Framing Project
I recently framed about 40-50 of my photos. This has been an ongoing project since last fall when I moved to a bigger apartment. I always wanted to frame my shots, but there were numerous obstacles along the way.
The first, was printing the pictures. You need a certain resolution to print a big picture, and initially I was trying to make prints that were too big (16 x 20). In addition, big prints are expensive.
I realized that the best option was to print at Fedex Kinkos. They are 24 hours and cheap. However, if you print 'oversized' they need to use a special printer and prices go way up. Oversize kicks in above 11 x 17 so I decided to go with lots of 11 x 14 prints. Why 11 x 14?
(1) you can put up many different pictures and play with different combinations of them.
(2) they are a nice size - not too small and not too big.
(3) you can easily get frames (good quality frames are 50% off at Hobby Lobby..$12 original price)
One problem is that the shots from a Rebel are wide ....about 11 x 16.5 so you have to crop the photos....this can hurt (emotional pain:)) and compromise some good photos. Shots from my S3 IS and SD550 are almost 11 x 14.6.
It is key to crop your picture to a frame size that you can buy at a local retailer like Michaels, Hobby Lobby or Bed Bath and Beyond. Making prints that do not fit any of the standard formats will substantially increase the price, since you need to get a custom frame and man-hours are expensive.
Another advantage with smaller pictures is that the prints do not get wavey...if you go to 16 x 20 or especially if you buy posters that are 12 x 36 you will face this problem. THe solution is to dry mount them, but again this is $$$.
I did get some 10 x 20 prints to vary and have different shapes to play with. These are about $30 for two at Kinkos. The 11 x 14's are about $2 and $4 for cutting away the edges from a 11 x 17 paper (so get many at once).
Other Kinkos tricks:
(1) Reisize your picture to avoid losing pixels. In paint.net you increase the # of pixels per inch until you get one side to be 11 (or 14) and then you crop the other side.
(2) save as TIFF. Aparently these file formats are less compressed than JPEG. Some Kinkos guy told me this.
(3) convert the files to PDF format (use Photoshop) - or if you can't like me - use the Kinkos pay-machines to DIY. Kinkos charges about $1.50 to do this for you.
Lastly, what goes where and with what. We tried to come up with themes and make the pictures match the environment i.e. sunsets for the bedroom. In addition, we came up with lots of creative and interesting looking shapes. I should not say we...because my dad was the brain behind most of the design.
Most apartment complexes are fine with small nails and small nails work for all these pictures. So get a nail, hammer, measurement tape and the-thing-that-tells-you-stuff-is-straight and you are ready...
I posted some of what ended up on my walls below...this one is in my study room.
The shots I framed are here. Some are favorites and shots I really like. Other are shots that had to meet certain criteria.
Framing Project
I recently framed about 40-50 of my photos. This has been an ongoing project since last fall when I moved to a bigger apartment. I always wanted to frame my shots, but there were numerous obstacles along the way.
The first, was printing the pictures. You need a certain resolution to print a big picture, and initially I was trying to make prints that were too big (16 x 20). In addition, big prints are expensive.
I realized that the best option was to print at Fedex Kinkos. They are 24 hours and cheap. However, if you print 'oversized' they need to use a special printer and prices go way up. Oversize kicks in above 11 x 17 so I decided to go with lots of 11 x 14 prints. Why 11 x 14?
(1) you can put up many different pictures and play with different combinations of them.
(2) they are a nice size - not too small and not too big.
(3) you can easily get frames (good quality frames are 50% off at Hobby Lobby..$12 original price)
One problem is that the shots from a Rebel are wide ....about 11 x 16.5 so you have to crop the photos....this can hurt (emotional pain:)) and compromise some good photos. Shots from my S3 IS and SD550 are almost 11 x 14.6.
It is key to crop your picture to a frame size that you can buy at a local retailer like Michaels, Hobby Lobby or Bed Bath and Beyond. Making prints that do not fit any of the standard formats will substantially increase the price, since you need to get a custom frame and man-hours are expensive.
Another advantage with smaller pictures is that the prints do not get wavey...if you go to 16 x 20 or especially if you buy posters that are 12 x 36 you will face this problem. THe solution is to dry mount them, but again this is $$$.
I did get some 10 x 20 prints to vary and have different shapes to play with. These are about $30 for two at Kinkos. The 11 x 14's are about $2 and $4 for cutting away the edges from a 11 x 17 paper (so get many at once).
Other Kinkos tricks:
(1) Reisize your picture to avoid losing pixels. In paint.net you increase the # of pixels per inch until you get one side to be 11 (or 14) and then you crop the other side.
(2) save as TIFF. Aparently these file formats are less compressed than JPEG. Some Kinkos guy told me this.
(3) convert the files to PDF format (use Photoshop) - or if you can't like me - use the Kinkos pay-machines to DIY. Kinkos charges about $1.50 to do this for you.
Lastly, what goes where and with what. We tried to come up with themes and make the pictures match the environment i.e. sunsets for the bedroom. In addition, we came up with lots of creative and interesting looking shapes. I should not say we...because my dad was the brain behind most of the design.
Most apartment complexes are fine with small nails and small nails work for all these pictures. So get a nail, hammer, measurement tape and the-thing-that-tells-you-stuff-is-straight and you are ready...
I posted some of what ended up on my walls below...this one is in my study room.
The shots I framed are here. Some are favorites and shots I really like. Other are shots that had to meet certain criteria.