Choosing Wall Portraits - What to Know

Wall Portrait!?!  Is that your first reaction when you talk to your photographer and they recommend a wall portrait for your new family portrait that is being planned?  So you think, I was just thinking I would get an 8x10, but okay, I can hang it on my wall - that should be a good size for my wall, right? 

Let's talk about a few things to consider. 

1.  Size of a single wall portrait, or overall dimension of a wall collection of several portraits in relation to your space and the number of people in the portrait.

2.  One location or several different locations in your home? 

3.  Based on the location(s) - landscape or portrait orientation?

4.  Canvas, fine art print, metal, or acrylic? 

5.  Frame or no frame?

Decisions, decisions - Its enough to make you want to give up!  BUT DON'T!!!  And your professional photographer is there to help guide you, giving you information and making recommendations.  It can be very helpful to both your photographer as well as to you, to have a good plan in place for what you will most likely want to do with your beautiful new portraits. 

Your photographer can come to your home and talk with you, get a feel for your style and decor and make recommendations for some locations for your wall portrait or portraits.  You may wonder why these things need to be talked about before your photo session.  Suppose you have really tall ceilings and you want a family portrait over your fireplace.  Your photographer will want to see this space in advance to know that the best orientation for your finished portrait will be a vertical (portrait) orientation.  Or you want to put it over your long sofa in the family room, and a horizontal or landscape orientation will be best.  Your photographer will then plan the images they make to appropriately fit your planned space.  

And because your photographer will measure your space(s), they can give you size recommendations for what will fit best in your space and give you prices up front. And speaking of that 8x10, by all means order a few to give to family members as gifts or for mom and dad's desk photos.  But for your family portrait, you want to be able to see your lovely faces from across the room without squinting!  Wall portraits most often start with a 16x20" size and go up.  You know the saying, "Go Big, or Go Home!"  Well, maybe not the best saying for wall portraits, but again, you likely need to think bigger than what you might first be thinking.

After your photo session, at your viewing and ordering session you can sit back and enjoy looking at all your beautiful family portraits knowing that all that preplanning is making it so much easier and minimizes the decisions that you have to make.  All you have to do is pick your favorites and then wait for the beautiful finished portrait(s) to be delivered! 

 Remember -  Make a Statement with your portrait - Your Family is Worth It!