How do you display your photos to enjoy them?

[john_meyer14]

We all know that we take so many more photos than we used to with film, and that a lot of them never get seen.

So how have some of you addressed this issue?

 

Have you started using Digital Photo Frames? If so, are you finding you're getting more pleasure out of seeing

more of the photos you've taken? Or are they a bit of a gimmick?

 

If not Digital Photo Frames, what other ways are you using to display your photos to enjoy them?

 

Regards

 

John

[RobertChura]

For me just like film. I print the ones I like and rotate them through the frames in my house.

[matthew_newton]

I still use film.

 

Of course I still produce many more pictures that I like then I could frame. For some of it I scan any of the pictures I really like. On my work and home computers I have a program to rotate my wall paper and I have it set to 20 minutes and upon restart, so it just shuffles through the pictures I have taken that I like. Otherwise I have some family pictures that I have taken that I really like of my wife, son and of both of them together that I have framed on my desk. I also have a couple of honeymoon pictures on my desk (if you look in my portfolio it is the picture of the snake charmer and the picture of the skylight/grate).

 

At home most of the hanging pictures are of my son, but I have plenty of my wedding and also from various trips my wife and I have taken. We rotate out pictures occasionally, but very rarely. Life has been to busy to properly address any of that.

[randall ellis]

I'm interested to hear what others have to say on this one - it's something that I've been considering for some time.

 

For myself, I print only my best black and white negatives and hang them on the wall (home and work) or keep them

in a flat file at home to browse back through from time to time. I tend to show only the latest prints, and the

older prints tend to live in protected storage for good after them come down, unless someone asks to see them or

I get a hankering to view some of my older prints. I enjoy my 4x5 transparencies on the light table. Although a

couple have been printed and hung for a while, I really like the depth and richness of a transparency when back

lit, and so for me they look best on the table. For miniature transparencies (almost all of which are stereo

slides) I have a lighted viewer that I get out 3-4 times a year and have a slide-fest - very relaxing and enjoyable.

 

I rarely print my digital images. Some I have had printed into books - family, pets, trips, etc., but not all

that many due to the cost involved (although that is dropping all the time). I also have a an electronic photo

frame, on which I dropped some bucks, but it never gets turned on any more. It seemed like a good idea at first,

and it has great contrast and resolution, but it just never gets turned on... I also put some of the better

images on my personal web pages in small galleries grouped by event, subject, etc, but the rest just live on the

computer and an external backup drive just in case. My wife and I only look at them once in a great while it

seems - the computer screen is somewhat inconvenient for viewing.

 

I think that if I had the time, I would likely

have many of the better digital images printed and then I would mount them in blank books made from high quality

paper heavy weight paper. Photo albums are just something that seem natural and welcome to me, and more enjoyable

than viewing images on a screen.

 

- Randy

[bruce_margolis]

John, I keep my digital photos in folders on the puter. These folder are arranged by type, i.e., placed I have traveled to, wildlife, birds, family, flowers, etc. Any time I want to revisit one of them, it's as simple as opening the folder with a slide show. In addition, some were made into prints and hang on the walls. These are changed out from time to time.

 

I also did something else. I took a few of my photos from each category and saved them in a Screensaver file. My Google screensaver then reads that file when the screensaver kicks in. I still have thousands of older film slides/prints to scan but this gives me a nice view of places I've been and events affecting my family over the past few years.

 

When I'm not working on the computer and the screensaver begins, sometimes I will just sit back and watch the screen. Nice to relive those memories. Works for me, and it's free.

[michaeljlawson]

I use the "My Picture Slideshow" screensaver in Windows to display the photos I have on my PC to display the

photos I've spent time on, I got my wife a digital photo frame for her office which she loves, and I keep a photo

book with my favorite shots in it printed 8x10 with exif data printed for reference. I have yet to hang any on

my wall, but only because I am waiting to be able to print them larger than 8x10. Then I will hang the best of

the best (or at least the ones I like).

[joseph_martines]

On a Mac you can select to have folders of pictures change periodically (you select the time) and as you are working the

screen changes every (however long you select).

 

I do photography for me. I'm not trying to win any contest. I try to improve and I simply enjoy what I have taken.

Occasionally a friend will share an image with me and I may add that too the changing screen as I work on other projects.

 

It is a slide show through iPhoto.

[mrraz]

Prints! I keep most of my prints in archival portfolios by year and/or subject. The very best I frame and hang on the wall at home. I've never considered digital frames.

 

I go through my past work regularly just to keep myself up to snuff. I'll even pull out a negative or slide to copy digitally, so I can rework it. I don't scan any of my film. I copy it with my E-500 or 510 using a copy stand, daylight balanced light box and a manual focus macro lens (much better control).

[beartooth1]

Print.....Mat.....Frame.....Hang......Enjoy.... Only the best ones of course....the goods ones go in archival portfolios for later review.

[matthew_newton]

Umm yes I also forgot that I keep a nice album of all of my pictures that I like a lot (4x6"s). I have a collection of maybe 80 pictures in it right now. I'd say out of any given roll of film I probably keep 1-3 prints for the album and maybe 1 in 4 rolls I find a photo I like so much I frame it. The rest of the prints I keep organized chronologically with the negatives in a 4x6 photo box (err, 2 large boxes I mean). The prints in the album are also chronological with a month and year next to the picture and the same for the photo box (each roll is seperated from the next one with an index card of month and year on it). Vacation photos are a different story, most of those prints go right in an album for that trip (4 albums so far, 2 for England 2 for my honeymoon).

[peterlyons]

I'm with Michael and Bruce and any others who run slideshows on their computer. I have a big 30" monitor, and keep a

selection of favorite images in a folder that the screensaver works from. Why not point to the mother lode directories

that hold ALL the images? For a few reasons: 1. 'Cause some shots aren't that moving--I don't want to look at images

from some relatively dull commercial shoot, for instance. 2. 'Cause as soon as the slideshow software sees 200,000

images in a directory, it apparently needs to do something with them before it can start popping them up on the screen.

And for so many photos, that process takes HOURS. So instead of pictures, you see just a blank screen.

 

And sure, I have photos hanging on the walls here and there. But there's only so much wall space and I'm not the only

one who gets a vote here.

[wood]

I'm with Bruce on this one. I hook my laptop to my TV and get Google screensaver running. I also print and frame my favorites, but my house has only so much room.

[tri-x1]

We have framed photos on the walls but a lot date back to when our 30- something daughters were in school. Got my mate an HP-8-inch electronic frame for her birthday and she loves it--get one that is at least 800 dpi--anything less is like looking through a screen door.

[BrettPrucha]

Every year for Christmas I collect all of my favorite photos from the past year that I have taken of my family/friends and make 4x6 prints placed in a brag album to hand out as gifts. I create individual albums based on who I am giving the photos to. I keep a larger album for myself with all of the photos.

 

For my landscape work, I have made larger Giclee prints and framed them to hang on my walls.

 

I have also made 8x10's for friends if the subject has special meaning for them.

 

For any pictures that I like I make 4x6 prints from my inkjet and prop them up at work. I like to mull over my photos to evaluate them. It helps me decide if I want to switch from color to black and white or adjust white balance and learn how to improve my compositions.

[charles_stobbs3]

Slides, hand held viewer.

[jp_and_ap_the_glass_eye]

I just tried this and it is very cool.

 

My 42inch Panasonic plasma TV has a slot for an SD card. I loaded pictures from Shanghai, Beijing, and Macon, Georgia onto three 1Gig SD cards. When you insert the card, the TV goes into a slide show mode.

 

The photos look GREAT, and everyone can see them. This works great for a crowd of people. And you can sort, select, rotate and edit on your PC before writing to the SD card.

 

I also tried writing jpgs to a CD and putting the CD into the DVD player. It plays, but looks poor, not sharp, and out of proportion.

[links16877]

sadly nothing most of my photos just live on my box after i upload them some may go to flicker. i have all of 5

hung up in my office. after reading this i need to do some thing more with them...

[aplumpton]

I like my photos at home to be small in size, oddly enough to direct attention to them and so I don,t get tired of their

placement or interaction with the rest of the interior.

 

Usually this means matting them in a 13 x 16 inch wood frame. A 5 x 7 horizontal (often B&W print) goes into a 16 x 13

frame (horizontal within vertical) with off-white (buff or pale sand colour) matting. Vericals (7 x 5) go into a horizontal 13

x 16 frame. I dislike black, so choose walnut coloured frames (simple and cheap - our local art store sells them for

about $13 - the ones with two panes that are normally used to hold certificates or diplomas). The effect of dark brown,

light sand coloured matting and black and white images is nice.

 

Colour images require a bit more planning for harmonious light matte colour.

[JDMvW]

I have a huge collection of my father's oil paintings that I like to display, so I don't really have any space left over for wall display of my own photographs. I tend to browse through them on the computer, mostly. One of the reasons I enjoy Words/No Words so much is that it gives me an excuse for looking though my files in Bridge and Photoshop.

[aplumpton]

OOPs, I should have mentioined that the prints are about 7 x 10 rather than 5 x 7

[tendyke]

Everything I do is digital and with Photoshop. I print them on 8 1/2 x 11 paper in a format with an image long dimension

equal to 7 inches with a little black frame around them then bind them using a GBC comb binder. I put on a cover, and it

makes a nice little book, or album -- self published. About 50 images in a book. Paper is Premium Epson matte double

sided. For some purposes I will print on both sides, but mostly I print on only one side. Using Photoshop, I also add a short

text title or description. Using the format, I can mix horizontal vertical, and even square images in the same package. Most

of these I have done just for myself, but in a few cases I have done them for others. In those cases, I deliver the album in a

black film box that I get from Light Impressions. I should add that I trim back the 11 inch side to 10 inches, to give it a

better aspect ratio, and also to allow for the comb binder. I could send the images out for printing, but I like my own printing

quality better.

 

I have been thinking about doing the same thing in larger size, but haven't tried it yet.<div></div>

[joseph_martines]

If I may add.

 

A friend convinced me to make an album of the best of 2007. I did it and it kind of is my brag album. Apples iPhoto has a

routine where you can select your pictures and place them in a preset and send them off. A little more complicated then

that but, the hard bound copy of your pictures you receive gives one a sense of accomplishment.

 

I'm already working on the best of 2008. Needless to say it will be better.

[matt_needham]

I love prints, so I mat and frame prints. We did buy small digital photo frames for the grand parents, and they are pretty cool. When the price on the larger sizes drops I'm sure I'll get a few, but I'll still hang prints. Somewhere I read an article about a guy who built his own digital frame out of an old laptop. He gave it to his mom, and it updates from his Flickr account. That seems really neat to me; to give someone a frame to hang at their house yet be able to add new photos from mine.

[bernie moore]

I taker the pics I like and make 20" X 30" prints and have them dry mounted on foam board and I frame them. It should be obvious I haven't shot a lot that I really like:)

[becky_mcguire]

I print my best pictures and frame them and/or put into albums. I use my screen saver slide show as well.