Last week, we talked about decorating with books as an inexpensive way to let your personality shine through in your home. This week, I wanted to talk about decorating with photos.
With the advent of digital photography, it’s so much easier for ordinary people to take photos that are worthy of being called art. It may take some time and practice, but framing these pictures is a wonderful way to celebrate the people, places and things we love.
With that in mind, I wanted to share three tips for turning your photos into art.
1. Go big!
For the most part, larger pictures make a bigger impact and stand out more than the standard 4×6s or collage mats of the past. Most digital cameras now take pictures that can be blown up to ridiculous sizes without pixelating, so take advantage of the technology and go big where appropriate.
2. Group pictures by color, subject and/or style.
To stand out as art (rather than just a typical family picture wall), group pictures thoughtfully and carefully. First decide what type of pictures you want to highlight on a particular wall. Close-up portraits? Photojournalistic-style where the subjects aren’t posed? Landscape or scenery photos? Choose how many you want and what size you’re going to print them. Find frames that match or coordinate. And finally, decide whether you want black and white, sepia or colored photos. Remember that you’re using larger photos, so you’ll use less than you might with smaller ones, but grouping pictures so that they go together can affect the whole feel of a room!
3. Try something different.
One of the latest trends in photography is to just use what would typically be thought of as the bottom half of a photo, whether they be the legs of a newly walking toddler or a family photo where the kids are within the frame but only mom and dad’s legs can be seen. Other ideas include taking pictures from behind or that are off-centered or skewed.
For more ideas to help you learn to take better photos that are frame-worthy as art, be sure to check out the For the Love of Photography series that starts next week at The Creative Mama! I know I can’t wait to learn from the amazingly talented women who will be contributing to the series!
Do you use photos as art in your home? What is your favorite tip for taking frame-worthy photos?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I love to use photos to decorate. I have one wall with a variety of family photos. I used the same type of frame for each.
Great article! Thanks so much for linking up - can’t wait for the big series!