Framing Friendly Photo Size by 17" printer, and what standard frame size and mat board size

[250swb]

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5 hours ago, Einst_Stein said:

A picture displayed in family room is not necessary the center of the  interests, usually not. It's just a decoration of the room but with a touch of the owner's personality. How large it should be does not have to be dictated by the content of the picture. It could be determined by the surounding environment and the availalble space. Even, the size of the frame is determined before what picture to fit in. 

How big a print should be? Do not just think as a photographer. Sonetimes it takes to think as a room decorator. 

It’s always a consideration for a family home how much wall space is taken up, and of course in proportion to the room, but the ideal viewing distance is 2 times the diagonal of the print size. 

[Einst_Stein]

After some comparisons,  I found frame without matt works better for me. 

Now I have several sites for 17"x34~36" panorama pictures, and some sites for 17x22~25. The vatiation in size does not seem too intrusive. The actual print size would be about 0.5" smaller on each dimention. This is to avoid borderless. Standardizing frame size makes organizing room and wall easier, particularly to swtch pictures more often.

[pgh]

On 8/9/2025 at 8:40 AM, Einst_Stein said:

A picture displayed in family room is not necessary the center of the  interests, usually not. It's just a decoration of the room but with a touch of the owner's personality. How large it should be does not have to be dictated by the content of the picture. It could be determined by the surounding environment and the availalble space. Even, the size of the frame is determined before what picture to fit in. 

How big a print should be? Do not just think as a photographer. Sonetimes it takes to think as a room decorator. 

The room should serve the work, in most cases. Not the other way around. Print should suit the image and the installation. Unless you really are just making decorations, but I think most people are at least trying to do a little better than that and do something that stands independent of any interior decorating mock up. 

Small can be good, yes, but careful. Michael Kenna’s prints show so well because they are visually simple and elegant. Complex, layered or highly detailed images can be served poorly by a smaller print.  

[erl]

I shot this image yesterday. Printed it at A2 size just now. I believe that a smaller image would hide so much of the detail buried in there. If/when I frame it, it will hang somewhere in my home, regardless of the 'room definition'. My house is really just my gallery. 😉

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[Einst_Stein]

2 hours ago, pgh said:

The room should serve the work, in most cases. Not the other way around. Print should suit the image and the installation. Unless you really are just making decorations, but I think most people are at least trying to do a little better than that and do something that stands independent of any interior decorating mock up. 

Small can be good, yes, but careful. Michael Kenna’s prints show so well because they are visually simple and elegant. Complex, layered or highly detailed images can be served poorly by a smaller print.  

I would call it functional decoration. It's really just a decoration that suits the context and that can more or less to show, hopefully in positive sense, some of my personality.

Personally I think the content of the picture matters a lot, depends on living room, famility room, working room, or bed room. The size also matters, not so much in the sense of the picture, but more depends on the size of the room and the implied viewing distance. This also implies the type of pictures. Once the location and the size of the picture/frame are identified, I would keep them almost unchanged when switching pictures. Of course this is just for my personal like. Different people usually may have different opinion. 

Yes, I mean no, photo gallery has not been the main function in any of my room, yet. Maybe in the future, if I can afford a dedicated photo gallery room.

Edited August 17 by Einst_Stein

[pgh]

I get it if this is just for home.
I can’t really bear to hang my own work in our home. My wife insists on a few but I try to sub them out with art made by friends as much as possible.  There are prints stuck to the walls in my studio/office but they come down as soon as I make a decision on them. 

[Einst_Stein]

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Not many of my pictures are worth to be displayed. If any, of course it woud be in my own house.

It's hard to imaging anyone would want to display my works on their precious house wall.