Mounting and Presenting Large Panoramics

[spotmeter]

I will be printing a series of large panoramics (24x72") and am wondering how to mount and present them. I have not seen any large panos  in galleries, and am wondering how others mount and present photos this size?

[sergio]

I do that in several ways. I frame in a box type system which uses no passparteout, which is very difficult to get in museum grade for those sizes. Anyway I am not a big fan of passeparteouts.
This looks very well granted you have white borders around your image, otherwise it will look crammed and the frame may cast a shadow on the image itself. The limit is the glass size for me, where I live it is 240 cms.

The other way I mount and has worked very well for me is that I cut a glass the size of the print, I always leave white borders, and simply sandwich the print against the wall, you could even use mdf board as a back, and then clamp everything into the wall itself. Pretty simple low tech solution.

That worked well enough for a 45 day exhibition I made far from home. When the show was over I simply gave away the glass and rolled the print and mailed it. Far cheaper and prctical than mailing big  framed prints. It is not an archival museum grade mounting system, but it works, and is low budget.

Nowadays I never frame prints for exhibitions. I don't have enough space to store them afterwards. What I do is sandwich the print between mdfboard and glass and clip them together. When the show is over, all the prints go into a box and the glass/board sandwich into another, waiting to be reused for the next show.

[bobalu]

I will be printing a series of large panoramics (24x72") and am wondering how to mount and present them. I have not seen any large panos  in galleries, and am wondering how others mount and present photos this size?
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I downsized my panos so that the museum backing board was the stock 60". The framing costs were way high with the special order larger board. I made the prints about 22x54 with about an inch or two white border. The prints are then hinge mounted onto the museum board and "floated" on the board within the frame that encloses the 60" board. The frame stock is 2.5 -3 " deep and I use UV plex, for safety and weight, instead of glass.

Here is a go-by I sent to the framers to have them bid. The drop shadow only represents that the print is not dry mounted to the board. None of the museum or gallery people I talked to would consider dry mounting a 100% rag photo pano.

I use the Ilford Baryta paper. My question is... how do you archivally sign the print done on Baryta paper??? It's not like trying to sign air dried darkroom "F" paper.

[DougMorgan]

Canvas is the simple answer, in my book.    An alternative would be to laminate to thick foamcore, gatorboard or mdf.     Test first as depending on the laminator and media there can be unacceptable color shifts.   The art papers I've tried seem to be more heat sensitive than stuff like enhanced matte.

I've also tried, with some success, using a water color paper mounted to foam core and spraying the surface with fixative.    Looks great actually but still very fragile.

Glass is a big problem at this size and larger.   The thin stuff is too fragile and the thicker material is expensive, heavy and hard to find.    It's also very tough to control reflections on a big sheet of glass -- I hate being unable to clearly see the entire image without moving and the anti-reflection glass has problems of it's own.

My opinion, for what it's worth......
Doug

[Pete Berry]

A simple and inexpensive method I've used with panos as large as 17x60" borderless is to have them dry-mounted to 3/16" black foamcore (spray adhesive/vacuum press), then "float" them on a similar backboard cut about 1" larger all around, using strips of the same material as standoffs. I use Innova Smooth Cotton 315.

Pete

[fike]

I have been using adhesive backed foam core. Then I glue canvas stretcher frames to the back and attach my hanging bracket to the stretcher.  I also paint the edges of the foamcore black. It is lighter, easier to store/move, and lots cheaper.

[rwheat]

I have limited the length of my panoramics to around 56inches to allow the use of standard matt boards (60inches) - and to fit them into my vacuum press.  I just wet mount the print to sealed hardboard (with the vacuum press), and matt and frame it with glass.  Using aluminium frames, the weight is quite reasonable.
I also sell them on canvas with gallery wrap.
HTH,
Richard.

[Geoff Wittig]

I will be printing a series of large panoramics (24x72") and am wondering how to mount and present them. I have not seen any large panos  in galleries, and am wondering how others mount and present photos this size?
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I've had mine laminated onto particle board by a local service bureau. The result is a rigid, fairly lightweight mounted image that can be hung on the wall by slipping a pair of slots on the back over a pair of screws in the wall. The surface can be cleaned with a damp cloth and is relatively tough. Particle board is of course not exactly "archival", but the mounting sealant provides something of a barrier; I have some prints mounted this way that have been on display lit 24/7 for more than 8 years, and they haven't changed or shifted color at all.