The Sunday News
Yoliswa Dube
PHOTOGRAPHY changed with the digital era. We take hundreds of photos with our smartphones and we own fancy digital cameras. Most people almost forgot about the possibility of going to the photographer to have their photos developed. But if you’re not one of them and still enjoy photos not only on the screen of your electronic devices, you probably should know a thing or two about custom-framing them. It’s not only about photos though — custom-framing is a great way to make your art pieces look even more impressive.
Although custom framing offers you a unique opportunity to display your art and photos in a chic way, it can be confusing at times as there are many factors to take into account and quite a lot things that you need to decide on.
Frames are one of the most important things in custom-framing. Their look can determine the whole impression that you get from looking at the framed photo or a piece of art. They can either complement them and make them more beautiful or ruin the whole effect. There are plenty of different materials that they can be made of — wood, gesso, metal, resin and gold and silver leaf with resin frames being the cheapest option.
Another fun way of custom-framing your photos and art is by using two or more paper mats. It draws attention to the photo, but you can’t go overboard with using mats — you don’t want to focus the attention on the mats and not on the photo or art!
Usually, simple solutions like using only a combination of black, gray or white mats work best. The most important thing to consider is if the mat fits the image well and doesn’t outshine it.
Glass is not a must have in custom-framing, but if you decide to use it, you have a few types of glass to choose from. Regular glass is the cheapest but also its quality is not impressive as it’s highly reflective, doesn’t protect the photo from the UV rays which may lead to discolouration.
Conservation glass blocks 99 percent of the UV rays so the art or photos won’t fade for a long time. It’s quite thick and reflects only eight percent of the light. Museum glass is the best type of glass out there and it contains as much as four layers of different materials — two layers of optical coating, one layer of glass and one layer of UV coating. It provides 96 percent of light transmission for the best brightness and contrast levels. It also minimises the light reflection to a stunning one percent which means that you can’t see any glare and can admire any piece of art behind it almost like there was no glass on top of it at all. — decorlove.com
