Four Ideas for your Favorite Photographs

Amputee, Chad Jukes is full of emotion as he reaches the summit of an ice climb in Ouray, CO.

A truly great image will evoke emotion in those who experience it, and so the greatest tragedy of all is to let a beautiful photograph go unseen. The question then becomes, once you create a brilliant image, what do you do with it. There are so many possibilities available these days, that it is easy to become paralyzed with indecision. Here are four ideas for what to do with your favorite images.

1. If you have a series or collection of related images (somewhere between 20-100 shots) that tell some type of story, such as a group of images from a recent trip, then a book is a great way to enjoy those images as a body of work. There are several publishers who will print a one of a kind coffee table type book starting around $20, just search the web for "photo book printing" and you will find dozens. Many local photo labs offer the same service and can help walk you through the design process as well.

A wedding or vacation is a perfect example of a group of images best produced in book format. 

2. If you have a striking stand alone image, you might want to consider an enlargement for the wall. Before heading to the lab, select the area you would like to hang the photograph and cut out a newspaper template of the exact size you want. This way, your finished photograph will be the proper size for your space. Be sure to take your files to a high quality lab for this type of printing. Two things to keep in mind about your original file, you must have a file size appropriate for your print size, and the more you crop in on the image the lower the print quality will be. Also, it is absolutely worth paying a little extra to have the image color corrected at your lab - this will ensure that the whites are white instead of pink, green or yellow. Any high quality lab will be able to advise you on how large you can go with a particular image file.

This image from Arches National Park, UT is a perfect composition to use as a focal piece, and the muted sepia tones compliment just about any decor.

3. Wall groups are a fun way to tell a story as part of your home decor. If you have a few images that just aren't the same without each other, you can hang them as a group together on the wall. We prefer canvas wrapped images for this type of grouping. You can create endless combinations to fit any wall space. You can order canvas wraps online through a variety of providers, just search for "canvas wraps" online and you will find a multitude of options.

By grouping images together, you can create a beautiful focal piece over a fireplace, sofa, etc.

4. A great way to share your latest travel adventures with friends and family is to put them to music and share them through social media. Our favorite tool for this is Animoto - an online service that allows you to easily turn your images and video clips into a beautiful presentation. You just select your favorite template, upload your images and Animoto does the rest. It's quick, easy and is a fabulous way to share your latest images with friends and family around the world. Check them out at www.Animoto.com.

Here is an Animoto video we created from our recent adventures to Acadia National Park, ME.

We hope that the tips from this three part series have inspired you to get out and create something extraordinary with your camera, have motivated you to organize and archive your images, and most importantly have moved you to produce something physical from those pixels that you can hold in your hands and enjoy for a lifetime. The beauty of photography is in it's nature, it's ability to capture a split second of time, a moment that might otherwise be overlooked, and immortalize it for generations.

Join Peter on a recent landscape photoshoot in Big Bend National Park.

Kathy