ben egbert Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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Moderators, I think this is a landscape subject, but move it if you feel otherwise.
My rationale is as follows, like to hear other opinions and critique of my rationale noting that I will ignore matters of pure taste.
I print only for my own frames on my own walls. I have (2) 16x9 aspect ratio frames, (7) 3x2 and one 4x5. I print all of these at 16.5 inches on the narrow side and use mats that have 2.5 inch borders. The size is limited by my Epson 3800.
Frames are between $50 and $70 and mats at least $10 (I cut my own). I have not calculated my print costs, but (25) 24x36 sheets of Hahnemuhle photorag 308 is $203 which provide 50 sheets is only $8.12 per sheet and maybe $5 worth of ink. I have over 100 unframed large prints, many given away to my family. I don’t sell stuff. Note I just switched to Hahn from Red River which is even cheaper. But the frames drive the decision for aspect ratio.
I do only landscapes and have a very strong preference for horizontal over vertical. Some subjects like waterfalls of course work better in vertical.
Many verticals work at 3x2 but some need sky cropped off and work better at 4x5, hence my 4x5 frame. Many landscapes work better at 16x9, hence my two at that size. I could probably use more of this size, but they are very costly and I have limited room for these as the frames are 39 inches wide.
I don’t like square images at all and 4x5 is my limit for squarish aspects and then only for verticals never for horizontals.
I am not a huge fan of long thin panos, I find 16x9 about right.
I have mounted 16x9 aspect images with a wide bottom border in a 3x2 frame, but my wife thinks it looks unbalanced. I always try to keep even borders.
I have tried white mats and black narrow edge frames but it is far too modern looking for my taste. My frames are oak and my mats generally double matted with complementary colors to the image.
I have considered unframed systems but this does not fit our taste.
My prints look much better than any I have ever purchased from labs like Mpix so I never buy prints.
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