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Digital Frames

Harvey Moore

New member
I am seeing around the web more and more photographs encased in a digital frame.

To me, most produce a cheesy effect, do not enhance the image, in fact to me, detract from it. In many cases, the upload max size of an image is around 800 pixels on longest side. Any framing used will make the actual image area smaller and induce lost IQ.

I occasionally use a frame that simulates a medium grey matted print, but nothing beyond that. When I post an image, I am looking for critique of the photograph, not Photoshop skills in frame making.

I make an exception for cases where the intent is a poster or advertisement.

What say you ?

harvey
 

Alain Briot

pro member
Do you have an example of the frames you don't like so we know what we are looking at? I have seen some very welll made digital frames and others far less well done. There can be as many "digital frames" as there are real frames, and eventually which one you like or dislike is a matter of taste as much as of technique.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I like frames when the place the picture in a context that is appropriate.

It all deppends on the match!

Asher
 

Alain Briot

pro member
Here is a digital frame I created, part of a new series that I will be announcing to my site shortly. The frame & the photograph are conceived as a whole:
Kyaatataypi-Solstice-1.jpg
 

Tom Yi

New member
I personally like it for some of the artistic shots. My personal feeling is that some shots look better framed and some don't. So I treat each shot individually and upload both framed and non framed shots to my webpage.
 

Harvey Moore

New member
The frames I am thinking of have two or more concentric rectangles, drop shadows, and box effects with, say, a closeup photo of a butterfly. They look like Art-Deco with a non Art-Deco image in them. And the inclusion of the word "Butterfly" in large font, the photo tells me that.

Don't want to link to anothers post as a bad (my def. re frames) example.

Alain, the image you linked in a way fits the image very well. There is a video tutorial over at the NAPP site on how to make that type of framing in PS.

Maybe this fits in the area of personal preference.
 

Guy Tal

Editor at Large
I find a mat-like border around my images very useful in separating the image from the page, giving it more prominence. I guess it's a matter of taste.
I programemd my site such that the frame fragments are reused and get cached by the browser to minimize bandwidth use.

Guy
 

Harvey Moore

New member
Guy,

I agree with you, a simple matte like border is good, especially on a white page.

Alain,

Beautiful presentation. You have the artists eye and talent. Most, including me, are far behind you.

The ones I object to would have added boxes and shadows to them.
 

Alain Briot

pro member
Harvey Moore said:
The frames I am thinking of have two or more concentric rectangles, drop shadows, and box effects with, say, a closeup photo of a butterfly. They look like Art-Deco with a non Art-Deco image in them. And the inclusion of the word "Butterfly" in large font, the photo tells me that.

Don't want to link to anothers post as a bad (my def. re frames) example.

Alain, the image you linked in a way fits the image very well. There is a video tutorial over at the NAPP site on how to make that type of framing in PS.

Maybe this fits in the area of personal preference.

Harvey,

I would be interested in seeing the NAPP tutorial. I'll try to find it on their site, but if you have the link that would be great. I'll have a tutorial on how I created these images also. But first, I have to finish the series. I have another 5-10 images to work on.
 

Harvey Moore

New member
Tom Yi said:
I personally like it for some of the artistic shots. My personal feeling is that some shots look better framed and some don't. So I treat each shot individually and upload both framed and non framed shots to my webpage.

Tom,

You have hit the key point directly. The talent to know which ones to frame or put a border around is essential.

Maybe the borders and frames I object to are by photographers low on the learning curve. I know I lack the talent to discern when and how much is good, but I try to learn.
 

Alain Briot

pro member
Harvey Moore said:
Guy,

I agree with you, a simple matte like border is good, especially on a white page.

Alain,

Beautiful presentation. You have the artists eye and talent. Most, including me, are far behind you.

The ones I object to would have added boxes and shadows to them.

Harvey,

Thank you for your compliments and also for the links. I'll check them out now. My frames are quite complex as you mentioned, using mutiple layers (as many as 5 to 10 layers) and various processes.

I did the image conversion in Adobe Lightroom because their split-toning option is excellent.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Alain, Harvey Gut and Tom,

I like all your answers and the thread itself including references is so important.

The frame provides the space around the picture that the ARTIST should approve so that it allows the picture to exist in it's world separate from the room.

I saw an artist oil painting that a rich person bought imprisoned in a gold layered Baroque frame. I winced. The artist regrets selling the picture and promises to try to get the framing under her control.

Framing can alter delivery of the art to the viewers eye and can enhance of destroy. Alain understands that.

Asher
 
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Don Lashier

New member
Guy Tal said:
I find a mat-like border around my images very useful in separating the image from the page, giving it more prominence.

I agree. I programmed CMS to optionally generate three nested blocks representing frame, outer mat, inner mat. You can specify width and color (or transparency) for each. IMO putting a simple, usually neutral, border around an image can greatly enhance the image, particularly if the page bg is light or white otherwise. These frames are generated dynamically using nested tables and are not part of the image, so can be easily changed anytime thru a web form.

- DL
 

Don Lashier

New member
Asher Kelman said:
Alain, Harvey Gut and Tom,
I saw an artist oil painting that a rich person bought imprisoned in a gold layered Baroque frame. I winced. The artist regrets selling the picture and promises to try to get the framing under her control.
One of the oil artists I work with frames all his paintings (mostly plein-air landscape) in carved gold frames, mostly ornate. IMO this is out of character with the nature of the paintings, but his (rich) clients seem to like it. Baroque seems to be the preferred style of the rich.

- DL
 
Harvey Moore said:
I am seeing around the web more and more photographs encased in a digital frame...

I make an exception for cases where the intent is a poster or advertisement.

What say you ?

Personally, I use images larger than that (900x600 + 8 pixel black border). My goal is not to have a "frame" per se so much as to offset the image from the blazingly bright white windows found on many computer screens. This affects percieved saturation and makes an image less washed out.

As to fancy frames or matting: I do not care from them as they add little to an image.
 

Mike Spinak

pro member
I usually use fairly simple borders when showing pictures online, a few pixels wide, in a solid color. Here's an example:

2609099-lg.jpg


For the way that I am trying to present the pictures online, I'm only including a frame to clearly delineate the picture from the page's background. The reason that I usually keep the frames fairly simple, for online display, is because I want the emphasis to be on the picture, and the picture alone.

I am curious whether you find this type of frame disturbing. I am open to criticism on my way of handling online frames.

Mike

www.mikespinak.com
 
Mike Spinak said:
I am curious whether you find this type of frame disturbing. I am open to criticism on my way of handling online frames.
http://www.mikespinak.com

I think the black border should be wider. As much of this image is shadlow detail, more separation from the bright surrounding window would help the shadow detail show more clearly rather.

my $0.02,

Sea
 

Harvey Moore

New member
Mike,

A plain black/grey/* border can help the image imo, and I agree with Sean about it being larger all around, in particular on this white page style.

The fm pages are great for displaying in the presentation forums there.

Harvey
 

Mike Spinak

pro member
Thanks, Sean and Harvey.

Just within the last week, or so, I have started experimenting with thicker borders, along with having a white layer in addition to a black layer, for better spearation of dark tones. For example:

4734696-lg.jpg


Is this an improvement over the type of frame above, or is the frame too distracting from the picture?

Thanks, again,

Mike
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Mike,

I like to pick up a color like the earthen sand, then make it a little less saturated. This picture, BTW can take a wider matte before the black frame which could be a tad thinner in this unique case.

Asher
 
Mike Spinak said:
Thanks, Sean and Harvey.

Just within the last week, or so, I have started experimenting with thicker borders, along with having a white layer in addition to a black layer, for better spearation of dark tones. For example:

[pic]

Is this an improvement over the type of frame above, or is the frame too distracting from the picture?

While I like how the white makes the image stand out from the page, I dislike how the white outshines the highlights in the image making the soft light seem grayer rather than like a cloudbreak bringing a soft blash of sunshine.

Hence, for page layout, a midtone grey pin line would be better on average IMO. But I think just black is better for this image. But, a per image judgement would be the way to do. Just have your PS Action generate a pure black background with a white rectangle in a layer above it with the image in a smaller rectangle above that. Then you can just tweak the opacity of the white layer to suit the image at hand. Heck, for some images a colored pinline might be a better call to bring out or subdue some color within the frame.

enjoy,

Sean
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Mike,

Could you repost with a light earthen tone (from the picture) placed into in the white gap in the frame but make it a little wider?

Asher
 

Mike Spinak

pro member
Hi, Asher & Sean,

I just got back from the Kern River Valley Audubon Preserve's annual Hummingbird Festival, which is why it took me so long to respond.

I have a lot more I would like to discuss, regarding how to frame a picture well, for online display... but this is a very busy week for me, so I can't get into my questions and discussion much, until next week.

Could you repost with a light earthen tone (from the picture) placed into in the white gap in the frame but make it a little wider?

Do you mean like this?

4804554-lg.jpg



Mike

www.mikespinak.com
 
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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Mike,

Looking again at the previous and this version, I don't think the picture can breathe. I'll make something with the sky as the picked up color. See how it comes out!

Asher
 
I'd say, it depends

Harvey,
photography is an art, and a such, it's always subject to the eye of beholder. I'd rather see a nice image with a so-so (or even better, a good) frame than a so-so image without any.
Same goes to the usage of superwide lenses, duotone conversions, etc. Whatever works. Some will abuse it, but that's how we learn.
I agree that sometimes people just go nuts with PS. But hey, it's free world, nobody commands you to look at them or like them. Trying to impose "one idea to rule them all" would only bring us to Mordor, "where the shadow lies".
Just my very HO...

Alain,
awesome work, thanks for sharing!

Cheers!
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
HI Mike,

Here is a frame that expands on the beautiful blue sky.

4734696-lg_ak copy.jpg



It also has the darker wood inner frame to echo related hues in the picture.


Asher
 
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