Showing Them Off

SEVEN TIPS ON HOW TO DISPLAY PHOTOS IN A HOME OR GALLERY SO THEY LOOK GORGEOUS.

- Jan-Ole Schmidt

EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE FOLDER of images labeled “my best shots,” or something to that effect, on their computer. The images run the gamut from stunning landscapes and sunsets to great family portraits, travel images from your last vacation, amazing street scenes, work from client assignments, and so much more.

But for many photographers, these great photos all share a common theme: they are all stuck in a folder on your computer and none of them ever get to grace the walls of your home or office. Oftentimes this is due to confusion—and fear—about properly reproducing your images so they look gorgeous on your walls. What type of substrate should I use and how do I properly display photos to create a great gallery wall or match the décor of a room?

Producing great prints for display also takes time, which is something many of us don’t have, and another reason why some of your best photos never make it to the wall. Creating the prints, determining the matting and framing, and designing the overall layout of a gallery wall all seems a bit daunting, and thus gets pushed off for another time that never seems to arrive.

But have no fear! Here are my seven tips to help you select, print, and hang your best photos so they look gorgeous.

TIP 1: CREATE AN “ASSIGNMENT” FOR YOURSELF AND MAKE IT FUN 

Creating a gallery of your photos takes time and it’s easy to delay the process, especially when work, family, and life in general get in the way. To get the process started, give yourself an assignmentto create your gallery, complete with deadlines. Getting your photos physically on the wall requires several stages of planning. Working through those stages one by one with achievable deadlines for each will go a long way toward reaching your goal. Above all else, have fun with the process.