There are plenty of tips around for taking black and white photo’s but for framing the ones you adore - that’s when it fast becomes a tedious nightmare, like trying to solve the impossible.
Impossible it will feel like because ready-made picture frames are rarely manufactured to highlight the high contrast of black and white photographs.
The solution is to get custom and use the parts that make a frame to customise your ideal display for your black and white shoot.
Professionally framed photographs take a bit of know-how, and that’s what’s covered below. The know-how to get your black and white photo gracefully framed to a standard you’d never expect to achieve without a framer in your corner. We’ve got you…
Framing Tips to Supercharge Your Black and White Photo’s
- Remember Symmetry from Back in the Day
Symmetry is taught around year two and then forgotten about. If you have young kids and a group display of black and white photos, get them aboard the project while symmetry is still fresh in their mind.
For those who have forgotten about symmetry, here’s how LiveScience.com define symmetry:
“In geometry, an object exhibits symmetry if it looks the same after a transformation, such as reflection or rotation. Symmetry is the underlying mathematical principle behind all patterns and is important in art”
In simpler terms… when you have a group of photos to display, try to create a pattern with the frames. Even if you don’t have a group of similar pictures, the mount will create a shape around the frame. A rectangle at least, but if you go with a deeper bottom on it, you could achieve a square and rectangular shapes surrounding your picture. It adds to the display.
That’s going to pay off hugely when you add in the next couple of tips:
- Contrast helps a great deal
The better the contrast in black and white photos, the better it looks. In fact, we’d go as far to say that if you’ve nailed the contrast aspect of your photo, it’s going to look stunning, and that’s why you want to frame it and keep its elegance intact.
The simplest way to do that is to add even more contrast to the display by introducing a white mount board. Not off-white, magnolia, or any other effect of white - Pure white.
- Add in off-the-cuff display formations to catch the eye even more
Would you agree that the majority of photo frames have the photo centred and surrounded by a mount board with the same measurements?
It’s often the case and to that we say…
Experiment!
Work with custom sized picture mounts because with that you can pull off staggeringly beautiful displays. A great way of doing that is to have your mount board cut with a deep open space below the photo. For black and white photos the result is nothing short of incredible. The contrast is simply beautiful!
In Conclusion
Instead of trying to find the best picture frame for a black and white photo, focus on the best way to use framing materials to display the photo at its best. Bringing out the most spectacular features of the photo by adding more contrast, increasing the mount size below the photo to force it into being the centre piece within the frame.
And when you do get around to hanging it, keep the frame balanced by either creating a pattern with a group of other black and white photos and if that’s not possible, then don’t distract the eye from it and display it as a separate piece with no other photographs or art surrounding it.
Best tip: Use the mount to create more shapes. Like a square below and rectangles around the picture and if you want to add a signature or label, that’s another shape that can go within the square below the photo.
The picture mount, when used creatively is the secret weapon for superior framing displays, more so with black and white photography.
Framing black and white photos is not about finding the best frame. The best framing solution is simply to work with only the best elements within and around the photograph to bring out its best features. Focus on what you can do inside the frame, more than you do the frame itself because that’s where you can really add impact – and statement.
Use the elements of the frame to enhance the look of the photo you’re framing. Get that right, and you’ll have the most amazing photo shoot to ever grace your wall with its presence.
Of course, since you’re working with a black and white photo, with a pure white mount board, only a black frame will do. The style and material though is up to you.