Anybody reading this who was born prior to the 2000s likely has a draw or box somewhere stuffed with photographs. Some are of cherished memories, others are of buried hairstyles, never to see the light of day again!
Nowadays, most of our photos live on our phones or on our computers. Displaying them isn’t as simple as sticking them on the wall anymore. You have to think long and hard about how best to display them, and their are a multitude of ways to choose from.
From big and loud, to subtle and modern, you have many options available. But which is best for you? Here are the typical options.
Print Out and Frame
First of all, we’ll go down the traditional route. Digital photos can be printed out at a variety of outlets, including supermarkets, so getting your photos “out” of your phone and into the real world is not difficult. Nor is it expensive. It’s best to go in with a memory stick with just the images you want printing out - you don’t want any embarrassing photos to flash up while you are swiping through to find the ones you want!
Then it’s simply a case of picking out the best photo frame. You can of course scale up most images to portrait size (anything more than that and the picture quality will start to be compromised), but just make sure you scale it up to a size that matches a standard picture frame size. Any oddly proportioned pictures will require specially made picture frames.
Electronic Frame
If you don’t want to print out your photos, but still like the frame idea, there is an alternative. Digital photo frames allow you to download images on to them, so you can display them around your house like you used to.They run off of batteries or a charge pack, so there won’t be any unsightly wires running all down your walls.
These come with the added benefit of being interchangeable on the fly. So in summer, you can have a revolving selection of season appropriate pictures, before switching them out for wintery pictures when the weather changes.
Canvas Print
No we are starting to leave the traditional approaches behind. Since most of us don’t have the time, money, or frankly the ego to get a professional painting done of our families, canvas prints are the next best thing. They work in a similar way to digital printed photos, but the image is printed on canvas as opposed to on photograph paper.
The end result is part picture, part art work. Traditionally done in black and white, these prints can be both tasteful and eye catching. Obviously, you’ll want to pick a lasting image, as it would be a chore to have to swap them out every year. But get ti right, and you can have a decorative piece of “art” unique to you.
Furniture
Finally, riffing on the “alternative display methods” idea, you could chose to get your photos printed onto pieces of furniture. This may sound crazy, but think about it - you’ve seen cushions, curtains and many other things with motifs of animal and plant life for years, so why not personalise them with your own pictures!?
Digital printing techniques mean this is now a much more viable option. No longer are you restricted to just pictures. Obviously, questions of taste start to arise if you cover everything with pictures of your own families, but a collage-style coffee table top could be a happy medium. There really is little limits, other than your imagination!
