Display Options - Let your Work Shine!

So now that you have created these amazing digital (or film) images...what do you do with them? I mean sure you have the files stored on your hard drive somewhere collecting digital dust, but what do you do with them to REALLY enjoy them?

A lot of photographers, freelance, professional, amateur, grandma with a point and shoot, tend to fall into this rut of being fine with just having the file. But doesn't photography need to be seen? It is my humble theory that photos were meant to be printed, something tangible, something you can hold in your hand and love forever. So, what are our options to make them that way?

Prints:

Ahh...the time tested, most simple way to display your photos. Safe, in an album, on the wall in a frame you picked up from the local craft store...y'know...easy. Take a look at online services to see what sort of options they have for mounting prints, canvas printing, all those fun options. There are also fun ways to transfer your print to other surfaces...check out acrylic transfers (earlier post in the blog, or just google it) there are also sunprinting kits if you are so inclined to do it yourself with a historic alternative process. Moo.com also offers a series of photo cards (moocards...love it!) that come with a frame to display. They are little tiny things, but when put together can equal one major work of art! So don't settle for 4x6 prints anymore!

Books:

Now we're getting a little more interesting...iPhoto books are exceptionally cost effective. They have a WIDE range of sizes, bindings, templates/themes, and are fantastically easy to create. There are also other options for those living in PC'dom...zookbinder is a favorite, they too offer a wide selection of sizes, bindings, as well as other framing options. Regardless of where you go, or how you get them printed...photo books make awesome gifts and what could be better than having a whole library of your images?!

Or, if all else fails...there are a plethora of digital photo frame options on the market right now. They may set you back about $100.00 but will give you lots of options with regards to look, file resolution that they handle, or even movie playback. So if you find yourself with not a lot of wall space (like a lot of us do in real life) this may be a space economical idea for you. Perhaps get a set of 9, put them on the wall 3x3 and have a wall of slide shows? Could be fun!

The point is, get your files off your computer and start sharing your art. You took the photos you have there for a reason, so let your creativity shine and let others see it too.

Acrylic Transfer!

Finally, I have completed the first of what I hope will be a series of acrylic transfers. This process, while fun, turned out to be a bit more time consuming that I originally thought. Nonetheless, I really love the results! Take a look!!

Some detail shots:

  

For those unfamiliar with the whole procedure, it's actually fairly simple. I'll outline it below along with what I learned along the way in my little experiment.


1. Print out your image on some good quality inket paper. 
What I learned: Photo Paper (Like the Epson super premium glossy photo paper) does NOT work for this process at all...it's too water proof. Also, you might consider printing your image out slightly bigger than you want your final piece to be. There will be a little shrinkage. A quarter of an inch should do the trick.


2. Let your prints dry overnight.


3. Apply four coats of Glossy Gel Acrylic Medium to the front of your print. Make sure to do change directions on each coat to ensure coverage and strength. Let this dry AT LEAST overnight. 


4. Once dry, and I mean DRY, submerge your coated prints in a bath of warm water. I used a photo tray to do this so as not to make a HUGE mess. Let it soak for a few minutes. Remove the back of the print by scraping off the paper. Be gentle, but firm. The gel medium is actually fairly strong stuff. But it is prone to tearing so be careful!


5. When you have removed the paper backing, lay your transfer out onto a piece of wax paper and weight down overnight to flatten. You will squeeze water out during this first night, so replace the wax paper the next morning. 
What I learned: Don't let this stuff sit out to terribly long, it will be come STUCK to the wax paper eventually and it becomes SUPER difficult to remove. Also the longer it sits out, the more brittle the  transfer will become. 


6. Finally, figure out what you want to tack your masterpiece onto. Apply a coat of gel medium to the surface you want your transfer to stick to, then simply slap the transfer on, remove bubbles (if you want!)   and let dry. You can pull and stretch the transfer to a certain extent, but again, it's fairly brittle so be careful. 
What I learned: Don't stress out about the bubbles and wrinkles...they actually look pretty bad ass!

7. Apply a couple of coats of Gel Medium to the top of your transfer once you have it on your new surface. This will seal it up and make it stand up better against the elements. I also layed on a couple layers of UV Gloss Varnish just to get a nice shine on my final piece.


So, now that you know how to do it (and if my instructions aren't clear, you might just google Acrylic Transfer Process and there are videos out there) I would love to see what you all come up with! Leave me comments with links to your work! 

Photo-Go-Round: My Choice

Today I present to you the final installment of my first series from the Photo-Go-Round assignment my roomate/friend/designer extraordinaire presented me with last year in her inspiration book. This final panorama is from sort of a rural setting near Helvetia, Oregon. Just off of the Sunset Highway (major Oregon throughfare between Portland and the Coast) there is a little tavern/cafe that is perported to have the best burgers in the metro area. No small feat I assure you...it's a big area.

I think my favorite thing in this photo, as with my urban location panorama, is how funny moving things can be in this sort of media. You'll notice a random floating golf cart in the center of the photo. It's actually being carried on a trailer behind a pickup truck. I was very curious what it would look like if I just caught random bits of the hauler as it passed by...now I know! I love it.

Even though this is the final installment of my first series, I will be persuing another series of Panos in the near future...very interesting things happen when you let photos collide. :)

So, without further ado...Photo-Go-Round installment three...my choice!

Photo-Go-Round: Rural

Hello All!

I promised a continuation of the Photo-Go-Round project from my little book of tricks. So now I give you...the Rural set.

Rural Panorama

Final installment of the first group (The "My Choice") location to come next week.

Till then, have a great week!

Great new website to edit your photos

I read about this last night and I think it's awesome!  A boon to us crazy kids with iPhones that want to do some quick editing as well as home computer users. Plus it does all of the things that beginners and casual snapshot-shooters need!

http://www.photoshop.com/

The folks at adobe rock...we all know that...but this just seals the deal! You can do basic editing (exposure correction, color balancing, cropping and rotating) and you can go so far as to distort your pics with a faux fisheye type look, add some text and thought bubbles, and just generally have fun with your snapshots without having to shell out the $79.99 for Photoshop Elements.

Go forth my babies, shoot and edit...now for free!