I have a question about croping.  i am sure it has been asked before.  I did a close up of a childs face, the parents want it in a 8x 10.  The problem is it cuts off her hair and cute chin.  I resized the picture and it did not help.  How do i get the whole image in the picture?

  I thought maybe if I put a border around it.  Would that work?

Your original iage is basically a 8 x 12  so yes you are now tajking of an inch off the top and bottom

 Assuming the Image is in a Portrait orientation

You could either

• Print an 8 X 12 ( 8 X 12 Mats for an 11 X 14 Frame are becoming more common, very common in my area)
• Clone or Mirror: The left and right sides. Remember you are now trying to fit an 8 x 12 into a 8 X 10 Space so you are making the image more square
• Add a border around the image but again you will have to add either only border to the left and right sides or if you have it around the entire image, more will have to be on the sides rather then the top or bottom.
• Re-shoot the image...now knowing that you have to allow space at the top or bottom for a Crop
  

This question has indeed been asked before...by just about every one of us!  Almost every new photographer I know (myself included) got this kind of unhappy introduction to the subject of aspect ratio, so don't feel alone.

Aspect ratio is the ratio of the width of a photo to the height.  A digital photo can be expanded or contracted without cropping only if the aspect ratio is the same.  For example a photo with an aspect ration of 2:3 can be printed in a 4x6, 8x12, or 20x30 size without having to be cropped.  Go try to find an 8x12 frame, however, and you may well be in for a challenge.  Standard frame sizes are 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10, all of which have different aspect ratios. 

You are right that a border is how to get it to work.  To avoid this problem in the future, try to frame your shot with enough room around the subject so that the photo can be cropped in several ways without losing important detail. You can then crop to fit whatever frame size you want to print.