mounting photographs

October 19, 2005 12:19 AM

Question about mounting large(ish) photographs professionally.

I'm having some digital artworks printed out as photographs. I'm starting with 8" by 10"s and will move up to 20" by 30". I would like to find someplace to send them to be mounted professionally in the ways in which I've seen photographs mounted at galleries and such, i.e. mounted on aluminum sheets or behind plexiglass. Anyone have any suggestions?

posted by garethspor to media & arts (8 comments total)

Typically they are mounted on archival quality mounting board. Larger pictures have a backing board behind that made of either foam core or a corrugated plastic material. This will provide a good support. I have never heard of the use of aluminum sheets. For any large picture they would offer no more support than the corrugated materials and would also weigh quite a lot more.

Plexiglass isn't the greatest material for placing over a photograph. Plain plexiglass is a dust magnet and exudes harmful vapors. Clear glass is better, and if you want to go all out then get something like this. Having this done at a professional framer will be expensive. It can be assembled much cheaper by hand by ordering supplies from places like Light Impressions. Although unless you have the right tools and experience, I would suggest against trying to make your own mat boards.
posted by JJ86 at 1:17 AM on October 19, 2005

Some businesses which offer laminating will do mounting. I've personally mounted things onto MDF board, foamcore and other materials using a wide format laminator.

You can do this by hand, and the last job I did (6 largish posters) I used a laminator to apply self adhesive to the boards, then mounted by hand. I wouldn't recommend this if you haven't had a chance to practice. Probably better to pay the framing / mounting people to do it.

Get a nice simple frame with good clear glass. Digital prints also benefit from being laminated, though this can be very expensive. It tends to bring out the colours and contrast nicely.
posted by tomble at 5:59 AM on October 19, 2005

I recently visited a gallery with extra-large (maybe 4 feet tall, 2 feet wide) images printed directly on some kind of white board. It seemed to be foam core, but could have been something more substantial.

It was not adhesive stuck on a board, and it was a completely seamless, single object. It was a very nice way to present the photos.

Is this what you're talking about when you say laminate, tomble?
posted by odinsdream at 6:43 AM on October 19, 2005

A tip from someone who has extensive experience with foamcore: it sucks; use anything else.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 7:44 AM on October 19, 2005

Here's a link to a place in NYC... I see in your profile that you're in CA, but maybe you can use this page's mounting options to figure out the official name of the kind of mounting you want to use, and then google from there.
posted by xo at 8:10 AM on October 19, 2005

You don't want to frame the photo's you just want to mount them? I've used "clip" type frames for smaller photo's (8x10 or so.) It's basically the photo sandwiched between a piece of glass and a backing board and held together with the clips. For larger prints I've had those dry-mounted onto foam core. Most any frame shop can do this, but it's a little pricey. Call around for quotes. What I've done is then taken the dry mounted photos and framed them in simple modular frames without any glass. I like the way that looks.
posted by sevenless at 10:54 AM on October 19, 2005

Second all the above, but if you do use glass and can afford it, consider the non-reflective variety. (Those of us who wear eyeglasses know it makes a difference.) The lighting where your work is displayed will determine how important this is, but in your case -- with larger than usual pieces -- you'll probably want it.
posted by rob511 at 10:46 PM on October 19, 2005

Call a gallery and ask where they get such things done. Try one of the photo galleries in SF like Koch or Frankel (sp?). If they don't know they should be able to lead you in the right direction. Many photographers mount large images on aluminum and perhaps plexi.
posted by johngumbo at 5:50 PM on October 20, 2005