People who enjoy photography as a hobby likely also enjoy displaying all the fruits of their labors. In order to display photographs in the classic way, you will need to put them in a picture frame. Although you can have your photographs professionally framed, it saves a great deal of money to learn the simple and straightforward process yourself. After you have selected a frame for your photo, your next decision will be how to secure the artwork inside the frame itself. There are three primary methods for mounting photographs, all of which are easy, but some may be more preferable to you than others.
The main ways to do this include using spray adhesive, hinging tape, and photo corners. All three have advantages, and you will want to think about the preservation quality that you hope to achieve, which can impact which you choose to use.
Adhesive spray is very quick and easy to use for picture mounting. You simply spray your mount board, the base upon which your photograph will rest inside the frame, and place the photo on top. The big problem with photo mounting using this kind of spray is that it can easily soak through the photograph paper and damage the delicate surface of the artwork; as well, removal from the mountboard is practically impossible.
Another choice for photo mounting is to use hinging tape. You can attach the artwork directly to the mount board with hinging tape, or you can tape the matboard and mountboard together at the top, and then place the photo in between them. This is a good method for mounting photographs, but over time the artwork can slide around inside the frame and get wrinkled.
Many photographers select photo corners for use in picture mounting. Picture corners come in conservation-quality styles, which helps to protect your photographs from exposure to acids that can discolor or yellow the surface of the artwork over time. You will use a mount board and mat board as for the other methods, but in this instance you place a photo corner at each corner of the mount board. There is adhesive on one side of the photo corner, so you take the backing off of the photo corner and simply press it into place. The corners of your photograph are then carefully inserted into the picture corners on the mount board. After this step, you can cover up the photo corners by placing the mat board on top. By using these specialty corners, your artwork will never come in direct contact with adhesives or acids, extending the life of the photo inside the frame.
Any of these products can be found online at fine art photography framing suppliers.
In this article Jonathon Blocker writes about
photo corner and
Jonathan Blocker is an avid business and travel writer. He has been traveling on commercial airlines and air charters for several years.