Printing and Framing sizes

[RobOK]

I would like to make some medium to large prints and have them framed with a mat.

In the past I have cropped to 4 x 5 ratio, printed 20 x 16 inches, had a two inch mat resulting in 24 x 20 overall frame size.

What do people commonly do for print sizes and cropping?  Do you stay in a 2 x 3 ratio, and if so what size printing and what size frames?

Not all my images would work in 4 x 5 but I do like the size and proportions.

Any thoughts on this?

Rob.

[charlie]

Good question.

It can be frustrating to find the right size/ratio/matte/frame combinations that work.

The larger the print is relative to the frame the more important it is for the matte thickness to be equal on all sides, otherwise it looks strange. For the 2:3 ratio I often use a 16x24" frame so I will print to 16x24" paper with a 1.5" boarder on all sides so the actual image is 13x21". Similar to your example above only smaller and in 2:3 ratio. If the same 13x21" image goes into an 18x24" frame (which seems to be much more popular and not native to the 2:3 ratio of a DSLR sensors) the matte/image looks unbalanced within the frame. If the picture is quite a bit smaller relative to the frame then keeping the same thickness of matte on all sides is not as important. For example, an 11x14" matte looks good in a 16x20" frame.

Ultimately I won't crop an image for the sake of the frame and I'll make the frame/matte decisions based on the size of the print I want to make.  My experience is only in pre-made frames, and I'm no expert, clearly. It would be much easier to just have a custom frames made to fit your needs, albeit much more expensive. 

[Gary]

I crop/print to the image and not the frame. I create wide borders which I adjust to fill in the gaps between image and the print edge/frame ... or I custom cut a matte to accommodate and cover the gaps.  If I crop to square, which I do often, I'll adjust my borders to very wide top and bottom and thinner on the sides to fill in the gaps. I print in DTP programs which makes adjusting the borders easy-pezy.

[afx]

It would be much easier to just have a custom frames made to fit your needs, albeit much more expensive.

Depends.
A quality off the shelf frame (for example Niessen) cost about the same as custom frame.
My semi custom frames from Halbe (http://www.halbe-rahmen.de/en.html) (magnetic) are significantly more expensive than custom wooden frame but that is mostly due to the glass quality I had chosen.
I would suggest to have a look at art supplies stores, they often have custom framing for very reasonable prices.
In central Europe, check out Bösner: http://www.boesner.com/ and see if they have a local store.

cheers
afx