Printing a panoramic question

crystalview · Nov 17, 2005

Hey everyone,

I'm seeking some advice on printing a panoramic I made. My question is...I will be printing the below photo for a couple friends of mine. It will be printed on a "drum" printer I guess on 20x30 paper. What im going to do is get two of them on the same piece of paper since its cheaper to do this way and you pay by the sheet. The camera shop made this recommendation to me. My question is...should in I (in photoshop) build a white frame around the image to provide for better mounting?

The reason I ask is that I want the entire picture in the matte and dont want leave any of the image out.

I dont really know how to matte and mount a picture yet so if anyone has any advice on this or a link that would be great too. If this is unclear, let me know.

Thanks peeps!

Johnboy2978 · Nov 17, 2005

If it were me, I would put about a 5 pixel border in black around it in photoshop then put about an inch white border, shrink the image size slightly, then open a new document 20x30 copy and paste it into it and print it. I think it does make it easier to matte and frame if you have a small border around it.

Really nice pic by the way.

crystalview · Nov 17, 2005

thats sounds like a good idea. Thanks very much for your help on this. I'll reply back with the results.

Thanks again!

doenoe · Nov 17, 2005

i dont know much about printing, but thats one heck of a picture

Jeff Canes · Nov 17, 2005

Ive had 20x30 prints made by both Kodak and Mpix online. Also you may what to look for lab in your area that has a large-format photo printer/plotter.

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crystalview · Nov 18, 2005

Thanks all of you for your help on this, and the compliment doenoe and Johnboy.

I went to a fairly reputable camera store last night and got it all figured out. I actually ended up getting two (2) 10x24's made on the same sheet and cut in half for about $25. Not sure how competitive the pricing is but we'll see how they turn out. They'll be back next week.

I think the issue now is going to be framing. I stopped by a framing store in the same mall area and they wanted roughly $140 for the mounting/matting/framing for one. Ouch. I'd like to just try doing it myself. For that kind of money I could come close to buying a matte cutter.

Anyone done much of their own matting and framing? I bought a pretty good book about it last night at B&N. Looks like a fun project. Just not sure where to get the glass at. And actually cutting glass is a bit new to me too. Plus, it seems like you have to have some very precise calculations for cutting and mounting. Am I looking into this too much? Im rambling.

See ya...let me know if anyone has any input. As always, thanks for taking the time to read.

-JAred

Johnboy2978 · Nov 18, 2005

Hey Jared, do it yourself!
Matting and framing can definately run into some bucks. I had a local frame shop that I was taking my stuff to, but finally got disgusted with them. It seemed like each time I went in, I got a different price for basically the same thing and it was getting more and more expensive. They did a good job, but geez, were they getting expensive. It wasn't like I was asking for anything difficult, just a single matte with a basic Nielson gallery type metal frame.
So, I found that I could go to a local hobby shop, buy the mat from $5 for 30x40" sheet, 16x20" glass for about $5. Then I finally found that I could order the same Nielson frame for little of nothing from AmericanFrame.com and cut to your specifications. So about $30, I matted/framed the same 3 pics that the framer was going to charge about $180 for. Talk about mark up. I borrowed a matte cutter from my Father in law to do all the cutting and do stained glass on the side as well so I already had stuff for the glass too. I'm going to buy the same cutter he had and found it to be the cheapest at this site for the 40" system.

http://www.framingsupplies.com/Fletcher/FletcherMatmateSystems.htm

So if you are willing to invest in a matte cutter it will about pay for itself the first time you use it.
If you have a HobbyLobby (or even a Michael's who is a little more expensive)close by, that's where I am getting the matte and glass from (you could also get a decent glass cutter there if there isn't a stained glass shop in your area). It took me about an hour to figure out how to use the cutter with precision and after making some cuts on a practice piece, I was producing flawless cuts w/o any problems. It really isn't very difficult, and when you are able to do it for pennies on the dollar for what the framers charge, you will end up framing those marginal pics as well.

The glass cutting is very easy if you are just cutting glass for frames. You can buy a cutting system for that too but it basically just consists of a straight edge, a good glass cutter (~$25) and special pliers that help snap the glass (with practice you can snap it on the edge of a table). Basically you are just scoring the glass on a straight line and snapping it.

The calculations that you mentioned can be as complicated as you want to make them. Start out with simple stuff like a 5x7 pic on an 8x10 matte, then work up to double or triple mattes with oval and circular openings.

Good Luck