1. March 2005
Even for us amateur photographers, making some sort of presentation of our pictures is important.
Only when a photo is framed or otherwise "finalized" and presented in one way or another, can it be judged and evaluated by the photographer or by other viewers of the work.
In this article I will describe how I present my work. This involves describing a bit about my printing process as well as discussing framing methods.
A photograph can be presented on many kind of media these days. It can be prepared for online presentation, for a slide show that can be shown for friends and family on a TV and it can be printed onto paper.
For me, making a print of a picture is the ultimate way of presenting it. On a print you are able to show all the details of the picture and to fine tune colors, sharpness etc.
Cropping and printing
As regular readers of my site will know, I like the square format.
This means that my final prints are in the square format and I normally crop my image in the viewfinder.
However, a normal procedure for other photographers might be to make any kind of crop before making the final print.
After the aspect ratio of the image has been decided one will have to consider the size of the final print.
I have to admit, that my printer (Epson 1290 print sizes up to A3+) along with paper sizes to some extend set the sizes of my final prints. This means that I normally print in either 20x20cm (fits on a DIN A4 paper) or 32x32cm (fits the A3+ paper).
Prior to every print, I make a test print to check colors. My screen does match the final print pretty much, but a screen and a paper are two very different media - one emits light another reflects light.
Since I normally print square images, I can cut of a 15cm wide piece from the A3+ paper.
This piece of paper is then used for my test prints.
A piece of A3+ paper will give me 3 "test-papers" of 15x15cm each and a big piece of about 32,9x33,3cm.
A3+ cut up into one large and three small square papers.
These two formats are added to my printer driver.
When the print is ready and have dried for some hours (or better yet, some days) it's ready for framing.
Choosing a frame
During the years, I have tried several ways of framing a print.
I have bought ready made frames from shops like IKEA (they also have square format frames). I have bought frames in super-markets, I've had them custom made professionally and I've even made them myself.
 
 
Small and big frames, home- or ready-made.
For selling and making exhibitions I've settled for a framing system from a company called "Nielsen Bainbridge".
They have huge selection of aluminum (and wooden) profiles (I use a normal among su). I get them made in two sizes that will fit my 20x20cm print or my 32x32cm print.
You might find this a bit limiting, but it works for me to have a "standard product" so to speak. Being an amateur I don't sell that much photos, but I still like to have a certain standard in my final product and it makes it easier for me to set a price for potential customers among friends, family and neighbors.
Framing
Possibly the most important thing in the frame is the matte. The matte will prevent the photo from touching the glass and thereby it'll give the print a longer life.
However, the matte also introduce a little bit of space (between the back and the glass) in which the print can curl.
In the past, I've simply attached the photo to the matte with a piece of Scotch tape at the top.
Some papers might be more prone to curling than others, but to be absolutely sure that it won't curl you have to mount the photo on a thick backing:
You can use a spray-mount glue for this purpose. There are several brands, but for an archival performance you should look for special "photo mount" products, like this one from 3M (to the right below):
Here the photo is attached to the back of the matte by using a piece of Scotch tape (it is now totally flat!):
Depending a bit on the picture frame, you can choose several ways of mounting your photo on a firm backing.
You can glue the photo directly to the backing itself:
 
Picture mounted directly on the backing consisting of a 3mm thick foam board that will fit into my alu-frames.
In this way it's not necessary to attach the picture to the matte, however if the exact placement of the photo inside the matte is crucial you might go for the approach shown above, where the picture is taped to the matte.
My two approaches to framing is illustrated below. To the left, the picture is separate from the backing and is attached to the back side of the matte, to the right the picture is mounted on the backing itself. It is then framed by wooden or aluminium frames.
 
Archival issues
It might very well be of importance to you that your photo will keep it's vibrant colors and not fade away or get a strong color cast (in other words : not change in any way from the day it was printed). If so, you have to look into archival materials in the picture making process.
This starts with the print itself - how long will the print last? It depends on many factors. The latest printer models based on pigmented inks will produce prints that last as long as 200 years before noticeable fading occurs. Well, for an amateur that isn't producing museum prints, less will do. Many of the current matte papers will last maybe 10-30 years even when used with dye inks. I often use the Tetenal Archival Matte Paper, which will probably last 25 years or so before noticeable changes occurs (I haven't tested it myself though!).
But, it's not only the print itself that has to be considered if archival performance is important - also the matte, the backing, the glue (spray mount) and perhaps even the frame is of importance. All these materials affects the print by slowly releasing compounds that will have influence on the deterioration of the print.
Look for products marked with "acid free" or "pH Neutral" - this might give the print a longer life. Aluminium frames should be better than wooden frames in this respect.
Personally I don't feel that I have to be "religious" in this area, however (as mentioned) I do use a spray mount that is specially produced for photos (since this glue is sprayed directly to the back of the print, it might be best to choose an acid free version...). And from time to time I also use an acid free backing.
If you do not frame a print - maybe because it was a small test print, maybe you don't have a frame ready that'll fit the print or maybe you just wanted to see the print on paper - then don't just put it in your drawer! Add it to an album. In this way it's easy to browse your prints easily.
Since these prints can vary a lot in size, one can simply mount them to cupboards of fixed sizes (say DIN A4) which will fit into a photo album.
As time goes on and you build up this album, you can start to make portfolios of different subject categories. Re-arranging the photos and putting them into other albums are of course easily done.
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Making an exhibition of our work is a great exercise in both selecting, printing and framing our pictures.
Even for amateurs there are a number of possibilities for showing your work to others. It might be at local libraries, town halls or maybe hospitals.
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Of course depending on how many pictures you plan to show, making an exhibition can be quite expensive, but who knows, some people might want to buy your pictures?
The pictures shown here are from an exhibition at the local library.
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Well, in these days it is obvious to present you pictures on the Internet.
As mentioned above, however, I like to see a final print of an image, rather than just a downsized digital version. But having said that, if the subject matter of a photo is of greater importance than the presentation or level of details, then the Internet might often be the best place to present a photo, because it can potentially reach a bigger audience.
Upload to galleries
There are number of on-line galleries in which photographers can upload their pictures, to let others see them or even criticize them.
Among such galleries are www.PBase.com or www.Photo.Net (Photo.Net represents a photo community with forums and articles, but also has a very large user gallery).
Make your own site
And of course why not make your own site?
Then you'll have totally free hands when it comes to presentation and layout, however a drawback is that it can be difficult and time consuming to attract visitors to your own site.
Selling online
Another possibility of using the Internet is of course to sell prints - basically you have an on-line gallery which presents the prints that are for sale.
Creating an online store isn't always straight forward - a lot of decisions has to be made regarding how customers can pay (credit cards or money transfers etc.), how the products can be shipped etc.
Choosing a "standard product" - one size pictures - might be a good idea to start with, so that handling (packaging) and shipping is easy.
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Together with some artists and other photographers, I've set up such a shop (KUNSThjoernet.DK) aimed at Danish customers, using a Danish payment system.
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Using the services offered by the well known online payment system by PayPal (www.PayPal.com) might very well be a good solution for retrieving payments from an online shop as well.
A totally different way of selling your pictures online could be via a stock agency.
There are quite a huge number of them all over the world, and one can submit photos to some of them.
One such agency is Alamy (www.alamy.com).
I guess that the possibilities of presenting your work to others these days are better than ever.
Printing is easier (and often cheaper) than before and presenting via the Internet gives a number of new possibilities.
I hope this article has inspired you to empty your drawer with photos and present them to others - I whish you good luck!
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Presenting pictures on the Internet