Photo sizes

[ian]

Hi, i'm trying to set up a website to sell photos and can't decide on what
"standard" size/ratio to use. most of my stuff i just get printed at 6 x 4
but i can enlarge up to A3 . These however are different ratios. Does anyone
know if there are standard ratios to use (so that my buyers can easily get
picture frames off the shelf for them) or do i have to use different ratios
as i enlarge?

[nasca...@nascar.com]

Why not just list the sizes available as 8x10, 5x7, etc. This will
help the buyers who aren't into photography but just want the pictures
know what they are ordering.
Just a thought.

On Thu, 20 Oct 2005 09:38:45 GMT, "ian" <ian.marr...@virgin.net>
wrote:

[Whiskers]

The 'traditional' sizes for photographic prints are highly illogical, and
pay little attention to the aspect ratios of different cameras - let alone
the infinitely variable dimensions of cropped prints. Apart from 6x4 inch
(or 15x10cm) they seem to be the 'contact print' size of various early
cameras - and some cameras still use film in those sizes, of course.

Most digital cameras have an aspect ratio of 3:4 (so you get white ends or
lose part of the image printing to 6x4 inches).

Standard 35mm cameras have an aspect ratio of 2:3 (which fits perfectly on
6x4 paper - but not 5x7).

The European standard paper sizes A1/A2/A3/A4/A5/A6 etc all have exactly
the same aspect ratio - but it doesn't correspond precisely to the shape of
any camera. A3 A4 A5 and A6 are useful sizes for pictures, and you can get
frames and masks to suit those sizes if you hunt around a little (or do a
deal with a local frame-maker).

You could sell your prints ready-mounted and masked, with overall
dimensions designed to fit in the common frame sizes you can get in
high-street shops. The 'masking' of a print is important for its
presentation, so I think you'd be justified in doing that. Then you could
crop the print to suit the image not the frame or the shape of the sheet of
paper :))

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[b.ing...@shaw.ca]

I would sell framed prints. Unframed prints tend never to get framed,
despite best intentions of the purchaser. I once sold a print to a
local doctor, who expressed great pleasure in having it. I was quite
disappointed several years later to find the same print in a yard sale,
priced at a dollar, with a bad crease on one corner.

A good, i.e. suitable, frame is just as important as the image, and the
framing should be "archival" insofar as possible and affordable. A good
photograph in a crappy frame is a lousy image on the wall. Framing is
an art that is just as important as the image.

Photographic prints should never be framed so that they touch the
glass, because they will eventually stick and damage is inevitable. At
least that's true of regular photographic paper. I have no idea about
the new ink-jet and laser papers. But I do know that framed art of any
kind should always be slightly separated from the glass. That's the
primary purpose of the matte, which of serves the secondary purpose of
framing and highlighting the image.

Tip: if the bevelled edge of matte board is pure white, it is
acid-free. If it's tan or yellowish, its made from acidic paper, and
will absolutely damage photographs over a relatively short term.

Bob

[b.ing...@shaw.ca]

An additional thought: There's certainly nothing wrong with trying to
sell your photos, but be forewarned that two-dimensional art is just
about the most competitive area you'll ever get into. Nine out of 10
artists in a zillion different mediums, not to mention other
photographers, are out to keep dollars out of your pockets, and as a
result few of them make any serious money. Good images are as common as
dirt these days. Wonderful images are pretty common -- we see them
here -- and easily obtained as wall art. World-class images that make
photographers wealthy are rare indeed.

For a brief "glorious" span of eight years or so I worked as a
professional photographer in a small city, and was acknowledged as one
of the best landscape photographers in the area. And I sold a few
thousand dollars' worth of my "art" photographs. Do you know who bought
them? Primarily people who had been given the task by their companies
or oganizations to buy retirement gifts. I sold very few photographs to
people who planned to hang them in their own offices.

Bob

[ian]

Hi whiskers, very useful thanks,
I will carry on cropping how I see fit and then make the mount and mask fit
the frame.

"Whiskers" <catwh...@operamail.com> wrote in message
news:qghl23-...@ID-107770.user.individual.net...