Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Colour Management => Topic started by: William Walker on August 26, 2015, 12:23:16 pm

Title: What colour to paint gallery walls and print studio?
Post by: William Walker on August 26, 2015, 12:23:16 pm

Hi

What colours are recommended for photographic gallery walls? Also, what is the best paint scheme for a colour-managed print studio?

All ideas welcome!

Many thanks

William

Title: Re: What colour to paint gallery walls and print studio?
Post by: graeme on August 26, 2015, 12:33:59 pm

I'd always pick white for gallery spaces.

I'd probably have picked neutral gray for my Lightroom / Photoshop Cave but this was absolutely vetoed.

Title: Re: What colour to paint gallery walls and print studio?
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on August 26, 2015, 01:18:04 pm

I was once in a San Diego high-end photography gallery and its walls were quite dark gray. It was also quite impressive, images, well-lit, seem to glow and jump off the wall.

Title: Re: What colour to paint gallery walls and print studio?
Post by: digitaldog on August 26, 2015, 01:36:04 pm

Quote from: William Walker on August 26, 2015, 12:23:16 pm

What colours are recommended for photographic gallery walls? Also, what is the best paint scheme for a colour-managed print studio?

http://gtilite.com/store/shop/paint/n8g/

Title: Re: What colour to paint gallery walls and print studio?
Post by: howardm on August 26, 2015, 02:26:49 pm

this is a great resource

http://encycolorpedia.com/

Title: Re: What colour to paint gallery walls and print studio?
Post by: Richard.Wills on August 28, 2015, 08:32:05 am

I'm with Andrew for the paint in the print and scanning rooms, with GTi lamps, and the desk covered in grey vinyl (the biggest and best mouse mat I've ever owned).

Our gallery walls are a swansdown - slightly warmer than white, illuminated by Concord Stadium 4k LED lights. Works well. On occasions we've painted the walls black or dark grey - does give the pictures a real pop, but a pig to bring back to a light shade (three coats of good emulsion), so the make good is more of a hassle.

Must go out to the gallery with the Eye1 pro and a laptop, to take a reading from the lamps.

Title: Re: What colour to paint gallery walls and print studio?
Post by: William Walker on August 28, 2015, 01:27:38 pm

Thanks for the ideas so far - I will definitely go for the grey in the studio...

Title: Re: What colour to paint gallery walls and print studio?
Post by: Schewe on August 28, 2015, 09:55:22 pm

Quote from: William Walker on August 28, 2015, 01:27:38 pm

Thanks for the ideas so far - I will definitely go for the grey in the studio...

The needs of a gallery are different from imaging areas. I have a middle grey paint in my imaging area but for a gallery (which I don't have) I would go with a slightly lighter grey. A dark grey would tend to make prints overly bright (depending hugely on the lighting) while a lighter grey will make the prints appear lighter if matted against white.

The odds are, you may want to repaint for various purposes depending on the images. I've seen some print shows here in Chicago at the Art Institute that break the rules and add color to the wall. Usually an unsaturated blue or burgundy. This is usually done only with B&W prints. For color prints, neutral is usually better...