Great Ideas for Displaying Your Photos
photo by andresr via iStock
In this season of change, I know a lot of us are moving into new spaces we call home. Even if this isn’t where you find yourself right now, you may still be looking for unique photo display ideas to make your house feel more like a home.
Displaying your photos is one of the most surefire ways to make your house feel more personalized. My guests love viewing my artwork when they come over because it acts as an extension of myself. Not only am I a professional photographer, but it’s one of my passions. Guests love to see you put this part of yourself into your space.
But, it can also be hard to come by new ideas for displaying your photos. As such, I’ve compiled a short list of different ideas I’ve used and loved over the years. Importantly, I’ve used some of these tips for displaying your photos when I was still just a bachelor and living in a tiny apartment, so don’t fret if this is where you find yourself. I have tips for you too.
But before we get to that…
In the video above, I share the results of my 2020 $100 secret shopper canvas print shootout. Which company stood head and shoulders above the rest? Which ones should you avoid like the plague? Check out the video to find out!
Don’t Be Afraid to Go Oversized
This tip by The Kinwoven Home is one of the best tips for displaying your photos I’ve ever come across for apartment dwellers (or really anyone living somewhere as cramped as my Californian city).
When I say, “don’t be afraid to go oversized,” I mean hugely oversized. I once hung one of my photos that I printed on a 48” x 72” canvas in my bathroom. The best way to do this is to make your oversized print the only thing on any of the walls in that particular room. But, don’t neglect other aspects of design in that room or your room may look half put together.
Create a Gallery Wall
photo by KatarzynaBialasiewicz via iStock
I actually wrote a longer piece about creating a gallery wall a few weeks ago that you can read in depth here.
But, for this article about displaying your photos, all you really need to know about creating a gallery wall in your home is that the wall should reflect your personality. Start the creation process by throwing out any preconceptions you have about gallery walls and just do what feels right.
You can always change things up later.
Learn More:
Respond Emotionally
photo by TommL via iStock
Of all my tips for displaying your photos, this one confuses people the most, but it doesn’t have to. When learning how to display photos, photographers can get so caught up in the shoulds and should nots. You may just forget what sorts of things you love along the way.
Let me give you an example of this. I was helping my friend hang his photos in his new home he had just bought and he was so incredibly focused on the color scheme. His walls were grey and blue and he thought that every photo he hung in his house should also be grey and blue.
photo by TommL via iStock
He kept saying that if he didn’t stick to these two colors, then his photos would look out of place. While this sort of preconception could have helped him if he was staging his house for potential buyers, in reality it just made his home feel sterile. Almost like someone without any tastes at all was living there.
He eventually realized this and went back and replaced a lot of those photos with photos that meant something to him. He included more photos of his family. He included more photos from photography trips that meant something special to him. He responded emotionally to the artwork he was hanging in his home.
I think you should too.
Be Surprising
photo by RyanJLane via iStock
While displaying your photos, you should be thinking about your emotions, like I mentioned above, but you should also be thinking about the emotions of people who are going to be coming and going from your place.
Displaying your photos should be a journey and sometimes it can be fun to mess with people on that journey. Hang unexpected photos in unexpected places in your home.
When you stop to think about it, none of the “how to display photos in your home” articles really cover the subject matter of those photos. They cover the color scheme of the photos, the size of the prints, and other rules about displaying your photos, but the subject matter is entirely up to you.
My best friend has a photo of a banana hung in his bathroom. Get creative and be surprising.
Choose Your Print Maker Wisely
This tip for displaying your photos cannot be understated. You must use a print maker that you trust. Not only because you’re probably going to be spending a lot of money on this endeavor, but because people can automatically tell if you’ve opted for a specialist or not.
That’s why I strictly work with CanvasHQ. Not only are they amongst the cheapest canvas print specialists I’ve ever worked with (they’re running a 30% discount on their site right now), but they seem to actually care how well my print turns out.
hey use quality ingredients across the board, from UV-resistant ink to hand-crafted frames, so you can rest assured that your canvas will last a lifetime.
Plus, their customer service is top notch. You can check their website right here to see how long you can expect your canvas to take before reaching you. It’s a countdown that they update everyday because they understand that the speed at which you receive your canvas print is almost as important as the print itself.
There’s no use in having knowledge about a wide array of canvas print ideas if you don’t have a trusted canvas print maker.