The above is a project I've been working on all weekend. These images represent a wall that will soon be in my home. The images range in size from a large 24X20 to several 4X6's. These are not all my "best" photography, but they are all images that have special meaning to me. They are my family. I never thought before to lay out my design in this way. But I found a layout online that really spoke to me and I found a way to do it in my own home. I began by laying out the sizes I wanted to use on a simple word template. Then I scoured my image inventory (1000's of pictures...) for just the right image to use with each size. I then edited them all to a chocolate brown and white finish - a treatment I do for many of my clients as well, and cropped them to size. I uploaded them to my smugmug gallery -this is the incredible vendor I work with for image printing. They are top notch. And ordered the sizes I wanted. It was as easy as that. Well, I say easy, but it took me the better part of the weekend to just decide on images and sizing, editing and ordering.
Each of these images will be mounted and frameless. I want the focus to be on the portraits themselves rather than the frames (though I do love experimenting with different kinds of frames and mattings). I'm using a mounting technique that is new to me and excited to try it out. And like I mentioned, several of these portraits will be quite large - 24x20, 16x20, 10x20, and 20x20. I love large images. Go big or go home, as they say!
I promise to show the final design when I'm finished. Keep the idea of large prints in mind when framing (or going frameless) in your home. A large image - whether on its own or in a grouping such as this - really makes a statement, and can be all the art you need on your walls. And since your pictures will be so personal, it really brings a whole new level of warmth and meaning to your room.
2 comments:
I love that idea! It looks so beautiful. I guess you were doing this when you stated you didn't have pics of yourself with your kids! Why is it that when I get a larger print, even an 8x10 the image quality is so poor
The quality has to do with several things but mainly it comes down to pixels. If you are taking your pictures with a point and shoot look to see if you can increase the pixels (I'm not sure if P&S's can do this but my DSLR will allow me to make adjustments in this area). It may well be that your camera can't handle them that large. A few of these images were done with my old point and shoot, before I really got into photography, and they are the ones that are limited to 5x5's and 4x6's. The images I take for clients are done at the highest quality possible so they can choose to have large print outs done (since I provide cd's to the majority of my clients). Other factors can come down to editing. Each time you edit a jpg you are essentially cutting the image quality in half as the image is compressed each time you save it. I avoid this, professionally speaking, because I edit in photoshop and can reserve quality in how I save my images. As with all things you pay for what you get -- higher quality camera and editing software will give you higher quality images (assuming you know how to make it all work!). Drop me a line offline if you want to discuss more!
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