Mount sizes

[drmike]

I hope this is a sensible place to ask this question.

I print to A3+ (13" x 19") and as I am tight I like to print as big as I can.

Therefore, square prints are in the order of 12.5" square and rectangular prints can be anything up to 18.5" wide.

I mentioned that I'm tight so I buy standard frames from Ikea which really are good value. Maybe not top quality but good value.

The square prints look fine in 50cm square frames which is about 19.5" they have enough space to breath.

While I can fit the rectangular prints in these frames they look like crap being far too cramped.

So, I bought some 50x70cm frames (about 19.5" x 27.5") and while they look OK portrait they don't look so great landscape which I have to use for landscape prints.

So what size of frame would you recommend for the landscape prints which are about 19" wide? I did wonder about 70cm square but I think that would look like crap as well.

Mike

[GrahamBy]

I consider it a bit of a scandal that paper, mount and frame sizes seem to have no respect for the fact that the massive majority of photos are in 2:3 ratio :-(

Anyway, I usually print 306 x 459 on A3+ so the border looks acceptably uniform unmounted, and it also works mounted on A2. A2 foamcore is available at a good price from
http://www.cartonmousse.net/
(I think they are actually in the Netherlands, with various language specific web-sites. Delivery went smoothly and was surprisingly cheap for 20 x A2 and 20x A3.)

However, getting back to your question, the two feasible standard frame sizes are 50x70 and 60x80, so I would say you only have one place to go if 50x70 is too tight...

PS Just went to the Ikea site: wow, prices are good, 9€ for a 50x70 frame, 7€ for a frameless glass-and-clips in the same size (a "sous-verre" in French, is there a name for these in English?). Interesting they don't seem to have the standard 60x80, but they have the Marietorp in 61x91 for 17€.

I suspect that might be the frame used to hang a (rather bad) photo in the corridor at work: worth noting that it uses a rather thin and flexible acrylic which might not hold up to much cleaning.

[BradSmith]

drmike,
use 18" x 24" for 12.5 x 18.5 prints.  PS, you won't find them at Ikea.  They only do metric. 

[drmike]

So that's about 45cm by 60 cm and I assume you hang landscape prints in a landscape frame?

Does that 'look' OK to you? I assume it does otherwise you wouldn't do it.

[BradSmith]

yes, I mount images in frames of the same orientation.  I also center the images in the frames.   I like mat borders on prints of this general size to be between 2' and 4".  Also, I try to choose a image size and paper size and frame size that will give me borders on the top/bottom that are reasonably close to side borders.  You've got to do some math to work this out, but you can do it.
Brad

[GrahamBy]

If you think about it the right way, it's fairly simple: to get equal borders, the difference between the two dimensions of the image must equal the difference in those of the mount. So if you are in 2:3, either 50x70 or 60x80 will give equal borders on a 40x60 image.

Where it gets complicated is that if the borders are not equal, the eye seems to prefer the top and bottom to be bigger than the sides, so then the choice depends on whether you are going landscape or portrait. In the extreme case, a square image in a portrait frame works, a landscape in a square frame works, but a portrait inside a square frame looks wrong as does a square image in a landscape frame.

[drmike]

Yes, I think I have reached similar conclusions. I'm annoyed that I didn't pay enough attention to the range of sizes available in the Ikea frame I chose. Still you live and hopefully learn.

[GrahamBy]

They're not all equally available... a lot of the larger sizes listed on the web site aren't available at the local store

[philaitman]

Just a quick note on the ikea frames, which I too use. The larger frames, in particular the square and panoramic frames have a tendency to bow after they have been hung for a while. I'm currently looking for alternatives. I'm liking the look of the Neilson aluminium frames but the cost difference is quite large.

If anyone in the UK/EU has a good alternative to these I'd love to hear it. It's a pain that there frames and mats cost som much more to procure than a print does to produce :0\

[brianrybolt]

Just a quick note on the ikea frames, which I too use. The larger frames, in particular the square and panoramic frames have a tendency to bow after they have been hung for a while. I'm currently looking for alternatives. I'm liking the look of the Neilson aluminium frames but the cost difference is quite large.

If anyone in the UK/EU has a good alternative to these I'd love to hear it. It's a pain that there frames and mats cost som much more to procure than a print does to produce :0\

The Neilson frames (pre-assembled ones) are excellent value.  Yes, they are more expensive than the Ikea, which I use also, but are much better.  If the glass breaks in the Ikea ones, your hosed because they are an integral part of the frame being glued in.  You can use a little bit thicker mount with the Neilson frames where you can't with Ikea's product.

Good luck,
Brian

[luxborealis]

So, I bought some 50x70cm frames (about 19.5" x 27.5") and while they look OK portrait they don't look so great landscape which I have to use for landscape prints.

So what size of frame would you recommend for the landscape prints which are about 19" wide? I did wonder about 70cm square but I think that would look like crap as well.

Mike

I sometimes use the IKEA 50x70cm frames, but for slightly larger prints - 14.5" x 21". Do you find there is too much mat around your prints in the larger frame? If so, you could always "float mount/mat" your photos so the edge of the paper (or edge of the print) shows just inside the mat, similar to how watercolour paintings are framed.

Perhaps the best way, though, is to find a smaller frame or use larger paper.

[drmike]

Larger paper is not an option as I only have an A3+ printer.

A 'full' A3+ print landscape just looks wrong - I think as you suggest too much space around it. I wonder if I should try a narrow outer mat as a border leading to the frame., I can't see that working though.

I say I can't print bigger than A3+ but you can sort of as I think the printer will do a print that's 21" wide if you fiddle the custom paper size. But then I'd need to buy A2 paper and waste a lot of it. I think I mentioned that I'm tight

[GrahamBy]

I see that Neilson do a frame in A2... although the local resellers here don't stock it 

[drmike]

The Neilson frames while very varied are rather more expensive than the Ikea I find. I can't really justify 20 odd pounds on a frame for my purposes especially when I want about 12 - 15 of them.

 The Ikea Ribba ones are really quite cheap in comparison although I suspect they are nowhere near the same quality. 50x50 I think is £9 and a 60x80 is £15 - I did mention I was tight. I'm sure I did.

In fact I was unaware they did a 60x80. I bought a 60x100 which is silly big and thus far has only been any use for 4 square shots of about 20x20 which looks OK, but you need 4 shots that work as a set which I was fortunate to have. It's hard work cutting the apertures in the board though.

[Robert Boire]

Mike,

I just came across your post so I thought I would share what I do.

I too find that the IKEA Ribba frames are great value and look good. I also want to print as big as I can. The main problem is that the frames are not geared to the 3:2 aspect ratio common to most sensors and of course are metric.

So I use the Ribba 41x50 cm frame  (BTW 41x50 is 16x20 in inches. Until not long ago this was a 40x50cm frame. So for some reason Ikea decided to change the dimensions of this frame - an only this frame - to English units which creates a problem if you have custom made mats for the older frame.. but I digress) and cut my own mats.

I print on 13x19 paper at 11.5x17.5 inches. This maintains the 3:2 aspect ratio. When framed this means that the top/bottom exposed margin (there is a slight part of the mat that is hidden by the frame border) is 2 1/4 inches and the left/right margin is 1 3/8. 

Now I know... the margins are not the same. But if you ignore the tyranny of convention and symmetry that says that they need to be the same...  The narrow left/right margin means that the viewer's eye is drawn to the image instead of the mat and tends to enhance the landscape orientation..At least that's my theory and I am sticking with it. I think it actually looks pretty good (I recently sold 4 in a gallery so I guess the asymmetry did not bother the buyers). I played around with the larger 50x70 frames, but found the mat margins were too wide for my liking.

BTW, Ikea has another range of frames called Virserum. They are slightly more expensive..but have a classier look.

Hope this helps.

Robert

[drmike]

Well thank you Robert I shall look into your arrangement and also the classier frame