Spent most of today cutting down the mount boards that I got from the student shop at the college for £0.75 each. These were cut down to 500 x 400 mm and then using Pippa’s Mount cutter, I cut the mounts to suit the three prints that I had done, courtesy of Ruth, via DS Colour labs. The printed images were then secured to the back of the mounts, to be sandwiched between another mount board which was to be fixed as a backing for the image.
Presentation of Final Images for the Course Work
Although it will be good to see some of my work in an exhibition, complete with mounts, it is also a reminder of another option that I have for the course for the presentation of the final twenty images (ten for the product photography, and ten for the portrait photography).
The presentation method that I use for this course will be digital with a copy of the final image and a copy of the original image of DVD, rather than the finished prints being used for the exhibition. The reasons behind this decision are:
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Cost - the cost of producing twenty final images for this course would be at least £23.00 (if all the images are printed in one batch. Where as if I use digital files the cost would be less than £1.00. These prices are if the images are printed though a company like DS Colour Labs. If the images are to be printed at home, at A3, this price would be much higher and this option would only be available to those who could afford an A3+ printer. Printing the images at the College would cost about £3.50 per image (£70.00 for the twenty final images). There would also be the cost of the portfolio to hold the final images. -
Storage - I have very little space for storage at home so the amount of space required for storing these images, both prior submission and post course would not be available. I have a very large image catalogue at the moment, all stored digitally, so printing out a number of images, which are to be stored would simply take up much more space than there is currently available. -
Portability - DVDs are much more portable than a 500 x 400 mm mount containing an image, which really need to be carried in a size A2 carrier. -
Life Span - A DVD would survive much longer than a printed image, which can easily be damaged or may fade. Also duplicate copies can be made much easier than a copy of a printed image. -
Colour Management - When we take a photograph, a digital camera will only have the capability to capture a fraction of the colours that we can see with our eyes. This Gamut (or colour space) is then reduced further when the images are displayed on a colour monitor. These reduced colours are then reduced again for the printer which cannot duplicate every colour and shade there is in the world. Matching the output from the computer screen to what is printed out involves colour management. This means that all the devices would interpret each colour and shade in exactly the same way, bearing in mind that my printer is over ten years old (when digital cameras offering 6 megapixel output were still only in someone’s wildest dreams), the chances of colour matching all the devices is very slim, without more cost in colour calibration equipment. -
Audience Viewing - An A3 sized print can be viewed well up to twenty feet away, and is always in a vulnerable position, where it can be damaged (accidentally or not), where as a digital image, projected from a digital image can be viewed at a much larger distance, and can have sound effects or music added to a slide show. This can present the image in a completely different way to a static image mounted on a wall.
Having given a great consideration to the above points, having checked the prices of printing the images from different companies and costs of a portfolio, I am happy to continue to present my images as digital files on a DVD, which will contain both the original files (for proof of capture, etc) as well as the final processed images.
