Digital BW, The Print

At 12:13 PM -0600 5/13/06, Jerry L. Hadam wrote:

>...
>Not saying that white mats black frames cant be effective of beautiful.
>The way our eyes/mind have developed, the eye is naturally drawn to
>light ie. the lighter areas of the frame package. If the mat is lighter
>than the subject of point of interest in the photo, then the white mat
>can be competition for your subject.
>...


I couldn't agree more.

Also, the relative coloration of the mat and its density can make a 
huge difference in the emotional impact of a print.

An example that is not explicitly relevant to matting B&W prints:

A few years ago my wife and I picked up a print of a painting of a 
dark maroon gothic lighthouse sitting on a point jutting out into 
heavy seas against a yellow and orange sunset with the roiled clouds 
and lightning of an approaching storm.

The studio displayed it with two different mats: a dark maroon mat 
that matched the darker portions of the lighthouse, and a dark green 
mat that complimented the dark aqua of the sea.

The print with the maroon mat made the house seem a slightly 
disturbing, but welcoming, place to weather the storm.

The print with the green mat made the house seem like the only place 
you could go to weather the storm, but it was creepy and you knew you 
were going to be spending a particularly bad night with Vincent Price 
in a B movie where all the doors creaked.

The emotional difference the two mattings had on both of us was 
surprisingly strong and was the most extreme example of this effect 
that I have ever seen.


Best wishes,

-=-Dennis
























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