Getting Photos For Frames

Getting prints for frames can be a bit of a mare, whether you are working in centimetres, or inches, because due to ‘sods law’ the frame you choose will be ever so slightly too small or too big, because that’s how life is. So this brief overview of print sizes should help.

Traditionally the size of prints has been as follows:

With the introduction of digital photography, this has sort of put the cat among the pigeons, as some of the digital format is different to 35mm and the ratio between the long side and the short side can be different, which is why un-intentional cropping can occur on some images. Also, the larger the image the more width and height errors occur, so with Poster prints always be very continental and work on the centimetre sizes.

Choosing the right frame

If you want to keep life simple, choose a photo that has a bit of ‘room around’ the subject and then you can put it into any similar size frame, even if it has an internal mount. If the image you want to display goes right to the edge of the paper then be careful with what you choose

Cropping

The jury is out on cropping, because it can be a pain in the neck, or make a photo really special. It’s all to do with aspect ratio, which is really straight forward, as 6x4 is 3:2, 7x5 is 5:7 and 10x8 is 5:4. If the important images on the photograph go right to the edge, then cropping can cause real issues because it can cut off heads and legs and make the photo look ridiculous. Usually, the person taking the photograph can manage to do this on their own, but if it can be avoided, that’s a bonus.

Last but not least, if you need to cut a photo down to fit a frame, make sure the scissors are incredibly sharp, as photo paper is a lot thicker than ordinary paper and a furry edge just looks awful.