Mat Colors?

[Bob Boner]

What color of mats do you use when matting prints? Do you let the colors of the image determine your mat colors? How? Or do you have a standard set of colors for all your prints? TIA

[neile]

White.

Neil

[neile]

And now for some more detail

I use white all the time, and black frames all the time. I'm definitely of the school of thought that a simple black frame with white mat works with any decor and really shows your image off nicely. If you do want to go with colours, the general rule I work with is to have the mat pick up a secondary colour in the image, rather than the dominant colour in the image.

Neil

[Alan Goldhammer]

+1 on what Neile recommends.  If you do your own matting and framing it's easiest to buy a single color of matboard and cut the sizes you need.  I use Nielsen black frames as they match every decor and are unobtrusive with respect to the image.

[framah]

When matting for shows or galleries for my customers, I use Rising white or warm white.

For my own photos, i like to double mat them for the colors of the image as I only hang them in my own store and I also frame them with very specific frames to compliment the image. As i own the frame shop, I can do whatever I want!
 
For galleries and shows, they usually prefer basic white mats and black frames. The thought there is the customer is more willing to buy it if they think the frame is a "throw away" that they can change to better suit their home.

My personal feeling is that the image should dictate the matting and the frame as it is the final component of the composition of the image as a whole package.

[framah]

C'mon, Neile... don't be so boring!!!
Liven thing up a bit!!

[JohnHeerema]

Personally, I sometimes find that white mat board in a space with white walls is just a bit too much of a good thing.

For my own prints, I've been using a textured neutral grey mat, with a black core. I double mat them, with about a 5/8" reveal, in a black Neilson frame.

[neile]

C'mon, Neile... don't be so boring!!!
Liven thing up a bit!!

LOL. I double-mat most of my stuff for hanging at home. Is that exciting enough?

Neil

[dchew]

I keep remembering Bill Atkinson's comment in the LLVJ Speed Mat video; something to the effect of:
"I use Rising White.  You can use other colors if you like, but the galleries won't take them and your customers won't like them."

The problem for me is that submitting sets of images for display in galleries, shows or other public places can get expensive! So the images I have hanging in my studio at home get cycled in and out.  Sort of an "inventory" of printed and framed images.  White double-mats and black frames is the only thing that works universally in my case.

So I'm sticking with being boring like Neil...

Dave

[BobShram]

Yep boring is fine

[Langsey]

Do you prefer aluminum or wood frames?

[Pacific Photos]

Here on the "Left Coast" we are shipping 4 colored push pins in a tiny baggette  taped to the upper left corner of the print (s). Of course the push pin colors must match the prints secondary colors.
  many of our customers can barely afford the print, much less a mat or frame during this double dip recession!

[Paul Stalker]

In order of preference I prefer white, greys, or black but consider near-whites too (as far as beige). For me it's dependent on the image and the intended display location.
This has reminded me of another matting issue I've been meaning to ask about for a long time---I'll start another thread.

[Rob Reiter]

In an earlier life I chose between light gray, medium gray and black as I felt some images were overpowered by a blinding white. I'm not sure why I switched to white over the years, since I don't show my work in enough other galleries to care what they think. I can't say that I'm unhappy with the switch, but I do believe there is something to be said for a good gray.

If you aren't afraid of rejection by the art world, try experimenting. I think from a purely aesthetic point of view, there is much to recommend such a choice. How wide your mat borders are also comes into play. In my gray years, I tended to use frames with only a couple of inches of mat. With the four inches or so I now use, I might not like the gray as much. Since many walls are white, a white mat and a thin frame seems to give more of an impression of the print floating on the wall.

There is a reason why Photoshop's F key cycles between a gray screen and a black one as a backdrop to pictures.

[larryg]

Generaly I have used a white/off white  double matte   but some of my work I have used the inside matte with a different color to match colors in the image. (I have used red, blue)  just a sliver of color that helps pop te colors in the image.

experiment and find what you like.   For sales  you probably woul be best(at least most of the time) using a neutral color.   

[Dward]

For B&W, I use only white. 

For color, I use off-white or various shades of cream (never stark white).   Depending on the image (and the preference and pocketbook of the customer) I will add a second mat with a 3/16" reveal.   The most formal look is to use a second mat of the same off-white color (or white for B&W), but I'll occasionally use a color that complements important tones in the image.   This works fine as long as the mat color is less vivid than the colors in the image. 

I think the important thing to keep in mind is that we want the viewers to look at the image, not the mat.   The mat and frame should draw the viewer into the image and not call attention to themselves.

David V. Ward, Ph. D.
www.dvward.com
David V. Ward Fine Art Photography