I was playing around in Photoshop trying to find a good way to present my photography in a smaller, more attractive way and this is what I came up with.

Any comments on what works and what doesn't?

Thanks,

Michael

I take it you mean for presenting online rather than in a portfolio? When I first look at it, it looks like a glass/clear frame until I realised that the darker area around was the mount bevelled to look like a cut mount! The thinness of the mount does not help the brain to pick that up straight away. If it was me and I wanted to include a mount like look I would make the mount the size of a mount that I would use when I send my images off to club competitions. I like the image.

Nice framing.... personally I usually just go for the plain boring white or black borders on my own work.... but you can get really fancy.... Take a look at cynlee's work, she's does fantastic frames that don't detract but enhance her images. It's really a matter of personal taste.... the reason I go for plain white or black is because that's how I matte my actual prints, either dry mounted or with a beveled over-mat, so I prefer to keep them looking that way for online presentation as well.

I am, therefore I create.......
--- michelleamarante.com

@sabretalon, I'm not quite sure what you're talking about with the mount as I've never really mounted any pieces before. I just know a little bit about the appearances of some works and decided to pull from that. @michelle, does this take away from the image? Would it be better to take away that black mat board and just have the image on the deckled paper with the signature and title below?

Other combinations.

i like the last one :] maybe with a little smaller beveled edge i keep both versions, one original without matt to matt for real & the online

Here's the online version with the smaller beveled edge. Ya think it's a keeper?

My plans for all of this? I want to update my webpage and have a nice professional art look to it. I'll design the style of the webpage itself around the look and feel of the images.

this is one of the reasons it takes me so long with a pic... if you're asking me, the mat still looks a smidgen thick & is that the same color as the smaller version?... a darker neutral steelgrey(as in the sky) with a flater grain... just a little finetuning but i would be satisfied as is :]

How did you get the beveled edge.... I like that look. Are you using a plug in?

I am, therefore I create.......
--- michelleamarante.com

This is cool ... I like this shot and love the color.

So maybe a little less border for the outside mat? The bevel was done by hand since I wasn't sure how to control the built-in photoshop plugins to get the desired result. The deckeled edge on the image was a combination of crystalize and torn edges on an alpha map, then used to fill with white. Thanks for all the help! Michael

no,no... looks good, really it does.. :] i was viewing it on my laptop in #8... so see, those little nuiances change just a bit between computers

I like the last one, the bevel is smaller and more of a mount. My eye now views it as a picture in a mount straight away rather than my mind having to work it out like in the first one. I suppose your next decision is, what colour background you are going to use on your pages? When doing mounts for competitions etc.. in the UK the mount has to be a minimum of 2 inches on left, right and top. The lower part needs to be bigger than the others, so if you had 2 inches on the 3 then you would have 2.5 - 3 inches on the lower one. Apparently it looks amateurish if all the borders of the mount are the same size. This only matters in competitions because believe it or not a judge will judge the image with the mount and not just the image. For presenting the image to people for them to either buy or just view I would use a mount the is the same all round. In general, I think that buyers of art and photography are looking for something that is different and your mount can help. It is more accepted to have borders etc.. on your prints for general use but not that much so within competitions etc.. in the UK, don't know about the states? I personally like the frames/borders included with the image even if you are mounting the image. It is much improved on your first and does work well with the image content.