Exhibition questions

DuncanP · 29 Oct 2013 at 00:36

Hi
I entered one of my photos (as a jpeg) for the West of England Academy Open Exhibition and it has passed the first round of judging. I now have to submit a framed print for the second round.
I have taken thousands of photos but I never print and frame them, so I am at a bit of a loss as to what is required for an exhibition print.
Could anybody give me an idea of what I should do about the printing and framing. It is a B&W photo.
What process should I use (Ctype, giclee, etc) and what type of paper should it be printed on and what finish (glossy, pearl, etc) should I use?
What about framing?
I have priced the print at £225, framed, but from this I only receiver £115 and have to pay for the printing, framing, postage and packing (to anywhere in the world) from this.
Any advice would be greatfully received as I have never done this before.

Thanks

Raymond Lin · 29 Oct 2013 at 01:10

£115 to print, frame and postage?

Er...that is way too low, unless the print is like 12x8 ?

You have to allow something like £30 for postage I think, which take your budget to print and frame down to £75. It can be done but not at the quality that I would prefer.

Nexus · 29 Oct 2013 at 09:41

How you frame and what medium you use is all part of the creative process and comes down entirely to what you want, there is no standard.

If you want to print it on a piece of kitchen roll, with a frame made of wooden chopping boards, then you are entitled to do so. (Though I'll add the disclaimer that some galleries/exhibitions might not want something more bohemian).

It in part also comes down to whether you think you are likely to sell your print. If so, will a certain type of framing be something that appeals more to a potential buyer..... or are you looking for something more for yourself to hang on your own wall.

DuncanP · 29 Oct 2013 at 12:10

Thanks for the advice, I would like to sell it but I think that it may end up on my wall. I have been doing photography for many years and have thousands of photos on my hard disk but I treat them like slides and don't print them. I am competent at photography and photoshop and assumed that the printing and framing was a minor detail!
How wrong could I be.
I am going into Bristol to see what's available.

Raymond Lin · 29 Oct 2013 at 12:14

DuncanP said:
Thanks for the advice, I would like to sell it but I think that it may end up on my wall. I have been doing photography for many years and have thousands of photos on my hard disk but I treat them like slides and don't print them. I am competent at photography and photoshop and assumed that the printing and framing was a minor detail!
How wrong could I be.
I am going into Bristol to see what's available.

Take a look at Loxley, they do ALL sorts of printing options, including framing.

DuncanP · 30 Oct 2013 at 00:36

I eventually went to Photographique in Bristol and paid £39 for A3 printing and framing, which I can pick up tomorrow.
I will report the results when I pick it up.
The major lesson that I have learned is to try to stick to normal photo proportions when cropping as it makes frame selection much easier.

Raymond Lin · 30 Oct 2013 at 01:42

DuncanP said:
I eventually went to Photographique in Bristol and paid £39 for A3 printing and framing, which I can pick up tomorrow.
I will report the results when I pick it up.
The major lesson that I have learned is to try to stick to normal photo proportions when cropping as it makes frame selection much easier.

Anything 3:2 ratio.

6:4 is good.
7:5 is not.
24:16 is good.
etc.

Which is a pet peeve of mine, when I see some photos online with weird ratios, people cropping off sections of photos to get rid of distractions in the edges, fair enough, but at least do it to proportions. Either 3:2 or square, anything else is a pain in the bum when it comes to printing and to tell you the truth, it looks wrong as well even on screen.

Amp34 · 31 Oct 2013 at 09:57

3x2 is a really difficult aspect ratio to get standard frames for, unless you want the mounting to be wider one way than the other. 3x4 or 4x5 seem to be the ratios you can get most frames in without going custom.

On the other hand custom doesn't have to be expensive, especially ifyou can find a GOOD local framer who will do deals on more than one frame.

Edit: this "competition" sounds like a bit of a rip off tbh. Sure you really want to exhibit? It sounds more like a cynical cash cow to me!

DuncanP · 5 Nov 2013 at 00:25

Thanks for the advice, even artistic licence has its rules.

ElDude · 5 Nov 2013 at 20:59

Raymond Lin said:
Anything 3:2 ratio.

6:4 is good.
7:5 is not.
24:16 is good.
etc.

Which is a pet peeve of mine, when I see some photos online with weird ratios, people cropping off sections of photos to get rid of distractions in the edges, fair enough, but at least do it to proportions. Either 3:2 or square, anything else is a pain in the bum when it comes to printing and to tell you the truth, it looks wrong as well even on screen.

I'm guilty of that

I do try to stick to ratios, or to be exact the original photo I try to get spot on but it's very difficult. I never paid much attention to it for years until I printed some via some free print offer I was emailed. It certainly woke me up to the framing of things. It's easy to forget when you move from film to digital.