What Does It Mean to Mat a Framed Art
What Is A Mat?
A mat is the white space between your photograph and the frame. Most normally you lot would think of a mat as the thick white newspaper between your photograph in the frame, simply a little later I'1000 going to let you lot in on how I mat my photographs digitally.
Typically you would have your photographic print, attach information technology backside the opening in your mat with some framing tape and then place your matted print within your frame.
So that's what a mat is, merely why should you care?
There's a couple of reasons.
Esthetically, the mat gives your photograph some room to breathe.
If y'all place an 8"x10" photo into an 8"x10" frame, there's going to be something non quite right that you but tin't put your finger on. At the risk of sounding overly artsy… information technology'due south the feeling that the people in your photograph are somehow trapped.
Try it, you lot'll see what I mean.
But if y'all take the same photo, mat it to 11"x14" and put it into an 11"x14" frame, your center volition be drawn to the field of study of your photograph in a far more than pleasing way.
This doesn't simply employ to professional photographs, whatsoever photograph you frame in your habitation volition benefit from a mat. (Side note: the exception to this rule is if you have an ultra-modern home and you want to impress your portraits big recall thirty"x40" – and frame them with a sparse metal frame. If that'south you, call me.)
There's a practical reason for matting your photographs besides.
If you frame a photograph with no mat, your photo will be directly in contact with the glass of your frame. Any wet or condensation that develops on the within of the glass (yes, it does happen) will transfer directly to your photo, causing it to degrade.
A mat physically separates your photograph from the glass; the mat is touching the glass, non your photograph.
One final thing virtually the mats that come with the frames you buy at your local home retailer or craft store.
The colour of those mats generally isn't that great. I don't why know all frames don't come with a bright warm white mat, only they don't. Generally they're xanthous and muddy, and a yellow and muddied mat won't do annihilation to compliment your photograph.
And unless specifically indicated, the mat that comes with that frame you bought likely isn't acid-free.
While the mat serves equally a physical separation betwixt your photograph and the glass to prevent damage to your photograph, if that mat isn't fabricated from acid-free newspaper, the mat itself is going to cause your photograph to deteriorate over time.
Think dorsum to those magnetic photo albums from twenty years agone where you peeled dorsum the clear cellophane layer and placed the photograph onto the corrugated, sticky, paper-thin page. If y'all pull out i of those albums today, you'll see your photographs are all xanthous and faded. That's thanks to the acrid in those pages..
My Favourite Way To Mat Photographs
We've covered what a mat is and why y'all should care just I haven't yet told you my favourite fashion to mat photographs… digitally.
A digital mat is when the actual photograph is printed with a white border the size of a traditional mat. Then instead of press my photo every bit an 8"x10" print, in my editing plan I add a ane-1/2" white border on the top and bottom and a ii" border on the left and right sides, print it at 11"x14" and have my professional lab mount information technology onto cardstock and coat it with a protective covering.
Why, y'all enquire? Framing your photographs without glass is a contemporary way to display family unit portraits in your home and tin elevate your portraits to truthful works of art.
[bctt tweet="Framing without drinking glass is a contemporary way to brandish family unit portraits in your home."]
Unremarkably you need the glass from your frame to protect your photo from dust, fingerprints and exposure to sunlight. But the protective coating I have added to my prints eliminates the need for the glass in the frame.
Any questions almost matting? Annotate below, I'grand happy to assist.
At Jenn Di Spirito Photography we offer both the more than traditional un-matted prints and, of course, the digitally matted prints I love so much, consummate with mounting and protective coating.
To notice out more than virtually how to get one of our contemporary wall galleries for your dwelling, read more than near our family session experience and and then request your copy of our Jenn Di Spirito Photography Product Guide.
Source: https://www.jenndispirito.com/what-is-a-mat/