Picture Perfect Art

Original gallery pieces can blow a budget and cheap reproductions from discount stores can detract from your room.  So what to do?  Try photography as artwork. Not just any photography, use your own. 

Fast becoming a popular, budget-friendly way to decorate bare walls, original photography is easier than ever with the technological advances in cameras making even the shakiest novice photographer’s work look like a pro.  Not to mention the great home printers available so you can even print on photo paper from home  

What images should I take?

Use your own photos from your favorite memories, a wedding, a vacation, your children playing or even your family pet.  A digital camera is perfect for this project, just keep snapping away, you can delete photos that don’t work – the more you take, the more likely you are to hit that perfect picture.  Carry your digital camera around with you for a week – you’ll be surprised what you can come up with.  Make sure you use a high resolution so the photos don’t become distorted when they’re enlarged.

What size and how many pieces should I hang?

You can have your photos enlarged to almost any size, so plan your photo grouping before printing your photos or having them printed for you.  Don’t spread them across the wall to fill up the entire space.  Create a grouping for visual impact.  For more casual rooms, the family room, an office, your bedroom, use groupings of odd numbers.  For your more formal rooms, use pairing and symmetry.  You can also add a dimensional element to your wall art by using shelving to art to prop it up a grouping or create a single photo group with other accessories.

What framing and matting should I chose?

The most difficult part of decorating your walls with your own photography is choosing the right frame and matting to complement both the image and your room. Begin by choosing neutral frames in metal or wood. Good choices include black, brown, silver, and natural wood. Often, a thin black frame is just the right touch for a modern room.

After the frame, you’ll need to choose matting – the white strip around you image doesn’t count – you need a real matt.  For drama, now’s the chance to use your accent color, as long as it doesn’t overwhelm the image.  Plain white or crème is just fine if that works, you can introduce some texture to your art at this point using a woven neutral matt.

Talk about adding a personal touch to a room, original photography has unlimited decorating potential.  Need a piece of artwork to tie in a color scheme or provide color balance – here’s your chance to put that camera to good use to create artwork to complement your room with only the cost of the frame and matt.