From: John Cremati (johnjohnc@core.com)
Date: 06/30/03-07:37:24 PM Z
You might want to keep this thread under your alternative hats. I
think it will enhance the appeance of your prints dramatically and set you
appart from the mainstream photographic crowd.......................
Here is what we observed.......:
I had gotten together with a friend of mine who is a well known
"realist" painter. He restores old paintings for most of his living . He
has
done work for the for the Cleveland Museum of Art. He also teaches
painting at the Cleveland Institute of Art........... He is capable of
painting a
photograph and when finished you would have to come very close to the
image to see that it is not a photograph but in fact a painting ..........
I
respect his opinion on color selections more than any one I know .. I
expained the matting/ framing situation and we decided to do a little
experimenting....This is what we did............:
1) We examined closley a low key 11x14 platinum print ( about 70% of
the print was dark) that was matted in a 5 inch wide white border all
the way around with a little more weight on the bottom..... ..This was put
in a typical gloss black aluminum 20x24 picture frame under glass.
Upon this study we both felt that the mat/frame combination
really took away from the image.. The white mat made the highlights in the
picture appear as a mutted gray... The black picture fame was too stark
of a contrast against the white mat . We both felt the " Typical" white
matting and black frame
fought the image overall and was terribly distracting ..
2) We thought maybe a better way to present a B&W image would be
to choose tones between a light gray to a middle gray avoiding the
exteem ends as in our typical white mat and black frame.. . We wanted
to minmize the highlight "wash out "and the effect it also had on the
details of the shadows....... The stark clash of a white mat against
the black frame against a white wall was unacceptable .
So we tried a series of various gray mats and then we tried Jeff
Buckels suggestion of a " double mat" combination.
3) ... In the double mat we first placed a thin "medium gray " mat
border to immdiatley surround the image.. This gray was lighter than a
18 % gray card or a photo gray, maybe equal to a tone 6 if you have a
Zone Sysem Calibration Manual..... Wala, It was a very soft transition
from the low key image to the mat...Highlights and shadow detail still
appearing brilliantly.....
4) We then placed a lighter shade of gray over the inner darker gray
border ( about a tone 7 from the Zone Calibration Manual... ) Again a
very soft transition from the image then to the inner then to the outer.. .
This outer lighter border was about 4 inches wide and the inner darker
border was now about 1/2 inch wide.. We both thought this combination was
extreemly complimentary to this low key image and enhanced it
bueatifully .. ......
-
5) These gray mat borders had no obvious white bevel cut lines ,
as the filler in the mat was the same color as the surface of the mat... So
then we tried it using the same gray surface colors but only now using
board material that had a white filler. This would give you the fine white
line when beveled cut. Then we tried a board with black filler which when
beveled gave a black fine line.... We both agreed that this stoped the soft
transition from the image to the outer border dead in its tracks
conflicting with the hightlights and shadow detail.. . We agreed it was
distracting and went back to our original combination.. ......
6) We then decided to try Christina Andersons suggestion of using a "
Antique Pewter frame " ...... Fortunatly my artist friend had a complete
set of "Pewter" colored samples made by "Larson Hull "!.. The style we went
with was called "Ferrossa " and the model was called " Pewter , which was
basically a pewter colored wood frame ( I would place the tonal value of
this pewter frame at about a Tone # 5 from the Zone calibration Manual..)
This came with some very small distress marks thru out and with some
"pits " of a darker shade throughout which was quite delicate and pleasing
to the eye..... . We wanted to keep it simple and favoring a
contemperary
style so this 3/4 inch wide frame with just a slightly rounded face
surface
worked perfectly...There was also a darker version of "Ferrossa" called "
Iron " that we considered that was about a tone # 3...... We decided on the
lighter " Pewter" as it was going onto a white wall and we wanted to keep
the overall contrast range small ...
The results were incredible!.. This combination has a extreemly rich
and elegant
look that dramatically enhanced but did not overpower the image!.
We both thought this stepping of the various
shades of gray colors lead the eye right into the image with out struggle
and allowed you to enjoy the qualities of the photograph with out
conflicts!... .. We
were able to spend all our enegy on the image. I think it possibly also
had the effect of acting as a extension of the image but still framed it
nicley.. The overall contrast range was very easy on the eyes.....
...... Check it out and let me know what you think..
Regards,
John Cremati.
.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : 07/09/03-08:31:14 AM Z CST