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| Greetings from Porter's Camera Store |
Good photographs deserve a better fate than to be hidden away in an album, storage box or computer file. Enjoy them on a regular basis and share them with house guests by making wall-size prints and displaying them in your home. The selection of materials and techniques of mounting, matting and attractively displaying photos is a natural extension of photography’s creative process, whether you have a lab make the prints for you, or do it yourself with a good quality photo paper and your inkjet printer.
The first step is choosing the image to be printed. The larger the print, the more highly magnified any flaws will be, so it should be sharp and properly exposed. If it is a digital image, the file size should be large enough to support the print size you wish to make.
Once the image has been printed, it’s time to make decisions on how it should be matted and framed. Prints can just be glued onto sheets of mount board to give the prints more durability and rigidity. But the more popular approach is to add an overlay mat with an opening for the picture cut into the board. The mat serves several purposes—it separates the print from the glass in a frame, so the two don’t stick together; a mat color can be selected to compliment the photo and emphasize some important details; the added dimension of the mat’s beveled opening adds depth to the two-dimensional photo. Mats with openings cut for standard size prints are commonly available, and frame shops provide custom matting, too. Or cut your own mats to save money, inject your own creativity and for the pride in controlling every aspect of making the photo.
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SELECTING MOUNTING AND MATTING BOARD
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Mount board is made of paper fibers, or in the case of foamcore, paper laminated to sheets of poly styrene foam. Mount board is available in a wide range of colors and tones, to add the right look to any photo. Mount board is available in a range of thicknesses. Thin mount board is fine for small prints, but large prints need the added dimensional strength offered by thicker board. The board used as a mounting surface for a photo should be smooth. Boards used for cutting overlay mats can be smooth, or you can select boards with metallic foil, cloth or stone-like textures and other characteristics to bring out the best in your image.
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CUTTING MATS
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Mount boards can be cut into smaller sizes with tools as basic as a box cutter knife with a sharp blade and a straightedge. Mats look best when the picture openings are cut with a beveled edge, so mat cutters hold the blade at an angle to make the bevel cut. Mat cutters are available as simple tools that you use with a straightedge, and in complete outfits that hold the mount board and cutting tool securely and allow the border widths to be adjusted. The right and left borders of a mat should be equal, but the bottom border should be about 25-35% wider than the top to give the photo a visual base.
There are many ways to assemble the mount board, mat and photo together. The best way varies depending on whether the picture is made on inkjet paper or on conventional silver-based photo paper, the size of the mount and efficiency/cost tradeoffs. When the photo is printed on photo-weight inkjet paper or conventional photo paper, the photo will usually lie flat in the mount with just corners, tape or tabs affixing it in place. Large prints, or prints made on thin paper may need to be permanently adhered to the mount board to prevent curling and wrinkling.
| PHOTO CORNERS: Small corners are often used in scrapbooks and photo albums, while large photo corners can be used to hold a matted print in place. Full view mounting corners are less visible than regular corners, so the mat opening can be cut slightly small to cover up the corners. |
TAPE AND TABS: In many cases, a good quality tape designed for artist or framing use is all you need. A strip of tape can hold the print to the back side of the mat, or double-stick tape and double-stick tabs can hold it in place on the mount board.
DRY MOUNT TISSUE: This heat-activated adhesive is coated onto a paper and bonds the print and mount board permanently. A dry mount press that combines heat to activate the adhesive and pressure is commonly used with dry mount tissue, but with some experience a household iron can be used, too. Because of the high cost of the press, this method is most commonly used by commercial frame shops, schools and other organizations. Since most inks used by inkjet printers don’t tolerate heat well, dry mounting should not be used on inkjet prints.
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| COLD MOUNT: This popular mounting option comes in many forms. Mounting sheets have adhesive applied on paper, covered by a peel-off cover sheet. Scotch Positionable Mounting Adhesive is coated onto the cover sheet, so after application to the print, the cover sheet is removed leaving just the adhesive. Some mount boards designed for flush mounting have the adhesive already applied to the board, so peeling off the cover sheet is the only preparation needed. |
| SPRAY ADHESIVE: Very convenient to use, just spray the back of the photo with an even coat and let it dry until tacky, then position on the board and press in place with a brayer or roller. Most spray adhesives are not repositionable, so care must be taken to position it right on the mount board. |
WET ADHESIVE: PVA and other water-based adhesives are a bit messy, but otherwise easy to work with especially with smaller prints. Just brush on, position and adjust if needed, then roll or burnish in place.
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After mounting and matting the photo, it’s ready to frame. Unless the photo is made on artist canvas or some other highly textured material, it’s best to protect it with glass, acrylic or other framing plastic. This covering will keep dust away and may give some protection from smoke, moisture and ultraviolet light, too. Prints should be not be displayed in direct sunlight or in areas of excessive heat or humidity. |
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We Have A Winner!
 
Congratulations to Fred Kjeld for winning the July Porter's/Tamron Calendar Photo Contest! The theme of this month’s contest was “Birds” and Fred’s winning entry is ready for downloading as a July 2008 monthly calendar at www.porters.com. To see the contest entries, subject themes, prizes and other information and to enter, visit Porter's Gallery.
Visit our web site and check out the monthly themes for the rest of this year and send us your best shots!
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August Featured Products:
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Visit Porter’s Digital Printing Service at www.porters.com and explore all the ways
you can display your images.
- Conventional prints from wallet-size to 8 x 12”
- Decorative borders added FREE if you wish
- Greeting cards, invitations and announcements of all types in a wide range of styles
- Digital scrapbook pages that look great and are easy to design
- Hardcover photo books, perfect for celebrating events such as weddings, graduations,
retirements, and anniversaries
- Photo calendars for desk or wall display in many styles and sizes
- Add your photos to make one-of-a-kind keepsakes and gifts such as tote bags,
boxes, puzzles, T-shirts and much more
- Just click on "Order Prints" on the home page to learn more about all the exciting
ways you can do more with your photos.
Why join PortersBoard?
There are many other good reasons to join PortersBoard including:
• Have your own Online Portfolio!
• Ask questions, learn from the shared answers and experiences
• If you want a critique, we have professionals to do that.
• Get the latest reviews of new cameras and lenses from our own members.
• It’ FREE!
• Click here to learn more about the PortersBoard
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SHOW AND SHARE!
Try... Online Photo Albums in the printing area at www.porters.com.
Take your pick of four different album plans—
• FREE for 90 days, with 128 megabytes of storage and 10 password-protected photo albums
• $9.99 per year, with 256 megabytes of storage, 20 photo albums and access to members-only discounts
• $69.95 per year, with 512 megabytes of storage, 20 photo albums, hi-res downloads, access to members-only discounts and your choice of two free photo classes at Porter’s University OR a free 512MB memory card |
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REBATES
AND PROMOTIONS TO $AVE YOU MONEY!
CLICK HERE for a list of all current REBATES.
The following manufacturers have exciting rebate and promotion programs to save you money. Application forms and details will be included with purchases for all applicable items. Also, PDF files of the rebates are posted at www.porters.com. All offers are direct to you from the manufacturer after the time of purchase.
ELINCHROM purchase the Elinchrom D-Lite 2 Softbox Flash Kit by December 31, 2007 and get a $100 rebate.
PENTAX save from $25 to $100 when the following are purchased by September 30, 2007.
K10D/K100D, K100D Super Camera $50 rebate, or $150 when purchased with the DA 55-200mm lens
AF-360FGZ Flash $25 rebate, or $50 when purchased with a K-series Camera
DA 50-200mm f4-5.6 Zoom Lens $50 rebate, or $100 when purchased with a K-series Camera
DA 16-45mm f4 Zoom Lens $100 rebate
Battery Grip BG2 for K10D $25 rebate, or $50 when purchased with K10D body
TAMRON LENSES save from $10 to $30 on select Tamron lenses purchased by August 31, 2007.
AF11-18mm f4.5-5.6 Di-II $50 rebate,
AF18-200mm f3.5-6.3 Di-II Free Tamron Camera Bag,
AF18-250mm f3.5-6.3 Di-II Free Tamron Camera Bag,
AF17-35mm f2.8-4 Di $10 rebate,
AF17-50mm f2.8-4 Di-II $10 rebate,
AF28-300mm f3.5-6.3 XR Di Free Tamron Camera Bag,
AF28-75mm f2.8 Di $10 rebate,
AF200-500mm f5-6.3 Di $30 rebate.
Application forms will be included with purchases for all applicable items. Instant rebates are deducted from your purchase price. All other offers are direct to you from the manufacturer after the time of purchase.
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Copyright 2007
Porter's Camera Store
411 W. Viking Road
Cedar Falls, IA 50613-6930
CALL: 1-800-553-2001 |
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