Three examples of elliptical galaxies from the parent sample with stellar mass ∼10¹¹ M_⊙. Top: gri-band colour composite images, overlaid on the background gri summed image in grey scale, of the galaxies denoted as A (left), B (middle) and C (right). The SDSS J2000 identifier and R_edge are labelled for these galaxies as in Fig. 2. Bottom, left to right: the μ_g, g − r and Σ_⋆ profiles of the objects. The edges for these galaxies are visible as a sudden transition from red to blue in their g − r colour profiles (see Sect. 5.3 for details). The locations of the edges occur at mass densities Σ_⋆(R_edge) > 1 M_⊙ pc⁻².