Do you frame your prints?

[D'z Nutz]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you print and frame your own work?

In the ~4 years I've been regularly shooting, I hadn't actually framed and hung up any of my own work. (Reason being that I'm never satisfied with a lot of the stuff I shoot so having it staring at me daily would annoy me to no end.) I've had people buy prints, friends and family request for them, etc... so I know others have been putting my work up. I do send things off to get printed on occasion and even spend quite a bit of time in the darkroom making prints, but all that ends up in my portfolio and tucked away.

I finally decided to hang something after Melinda sent off one of my photos to get printed! Even then, I originally intended just to add it to the portfolio, but it turned out to be too long

I bought the frame on Sunday and matted it this afternoon so it doesn't look too bad now



Now to find somewhere to put it other than the floor! Haha

Those of you who do display your stuff, how do you decide what is print/frame worthy? Do you print and/or frame just about everything? Or do you only put up the stuff you considered an achievement (ie: a shot you've been trying to get for a long time, something completely outstanding from what you normally do, etc..)? Or do you just put stuff up to fill the wall? If you don't print/frame, why not?

Maybe share some photos of your home decor where you've displayed your work! It'll be interesting to see what some of you guys have up

[ex1z7]

I'll snap a few shots of where I've hung a few of my pictures around my house.. I wanted to print a few things because it feels like an achievement itself to see it in ink than on a screen..

I print some of my work so i can look at it, with all of the imperfections it may have, so I can remind myself on how to do better the next time.

I'm constantly getting better each time I shoot, getting a new feel for the camera, a new angle and idea.. I'm just working on my exposure for now, as my composure has always been good (so I think) but when I try to get creative with composure, I can't keep up with settings..

I look at my printed work and my posted work and make a mental note to go back and try the shot again to get it better. It's a constant reminder to be better.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Is there any way to cheaply frame a picture? Even when Michael's has their 40% off or whatever it is, it's still $140/picture for a custom frame and good glass.

The reason I ask is because when I went to Cuba, I bought a bunch of paintings, unframed of course, and definitely cannot afford $140/picture to have them framed. I would be totally fine with a cheap plastic frame and regular glass but the paintings are not standard sizes so I would likely need a custom job. I wouldn't even be opposed to having them mounted on a piece of particle board or whatever it is they do if that is cheaper. Can anyone tell me if this is possible or if I am going to have to bend over and pay $140/pic?

[Lagerstatten.ca]

Where there's a will, there's a way! You can always do it yourself Mitsu3000gt.

A couple of months ago a coworker and myself couldn't stand the thought of spending $100+ on a digital picture frame so we just took some old laptops at work and converted them into a digital photo frame.

14" is sure better than 7", and the longest part of the whole process was using hot glue to stick it all together.

Mitsu3000gt: Depending on what size the art pieces are, Michaels recently had some of that white foam mounting boards on sale for $2 a piece. Not sure what the exact sizes where but it was atleast 15"x25".

-TT

[Melinda]

We have my work hanging all over our house, both in canvas and print form. We just finished painting the upstairs of our place, so we're just getting started with getting the walls decorated in our office and bedroom. We do have some already in our hallway and bathroom, and the frames have been bought for the other two rooms, just getting selections together for which room gets what.

As for selection process, my walls are continuously changing. If I shoot a picture that I really love, I'll find a room that it fits into and take down a picture that has been there for a while or that isn't as good as the new one I like. Each room has a bit of a theme to it, so it's pretty easy to decide where most photos would work best.

Once we get more of these prints done and hung up, I will post some pictures!

That framed photo looks great Derrick! Glad you didnt tuck it away like you originally planned!

[Pihsiak]

The only time I've done prints is to test out different places

at the moment i have them in 11x14 glass clip frames and when friends or family come to my house and like my pictures I just give it to them to make more room.

[mb3k]

There's reserved blank walls in my place but I always get into the stupid loop of "ohh I'll get the frame and then put the photo in, but I need the photo to put in the frame".
Of course, there's a ton of photos on my computer its the procrastination (I make a good student ) that gets to me.

Does anybody else get annoyed at the default frame/print sizes? I hate cropping photos to the frame ratios, and I love getting prints from Costco rather than my printer, so that's another restriction on print ratios. Melinda, I might have to venture in your canvas printing...

[turboMiata]

i love making prints. computer monitors can not come close to reproducing the colours a good quality printer can make. that's why i think photos take on another life on paper.

i don't really like displaying my work at home though. however, i recently broke down and had one of my prints professionally mounted and framed by an art gallery as i had an empty wall that i wanted to fill. i selected it purely because i though it would provide some context and add interest to the space where it would live.

[3g4u]

I usually end up framing black and white pics from 35mm that i enlarge at home. I usually dont print shots from digital, just burn to c.d. and watch on tv or whatnot. Something about black and white film prints that just looks really nice mounted to me.

[lint]

Originally posted by mb3k
There's reserved blank walls in my place but I always get into the stupid loop of "ohh I'll get the frame and then put the photo in, but I need the photo to put in the frame".
Of course, there's a ton of photos on my computer its the procrastination (I make a good student ) that gets to me.

Does anybody else get annoyed at the default frame/print sizes? I hate cropping photos to the frame ratios, and I love getting prints from Costco rather than my printer, so that's another restriction on print ratios. Melinda, I might have to venture in your canvas printing...

It's pretty easy to cut your own custom matte to fit any frame. Matte board is like ~$8 for a 20"x30" sheet and a cutter will cost you $90 at Michaels (use a 40% off coupon to bring it down to ~$60) and you're set.

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by lint


It's pretty easy to cut your own custom matte to fit any frame. Matte board is like ~$8 for a 20"x30" sheet and a cutter will cost you $90 at Michaels (use a 40% off coupon to bring it down to ~$60) and you're set.

That's what I do. After I make the print, usually a 2:3 ratio or 1:1 ratio (if I'm shooting 6x6), I find a frame that's close to the print size and get the next size or two up. I personally prefer to have a matted border around the actual photo. The photo in the first post is 8x12, I think. The frame is 11x20.

I never crop a photo just to fit it into a standard paper or frame ratio. That's the stupidest reason to crop, IMO.

If you're looking for matte board, I think it's cheapest at Mona Lisa's on 17th ave. If I'm not mistaken, it's about $4-5 for a 20x30 sheet. I bought a matte cutter at Michael's with the 40% coupon, but got one of the cheaper ones. It does the job, so I'm happy.

[lint]

Originally posted by D'z Nutz


That's what I do. After I make the print, usually a 2:3 ratio or 1:1 ratio (if I'm shooting 6x6), I find a frame that's close to the print size and get the next size or two up. I personally prefer to have a matted border around the actual photo. The photo in the first post is 8x12, I think. The frame is 11x20.

I never crop a photo just to fit it into a standard paper or frame ratio. That's the stupidest reason to crop, IMO.

If you're looking for matte board, I think it's cheapest at Mona Lisa's on 17th ave. If I'm not mistaken, it's about $4-5 for a 20x30 sheet. I bought a matte cutter at Michael's with the 40% coupon, but got one of the cheaper ones. It does the job, so I'm happy.

The art supply store on 16 ave across from sait is also a good place to look. When I picked mine up, they had a 30% off white sale.

[teggypimp95]

I have thought about doing this. But im not sure what i would think would be good enough for framing? My friends mom does matting and framing so i would have her do it. How big can i go with out losing quality? My camera is 6.1 mp.

[turboMiata]

Originally posted by teggypimp95
How big can i go with out losing quality? My camera is 6.1 mp.

6MP you should be able to get a half decent 8X12 or 8X10 print with no issues. when you get to 11X17 or 13X19 you will notice the quality starting to suffer.

[Melinda]

Originally posted by turboMiata


6MP you should be able to get a half decent 8X12 or 8X10 print with no issues. when you get to 11X17 or 13X19 you will notice the quality starting to suffer.

I dont know, I've done 16x20 prints off of old stuff I did on my 6.3 and the pictures are pretty clear, no real notice of quality loss at all, pretty sharp photos

[D'z Nutz]

I've done a 13.3x20 print on a 6.3mp photo. It wasn't too bad, but I could start to see part of the image was starting to degrade. Fortunately it was duotone, so it wasn't too noticeable.

[ex1z7]

Originally posted by teggypimp95
I have thought about doing this. But im not sure what i would think would be good enough for framing? My friends mom does matting and framing so i would have her do it. How big can i go with out losing quality? My camera is 6.1 mp.

D40 has a little bit of an upgrade on the D50/D70s in terms of colour saturation or something, I think..

I've made 15~ prints in 8x10 with my D50 and 2 or 3 in 8x10 with my D70S and they look pretty close to each other, my D70S is a little less on the saturation scale, but I could have it set up wrong ha..

That being said, I've noticed the 15 prints I've done that I put in 8x10 frames.. don't look NEAR as good as the two I just did for a birthday present in 8x10 with an 11x13 (I think?) frame with a matte.. Matting makes a huge difference - I'll be doing it from now on..