Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Pink sky and fuzzy brain from over thinking


Pink sky.jpg, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.
Thanks for the comments on yesterdays post...appreciate them all :)

So my latest musing has to do with the 100's of books on composition, lighting, manipulating (Photoshop, etc) yet hardly nothing on getting your photo from computer to wall. Where I've been stuck has been on how best to present my work in a printed form.

What sizes should I print? Do I go with the uncropped 4:3 ratio? In doing so my prints won't fit conventional frames you might buy at Michael's or Aaron Brothers because they sell frames based off of old 35mm technology. While there are a few online frame merchants such as Craig Frames, Inc and Frame Destination, will regular art buyers know of these places?

Aside from figuring out print sizes there is also figuring out the best way to mat, or do I learn how to dry or wet mount? What resources are out there to teach how to dry or wet mount? Very little that I've found aside from a few videos on Youtube that aren't very comprehensive. I was told today on Twitter that a book by Ansel Adams called The Print, does discuss dry mounting so maybe I'll check that out.

Do others just go by trial and error on how best to present their work? Should I just print out ever photo I would like to try and sell and list my recommendation on the mat size and where a frame to fit that size can be found? Would making it difficult on the buyer result in fewer sells? My guess would be yes as I wouldn't want to have to hassle with all that if I was buying a piece of art.

So...I'm asking for any kind of resources any of you have found or any helpful advice any of you may have when it comes to getting your prints from camera to wall.

**I do have a mat cutter and have experimented some and know I need to do more.

2 comments:

Peter Mitchell said...

I'm very interested in this topic as well. I took a "Digital Darkroom" class recently in hopes of learning more about this but unfortunately we didn't have enough time to do much on printing.

I have just subscribed to SmugMug to try it out as a way to test selling prints. They use BayPhoto as one of the labs for prints. They handle everything so it seems really convenient, but I haven't tested it out yet.

So I don't have much to add on this topic but will be following with interest.

Unknown said...

Oh, I wish I could help, but I have never sold a single print. (Never tried to, either, maybe someday . . .)

Good luck, and tell us what you learn!