what do you do with your digipics

[DougJ]

The rain in the south west has turned the deserts into a photographer's paradise.  Just witness the pics being uploaded by Jim D, Lorna, Ron M, to name just a few that come immediately to mind.

My question is, what do you do with your pics?  Do you just keep them on your HD and show them to people from time to time, using a viewer perhaps, or share them over the Internet?  Or, do you print them and share the printed version?

For me, the printed result is still the way to go.  I enjoy tweaking, or in some case doing major work on, my digital images so that I can get the best print possible.

This works well for me for I am an inveterate note writer (usually with a fountain pen, not a ball point :--weird, eh?).  I print 4 X 6-ish and mount them on a folded, front-page-embossed note, and of course write my note inside. 

Who gets these?  Well, a lot of people: one or two of the framily; a bank clerk who did me a favour; the owner of a heavy duty spring shop (for motorhomes and trucks) who worked on my motorhome and who happened to share an interest in flying with me--so I used a Douglas Sky Raider on his note; and so on. 

A co-owner of a small restaurant, in which art work is often displayed, is trying to persuade me to display some of my pics there.  The trouble is I don't know anything about matting and framing which would be a whole new area to explore before showing the prints.

Anyway: what are you doing with your pics?

Ciao,

Doug

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

We keep them all on hardrives, duplicated on the home desktop and portable laptop.  But we also print selected ones, either ourselves with a Sony photo printer (4x6) or a standard HP printe,r or by emailing to a commercial print house if we want large, high quality prints.  We also routinely email pics to friends and relatives and occasionally post sets of pictures to a web site to share. So I guess the answer is that we use both traditional and electronic forms to share our digipics.

 

[Lorna]

Ned and I keep them on the HD but I have made calendars for my kids, a couple of friends; have put a selection of pics that have been taken during the year on a CD to show to family and friends.  Sometimes I will print 5 x 7 to put up in the MH and I used to print some out to show to people but it is easier to put them on a CD.  I have them sorted on the HD by state, families, friends, and other misc folders in My Documents, My Pictures.  We have also put a selection on our website and change them every few months, that is also where our itinerary is for the year and Ned is great about updating it.  I have also put them in birthday cards and used to do a colage for our Christmas letter but that changed last year when we started putting it on our website.

 

[DougJ]

Sure seems like the "web view" approach is the common approach.  I guess I'm stuck in the mud: I want to hold a good print in my hand, or have it up on the wall nicely framed .

Every now and then I do drop in at your web site--always find it very interesting.

Ciao,

Doug

 

[Jim Dick]

Hi Doug,

Mostly I keep them on the hard drive but now have a Prismiq media player that can be used to show them on a TV so all can have a good view. I will also print some of them out occasionally but we are limited on where we can display them. After our European trip with the Nathans, I made up an album with a selection of some of my better photos with captions so I could give the album to anyone and they would know where the photos were taken. I wish I had more room to hang some of mine.

 

[Lorna]

Doug
What I have done because of lack of places in our MH is to go to Michaels and buy some of their mattings for 5 X 7 and put the pics up on the framing around the slide-out with velcro.

 

[Lorna]

Jim
Maybe I can talk Ned into getting me a Prismiq media player for my birthday or maybe even sooner?????

 

[DougJ]

Now you're talking.

Actually a piece of kit like that would work very nicely to show off pics that have been worked on expressly for viewing on a monitor of some kind.

It would really be the electronic analogue of hauling out the photo album of prints, wouldn't it.

Ciao,

Doug

 

[Lorna]

Yes it would Doug.

 

[Karl]

Doug,
For years I have been matting and framing my photo prints. It's a little tricky, but with practice you should be able to turn out some very nice mats. The key is patience and good equipment: You'll need a good hand-held mat cutter that uses easily replaceable single-edge razor blades (Logan mat cutters are my choice), a sturdy straight-edge or T-square made of metal with 1/32" ruling, and a work surface that won't be damaged by razor cuts. X-acto makes these 'self-healing' work mats in various sizes. Accuracy in laying out the mat opening for your pictures is critical, as well as starting with a perfectly squared up piece of mat board, so have several very sharp #6 pencils to make your cutting border. And lots of razor blades. You can buy a 100-pack Home Depot and other such stores. This is the basic equipment for square or rectangular mats (straight or bevel cuts), but for free-form or circular mats you'll need something more specialized - and quite expensive. Cutters and mats can be had at most art supply stores and most will have a large, commercial paper cutter which you can use to make a supply of smaller mat blanks out of one large one to take on the road with you. Good Luck, and watch your fingers!!

 

[Jim Dick]

Jim
Maybe I can talk Ned into getting me a Prismiq media player for my birthday or maybe even sooner?????

Put the bug in his ear. I just got mine back and it's working great. Have to be careful, though, as it will scan your whole computer if you don't tell it to just scan certain folders. You'll end up with all kinds of unwanted stuff.

 

[DougJ]

Thanks for the advice on matting, Karl.

My first move will be to find some printed materials on the art of matting and framing.  I had a quick look in a Chapters last week, but didn't find anything fully devoted to the topic.  I did buy another book, though: a book on digital printing by Tim Grey.

Ciao,

Doug

 

[Karl]

Doug,
Here's a good place to get info: http://www.framing4yourself.com/index.htm There are tups on various cutters and how to use them. I did notice that they recommend AGAINST the use of self-healing boards because they are too hard and tend to wear out blades (which is true); they suggest using a scrap piece of matboard. 

 

[DougJ]

Thanks for the URL, Karl.  I've had a boo at the site and I've bookmarked it.

Doug