Framing

Lately I've been trying to learn a bit more about printing black and white photos because I'm starting to really like shooting black and white and the walls of my apartment are incredibly bare.

I started thinking about printing when I found these picture frames at a dollar store. They are $2 each and I'm sure not to everyone's taste. They're more like diploma frames than picture frames, and I don't think they come any more cheaply made. However, I figure with some creative mounting and matting, they will be a fantastic way to put many photos up on my walls with little
investment beyond time and a little elbow grease.

I've been using a local printer and it they aren't really photo-focused, but they're a cheap way to learn what I need to learn about sharpening and output in order to get decent images. The process is also teaching me some new things to keep in mind while shooting. I've had some great images that are 1:1 crops of a larger photo and that process works great for screen viewing but does not hold up at all in print.

I have to find a better matte paper stock and a printer that has decent photo paper available for printing and then I'll be almost ready to print higher quality photos. My next challenge is mounting. I have three walls and a lot of space to cover, and I'm sure I'm going to want to change the layout over time. I've been considering stringing wire and hanging the frames from it (the frames would go well with wire, I think), but I want to do some more research before I start banging holes in my walls.

An excellent start.

© Jeremy Buehler and Bug Noir (www.bugnoir.com), 2010.