For The Pros

[tlc]

Hi Guys, I was just wondering for the photographers out there that have had thier work displayed or in an exhibition, how do you display your photos. Are they mounted or framed or do you have them done on canvas?? If you have a space in an exhibition with other photographers do they allow you a certain amount of space? I guess it depends on how much space you have as to how big to make your photos.

A friend and a keen photographer is getting involved with other photographers around our town and they are looking into having an exhibition and he asked me if I would like to put some of my photos in it. I hope it does come about, not sure if it will or not but just want to have an idea about how to go about displaying my photos, my friend seems to think it will be up to the individual photographer as to how you want to display your own photos!

Id love to hear from anyone who has had anything to do with presenting photos to the public and how to go about it. Thanks!!

[Ashanali]

it depends on the exhibition and the purpose.

Competition prints have strict guidelines, however in our own 'gallery'/'studio' we have a mix of photos on photo paper and canvas. There are pros and cons to both.

[tlc]

Thanks Ash, I think if this exhibition goes ahead from what I understand it is for photographers around the town to exhibit thier work and thier is no age limit, so anyone can put thier photos in. I should find out more details soon.

Oh I just noticed your siggy, Congratulations on getting married!!

[kja]

You're going to need to know about space before you print so you know the sizes.

If there are no other guidelines, I'd just do whatever worked the best for the images - canvas, standard print, metallic print. Depending on the image I would most likely mount mine on a backing board (what do they call that?? I think there are options like foamcore and lightweight but strong wood-type substances) with no frame...but I'm a minimalist most of the time If a frame or matt will help the image, then do that...if it's just there because you think you should have one, forget it for that image. Nothing wrong with a mix of printing & framing options in one display as long as everything flows in a visually appealing way.

If you want to rock things, check out having some metallic prints done in acrylic ... they are awesome!

[tlc]

You're going to need to know about space before you print so you know the sizes.

If there are no other guidelines, I'd just do whatever worked the best for the images - canvas, standard print, metallic print. Depending on the image I would most likely mount mine on a backing board (what do they call that?? I think there are options like foamcore and lightweight but strong wood-type substances) with no frame...but I'm a minimalist most of the time If a frame or matt will help the image, then do that...if it's just there because you think you should have one, forget it for that image. Nothing wrong with a mix of printing & framing options in one display as long as everything flows in a visually appealing way.

If you want to rock things, check out having some metallic prints done in acrylic ... they are awesome!

If it pans out i was thinking just plain mounts to suit the pictures. Your last sentence sounds great but I havent got a clue what your talking about.

can you expalin a bit more, it sure sounds good

[tlc]

Kristen, can I ask you a queston about light room and it is probley so simple it is staring me in the face. When I edit a pic in PS once ive finished I just flattent he image and save or save as if I wanna keep the original right, so with light room I worked out how to export the pictures back to my pictures so I can upload them to photobucket etc but once you export they are automatically smaller in size like under 1 MB the same as how it works in picassa. So what I was wondering is how can I save the image back to its original folder or location and keep the file size large?? Also is there a way to be able to add the same processing to every photo at once?? I must go and do some tutorials and find tings out for myself I know but im hoping these two questions are easy ones to answer. thanks so much but if you dont have time thats fine too.

[kja]

Your last sentence sounds great but I havent got a clue what your talking about.

Basically it's a print between two pieces of acrylic. They come up SWEET, especially in metallic. BrilliantPrints.com.au does them (not sure about metallic prints but I know they do canvas which is also totally cool) as do Genius Print Australia - check them out.

Kristen, can I ask you a queston about light room and it is probley so simple it is staring me in the face. When I edit a pic in PS once ive finished I just flattent he image and save or save as if I wanna keep the original right, so with light room I worked out how to export the pictures back to my pictures so I can upload them to photobucket etc but once you export they are automatically smaller in size like under 1 MB the same as how it works in picassa. So what I was wondering is how can I save the image back to its original folder or location and keep the file size large?? Also is there a way to be able to add the same processing to every photo at once?? I must go and do some tutorials and find tings out for myself I know but im hoping these two questions are easy ones to answer. thanks so much but if you dont have time thats fine too.

I'm a little confused but I'll give this a whirl...in Lightroom all of your edits are saved automatically in what's called a sidecar file. The original image stays intact so you never have to worry about that. If you want to Export a different file type or size, simply go to the Export choice in the File menu and select your settings.

In Export you set the location the new file is to be saved at, the file type (jpeg, tiff, dng etc), the file size if you're going jpeg (it's a slider bar with percentage or you can type it in. I use 60-70% when I save stuff for the web) and other bits. If you want a large file - why do you want to put large files on photobucket? - then simply set that up in the choices. When you upload to photobucket, you need to remember to choose the larger file size or photobucket will do what you've told it to do before on that little drop down menu it has. Most files I put on the web are between 60-150kbs...I can't see a need to put anything larger up. Here are my for web settings:

set the long side to 650 pixels

set jpeg to 66%

Lightroom deals with it.

To apply settings to other images by synching things, select the image that has the settings you want to use - you must be in the Develop Module.

Hold the cntrl key down and select the other images you want to apply that setting to (if you want to choose images right after or before your base image, then hold the shift key and click the last image in the set).

Now click Synch - which at the bottom of the right hand side panel where you choose your edits.

A dialogue box pops up where you can choose which settings from all of the many choices to apply. You can hit Select All to choose everything or Select None to deselect everything and then just click the ones you want. I usually make sure my Crop and Local Adjustments are unclicked as those are usually unique to every image.

This is a great tool for when you want to add a preset BUT don't want the preset to change the exposure for example. Simply hit synch, then uncheck Exposure and everything else will change but leave your exposure alone. For example - if you've got a shot of your dog under the shade of your patio and one shot in full sun ... if you have a preset that let's say increases your exposure a little, the full sun image will be blown out. So uncheck the Exposure box and viola - you now have two very diverse shots (lighting wise) that look like they were meant to be a set. Easy.

HTH

Edited April 30, 2009 by kja

[tlc]

Thanks so much for all the info, the reason I asked about saving the file at the larger size is if I wanted to take it to the photoshop to get it printed out. I only use small quality files for here and other sites, but to print out I just put the pics on a usb key and away I go. With photoshop I just go to save or save as if I wanna keep the original file as well, but I couldnt figure out how to do the same thing with light room. I exported back to my pictures then upload them to photobucket and that was when I noticed how small they were, like I said very simailar to picassa which is what I usually use to get the pics smaller and then upload them to photobucket. Im definatly gona like light room, it is just to get the time to have a really good play with it. Thanks again so much for all the info. its a great help!

[Poo d'état]

Acrylics do look fantastic, and yes, especially with metallic paper, though it could be costly depending on the size of the image, and harder to display/mount, again, depending on size and therefore weight. I personally think they're more for smaller displays, but if you have the money to spend, go for it! We offered acrylic finishings at my last job and had a really fantastic supplier, i can pm you their details if you are interested.

Personally i don't think canvas is such a good idea for exhibitions either, purely because no matter how good the print, the textured surface still takes away from the clean, sharp feel of a regular print. They look great in the home, but i've never seen them used for photographic exhibitions in galleries/museums. I think frames are still the best way to exhibit your work, unless you're going for the arty or avant garde, in which case lightboxes/backlighting and other fancy techniques can be very effective.

With framing you can go with or without the matting - if your prints are large it can work better without or with a very little, but of course it depends on the image. Going without also makes it cheaper.

A cheaper alternative still is as Kja mentioned, block mounting, which is usually on foamcore, though there are other materials to choose from that vary in cost and finish. You can also set it in a frame, which i think is really nice. There's usually a tiny gap between the foamcore and the frame, so sort of like the 'floating' effect you get in architecture terms. Well, sort of, but not really, it's probably just me, hehe.

[tlc]

Thanks so much RD, I am thinking to frame will probly be the go, but I am not making any plans yet as it is only in the pipe line and could possibly not even happen, so Im not getting my hopes up. I do tend to agree with you regarding the canvas prints. I will go to a framers when the time comes and have a talk to them and see what they would recommend also, we have a couple here in town and I know one will do a great job. also i want my pics to look good but dont want to have to spend a fortune on something I may never use again but if they are in frames then I can just put them up at home. Thanks again for the responses!!

[kja]

I'd love to know the supplier of the acrylic mounts, please