The Nature, Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum - Fine Art Landscape Photography

Home gallery - let's see yours

Posted By: glamson

Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/26/08 07:19 PM

Well after two years of living in my home in Carlsbad, I finally started putting up the home gallery I've been dreaming of. I have an Epson 4800 printer that lets me print my panoramas up to 16"x59" and of course the standard 16"x20" prints. As I've mentioned before, I've also become a bit of a framing expert because I'm too cheap to pay the rather high prices for the non-standard panorama frame sizes. I have to say it's been a real learning experience for me, but a lot of fun too.

The pic below is a stitched panorama of my stairway gallery. Sorry for some of the distortions caused by the stitching, but I was shooting pretty wide to get the whole thing in. While I am kinda shamelessly showing off my work here, I'm also interested in seeing what some of you have done around your homes, if you don't mind sharing.

BTW those are my goldies Calla and Maggie who can never resist being in a photo.

Geo

Posted By: Durwood Edwards

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/26/08 10:26 PM

Sorry about your stressed out dog!
Great looking gallery.
Posted By: Jim Rickards

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/26/08 10:49 PM

Looking very nice indeed! Why that heron on the right seems to almost jump off the wall!
Seriously, it looks quite good. I have to get on to hanging my stuff, and learning how to frame stuff too.
Posted By: Durwood Edwards

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/28/08 05:33 PM

If I master mounting and framing, the money I save can go to help pay for the extra ink I will consume by printing more.
Posted By: Tony Bynum

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/29/08 01:00 PM

looks great. and you have a beautiful home as well!

While matting and framing are a matter of preference there are a few standards that I think should be followed.

I'm not an "expert," but I believe that the mats should have identical widths on the top, left, and right sides, the bottom could be slightly longer, but the sides should normally not be more narrow, or wider than the top or the bottom.

The shot of the bighorn, and a few others on the right wall seem to have variable mat widths, from side to side and top to bottom. The top, left, and right sides should all match one another, the bottom can and often should be wider.

I wish i had your space and motivation to hang my stuff up. . .


Tony
Posted By: glamson

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/29/08 02:08 PM

Quote:

looks great. and you have a beautiful home as well!

While matting and framing are a matter of preference there are a few standards that I think should be followed.

I'm not an "expert," but I believe that the mats should have identical widths on the top, left, and right sides, the bottom could be slightly longer, but the sides should normally not be more narrow, or wider than the top or the bottom.

The shot of the bighorn, and a few others on the right wall seem to have variable mat widths, from side to side and top to bottom. The top, left, and right sides should all match one another, the bottom can and often should be wider.

I wish i had your space and motivation to hang my stuff up. . .


Tony



Tony,

Thanks for the feedback.

Ah the matting question. Seems like everyone has their opinions on it. This is one of the real bugaboos when you get to cropping and framing a print. Now in a perfect world I would crop the print according to what I think is the best composition. Then I would matte as you describe with equal widths right, top and left and then make the bottom slightly wider. Then I would make a custom frame (read expensive) to fit the final matte dimensions. This is what I do for the panoramas.

Unfortunately, in my financially limited world, I go to Aaron brothers and buy standard 16x20 frames when I get a good sale price. That means the final dimensions are set. Now the question is do you crop the print for composition or to fit into a equal width 16x20 matte? My choice is to still crop for composition and let the matte compensate for the difference in aspect ratio between the cropped print and standard frame.

As usual, life is a series of compromises and you just have to hope you choose the right ones.

Geo
Posted By: Peggy Sue

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/29/08 02:33 PM

I love this thread, since it brings up so many questions. About the matting. I agree with Tony on the matting. If you do not value your work enough to show it off in the best light, than who will? It is like me trying to put my feet in a smaller size shoe just because it is on sale. It still hurts!

I understand the framing issue. And so do my clients. What I feel is sometimes a better solution while still using ready made frames, is to print smaller and matt larger.

I have been wanting to add to this link but I am cleaning up the studio first. I went to shoot it and realized it needs a spring ( okay, not because of spring) makeover. But you bring up the point of home galleries and that is what is very interesting to me. What we hang in our home and what we show in our studio space. If you are lucky enough to have a separate space for shooting then of course putting other peoples stuff in it would not make much sense. But what do we as artists live with in our own environment?

I have always preferred to have other artists works in my space. But the older I get and liking a few more of my animals images around, that has changed slightly. It is a balance for me on my ego. I want other peoples works to inspire me. And of course when they are friends, having their work around is very special.

So, I would like to know what type of work hangs in your private spaces of your homes?
Posted By: glamson

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/29/08 03:39 PM

Quote:

I love this thread, since it brings up so many questions. About the matting. I agree with Tony on the matting. If you do not value your work enough to show it off in the best light, than who will? It is like me trying to put my feet in a smaller size shoe just because it is on sale. It still hurts!




Ooo! Now that hurts. I'm counting to 10 here to calm myself down.



Ok, 10. I appreciate that everyone has an opinion. What I don't appreciate is when that opinion somehow diminishes someone else's. While I was pointing out some of the practicalities in framing and matting, I should also have added that I really have no problem with uneven matte widths. As a matter of fact I really think that one of the functions of matting is to do exactly what I have done here. As far as making the mattes larger, I totally disagree. My photography is about the image, not large expanses of blank space.

But to tell me that "If you do not value your work enough to show it off in the best light, than who will?" I think is condescending to say the least. You may think I'm over reacting here, but if you knew how much time, work, money and heart went into doing this project then you might understand just how much I "value" my work. I guess one of the nicest things about my own gallery is that I'm the only one who has to worry about showing my work in it's "best light".
Posted By: Peggy Sue

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/29/08 04:27 PM

George, I am sorry you took my comments in a very negative way. They were mentioned to help, not make you upset. I understand your reaction and I apologize if it came across incorrectly. My intent was to help. Your work is beautiful and museum mounting in my opinion would only enhance the images.
Posted By: glamson

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/29/08 05:07 PM

Quote:

George, I am sorry you took my comments in a very negative way. They were mentioned to help, not make you upset. I understand your reaction and I apologize if it came across incorrectly. My intent was to help. Your work is beautiful and museum mounting in my opinion would only enhance the images.



Peggysue,

I know that your intentions were to be helpful and I have always appreciated your comments in the past. This is not a case of me not being able to take constructive criticism. I have no illusions about my work and I certainly don't think it is above criticism. As a matter of fact I welcome constructive criticism of my work.

What this was about for me was the question of whether I value my work. I would love to be able to shoot with a D3 instead of D300, print my work on the finest photo papers with the best printer and mount them using the best materials. Unfortunately as I said, I have had to make compromises all along the line in my photography (primarily for financial reasons). I like to think I've made the right ones that allow me to get the most value from my photography. The fact that I have had to compromise though does not mean that I don't value my work. I know you didn't really mean any disrespect and I guess we all have to consider carefully what and how we say things about others. It is the consideration of others at this site that makes me frequent it.

Nuff said!

Geo
Posted By: Tony Bynum

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/29/08 07:11 PM

I forgot to mention, i dont have a gallery. I have one big print of mine on the wall, the rest of my walls are covered with paintings from around the world and a few maps of local areas. I have one wall in my room of shots i have taken of my children.

I have lots of my own prints, mostly I dont show them because I'm afraid that people wont like them, and there is that cost factor. I dont have the money for framing. . .

Nice thread though, I thought when I read the title that it would be cool to see what other's do. I'v always wondered what other's do with their own photos. . .

Tony
Posted By: James Morrissey

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/30/08 02:41 AM

Hey Everyone,

Where are you all getting your frames from? Any on-line affordable spots? This has been an area that has been a real limiter for me. I am able to get great 16x20 inch frames with 11x14 mattes at an affordable price. You start breaking that common size though, and they just get expensive (or the frames begin to look really cheap).

BTW, George, love all the panos you have on the wall. I have a ton of them myself - I just NEVER print them.

James
Posted By: glamson

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/30/08 03:22 PM

Quote:

Hey Everyone,

Where are you all getting your frames from? Any on-line affordable spots? This has been an area that has been a real limiter for me. I am able to get great 16x20 inch frames with 11x14 mattes at an affordable price. You start breaking that common size though, and they just get expensive (or the frames begin to look really cheap).

BTW, George, love all the panos you have on the wall. I have a ton of them myself - I just NEVER print them.

James



James,

I have commented on the framing and matting dilemma before. Actually it is becoming a pet peve of mine. The more people I talk to, the more it is becoming clear that many times it is the framing that prevents many people from displaying their work. After having gone through setting it all up myself, I realize just how much is involved and why there is a whole framing industry out there. It just seems to me that photography is all about the images and it is a shame that it is inhibited by the need to have just the right framing and matting that turns out to be prohibitively expensive.

All I can say is what would we do without the web and sites like this which act as a great venue for all of us to show our work. Granted there is nothing like a huge 30x36 print like one of Roman's, but just think how little photography we would all see if we didn't have the internet. I am so glad I invested in a 24" hires monitor so that I can really appreciate online photography.

Thanks again James for making the time and committment to keep this site as great as it is.

Geo
Posted By: Giovanni

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/31/08 01:45 AM

Wow, you have a nice gallery out there! I wish i could have one like that in the future. Good luck!
Posted By: Randall

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/31/08 02:34 PM

Great job Old Hand
When one walks into your entry foyer they would have to be impressed. It's obvious you have spent a lot of time and money capturing the shots and , matting , framing and displaying your work. Photography is a very personal thing and I can see where each of are coming from , but each has his or her own personal goal, not all is ment for gallery hanging. I'm kinda like Tony in that I don't hang a lot of my own work, I like this new country classic look I do. We live in a very small cabin in the woods , I dont have a lot of wall space no big foyer like yours , no foyer at all lol.
Here's what I do I print on canvas as large as I can , 13x19 presently. I wrap the top and bottom of the canvas around a small dowel rod about one inch and glue it . I then drill a small hole the same size as a leather shoe string into the ends of the top dowell rod and insert the leather throng into it and glue it in. the bottom dowell acts as a weighted ballast and hanging from the top dowell it looks kinda country classy. very easy to frame and very easy to make and very easy to sell I might add.
Thats mine Randall
Posted By: Klarich

Re: Home gallery - let's see yours - 03/31/08 05:30 PM

Wow, That is inspirational! Thanks for the ideas! I have some wall space that I should be putting to better use!
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