at these different images? Which one do you find more appealing? And what about here? This isn't just something you can use for mounting your images, but you can also apply it to Instagram stories or posts for example So how exactly do we fix this? There is a formula that we will use that will help us find the optical center and slightly raise up our image on the map So that it corrects for this optical illusion and creates visual balance If you're not a math person don't worry. Just stay tuned I will go ahead and show you a shortcut or all you have to do is plug your measurements into this table And it will automatically do the calculations for you In order to find the optical center you first want to place the image in the upper left-hand corner of the mapboard Then you will mark where the image comes to on the right-hand side It's also a good idea to mark the bottom corner of the image Now in this case you can see that the two images are not even with each other Therefore I use my ruler to make sure I mark the bottom of the entire image Next measure the distance from the right-hand side of your picture to the right-hand side of the mapboard Whatever that number comes to you'll want to divide that by two and make another mark in the center of those two marks Now using my ruler I will draw a light line down the center. This will actually become the new right-hand edge of my image when I mounted I'll then create a diagonal line using my ruler from the bottom right-hand corner mark to the bottom right-hand corner of the map And where these two lines intersect I'll draw another light pencil mark And that's it this small cross is now your new optical center point Let's go ahead and check this as I mentioned before there is a tool you can use where you can put all of the measurements in and it will do the calculations for you You have to wrestle cut trails website, which of course I've linked in the description below There is a calculator now What's cool about this website is there is also a diagram here so you can check how it will look The only downside to this website is that it's better for those measuring in inches rather than centimeters If you're using metric system it may just mean you have to go through an extra step of converting your measurements from centimeters to inches and back again However, if you click down here at the bottom you can also change the inches back to centimeters So it does half of the converting for you. Oh, yes, and despite my beautiful American accent I have somehow forgotten how to measure in inches Once I have these measurements, I'll go back over to my map board and measure the top and sides to see if they line up with the calculation from the website And it's pretty much spot on Just a small tip if you're using the website for your calculations I usually mark the top and left side as opposed to the right and bottom side like I showed you at the beginning So there you have it. That's two different ways to find the optical center when you mount your pictures Also just so you know this method is the same whether you're cutting a matte window or you're mounting your images directly on the map board As you can see here on the website It also gives you the measurements and a diagram regarding where to cut your matte window Well, there you have it guys that was it for today I know it's short and sweet, but I hope you enjoyed this video and this tip if you did be sure to give it a thumbs up And don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss another video for me. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Aaron So