Portrait Print Sizing Guide: Guidelines for a Perfect Print
- The Photo Shoot - Give Yourself Options for Portrait Prints
- What Orientation to Use for Portrait Prints
- Sizing Guide for Portrait Prints
- Paper Types for Portrait Prints
- Other Variables of Portrait Prints
- Recommended Photography Gear
As a professional portrait photographer, you have made many portrait prints for your clients. If you are newly breaking into the fun field of portrait photography for profit, you will soon be providing your subjects with a variety of portrait prints.
I find that part of the fun of creating portraits is the many choices we have for the end product, the portrait prints. There are sizes from small enough to fit in a wallet to lifesize (or larger) enlargements, different types of papers to use for portrait prints, and at least three separate photo orientations available.
Here are some ideas concerning all of the options in front of us as we fulfill our client orders with portrait prints.
Table of Contents:
The Photo Shoot - Give Yourself Options for Portrait Prints
photo by YakobchukOlena via iStock
The variables surrounding the end product of portrait prints start during the photo shoot itself. Shooting in either portrait orientation or landscape orientation can either provide you with options down the road for portrait prints or limit your choices.
The vertical orientation, also called portrait orientation, is a natural method for portrait photography and transfers seamlessly most of the time to creating portrait prints. There are posing considerations to factor in, too, such as how close to frame the subject in the frame.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to shoot in the horizontal or landscape orientation while framing with lots of extra space or negative space included. The background and the lighting style also come into play when looking at the end product of portrait prints.
If you need a little more inspiration for your portraits, check out the video above.
In it, Bach Photography offers up more than a dozen highly effective, yet easy portrait photography tips to help you get started.
What Orientation to Use for Portrait Prints
photo by stevecoleimages via iStock
Sometimes, the best orientation for portrait prints isn’t portrait (vertical) or landscape (horizontal) but square. A very powerful statement can be made by framing with a square portrait print as the intended final result.
Of course, the portrait orientation is a common framing method for taking portrait photographs. Excellent results in portrait orientation can be had when including lighting styles, composition tools, and posing positions.
For environmental portraits, sometimes the horizontal or landscape orientation is the framing method of choice. A horizontal image with lots of extra space filled with other identifying objects or as negative space makes wonderful portrait images, which in turn makes fantastic portrait prints.
Learn More:
Sizing Guide for Portrait Prints
photo by Altinosmanaj via iStock
Artbeat Studios is one of the best printers for making physical prints of our portrait images. They make so many sizes of portrait prints, from heavily cropped images to making use of the entirety of the image file.
A Full Frame format image, printed from the entire image file, will have a different size than some of the more common print sizes we’re used to. For instance, an 8x10” portrait print looks great, and it involves cropping the image area from a Full Frame format image file. In order to use the entire area, that same enlargement magnification would result in an 8x12” portrait print.
At Artbeat Studios, you can order portrait prints in sizes ranging from 4x6” all the way up to the huge 48x96” enlargement. That’s 4x8 feet! You can actually make your portrait subject as a larger-than-life portrait print.
In your own image post-processing work, you can also make any number of smaller frames and then print them as an enlargement. For example, you can print 8 to 10 wallet-sized images on a single 8x10” sheet of printing paper. There are presets for most programs concerning these types of options.
Paper Types for Portrait Prints
The types of paper for portrait prints also affect the final outcome of the paper products. Artbeat Studios has four styles of papers you can use for your own portrait prints. Their luster papers are some of my favorites for making portrait prints. Luster also works well for framed images, having a lower sheen than gloss, making them easier to view comfortably.
Sometimes, glossy papers work best for portrait prints, especially when you have lots of color or lighting contrasts in the image file. Not to be overlooked are the metallic papers and fine art papers Artbeat Studios has as options.
Other Variables of Portrait Prints
In addition to the posing, post-processing, lighting style, and paper types and sizes, a good frame can add to the impact of the final portrait print. Artbeat Studios makes frames in flat white or flat black in two depths, 0.75" x 1.375" and also 1.125" x .75".
Finally, fulfilling your client’s portrait prints orders can be accomplished simply by using Artbeat Studios white label shipping. Take advantage of their loyalty pricing as well, that way you can benefit from favorable pricing for using Artbeat Studios as your portrait print maker of choice.
