Products I Love: Standouts

I always get questions about how I choose to display my favorite images of my family. Getting your images off of your computer is so important. After all, an image on your wall can offer you a daily smile while an image on your hard drive, well, can't. And there is nothing quite like snuggling up with your little ones to page through a photo album and talk about the memories. In a world of digital, we are blessed to be able to document every single moment and - if you are anything like me - you have thousands of images stored on your computer. It's unlikely that every single photograph will end up in print. Not only would that be super a intimidating task, but it would become a fairly costly one, as well! I meet so many families who come to me for portrait sessions but are not totally sure about what to do with their images. I hear you, and I'm here to help! Starting today I will be sharing a series of posts about what to do with your beautiful images after your portrait session. (I will share some ideas about what you can do with your daily snapshots, too!) For today, let's talk about standouts. Question: What is a standout? Let me explain. A standout (or a standout mount) is an image that has been printed on photographic paper and mounted on a sturdy, 1.5" thick foam core. The edges of the standout are covered in a black band, giving it a sleek, simple and solid look. Plus, the sturdy foam core makes this piece incredibly and deceptively lightweight! A protective coating is applied to the photographic print to protect against fingerprints and scratches. Holes are pre-drilled into the back of the standout, making it ready-to-hang. They are also perfect for displaying on a shelf, but either way you can begin admiring your memories right away. Yay! Question: Why a standout instead of a frame? Frames can be beautiful. In fact, I love when a print and a frame come together in a perfectly complimentary way. I will be gushing about frames in a post soon enough, so never fear. So why a standout, then? Like I mentioned earlier, a standout print offers a look that is sleek and simple. You can go pretty big with a standout, but the crisp lines and black edges will keep it from overwhelming a space in a way that a very large frame can. You can also create a collection of standouts to fill a large wall space with a gallery that will be impressive but still keep a simple, minimalist feel. The straight lines make galleries a whole lot of fun to put together - the patterns that can be created are endless! (I started to go into detail about collections but realized I had a lot to say. I'll be writing about collections and galleries in a soon-to-come post!) Question: What's the difference between standouts and canvas gallery wraps? I am going to be dedicating an entire post to this exact topic because it is one of the most commonly asked questions. In short, Standouts and canvas gallery wraps are similar at first glance. While standouts are printed on photo paper and mounted on a foam core, canvas gallery wraps are printed directly onto canvas fabric, which is then wrapped and secured tightly to a wooden frame. We can talk more about your specific needs to determine which printing method is the best choice for you. Question: What size should I order? That's hard to say, because every family has different needs. Together we can look at the walls in your home and make decisions about standout sizes that will be the perfect size for your space. Planning is key! So, can you tell that I am kind of in love with standouts? A few pictures below show off some of the details, but let me know if you want a closer look and I would be so happy to set up a time to meet in person!