What Is Matting In Photography

What other mediums might determine your mat and framing style.

What is matting in photography. The color of the mat is the first decision you must make when framing a picture or painting. I use a glass cleaner mixture i make myself of 50 50 isopropyl alcohol distilled water and lightly mist it on to one glass surface at a time. In the picture framing industry a mat or matte or mount in british english is a thin flat piece of paper based material included within a picture frame which serves as additional decoration and to perform several other more practical functions such as separating the art from the glass putting mats in a frame is called matting a term which can also usually be used interchangeably with mat. The majority of matboard and more s customers are artists whether it be photography painting drawings or other forms of art.

So now that the matting is finished we move on to framing. Visit our framing advice section to learn more about matted presentations. A window mat can selectively display the photograph. This high contrast photo from permanent press editions is matted with a reveal in our gallery frame in dark walnut and we love to how the illusion of multiple layers mirrors the photograph itself.

Mattes are used in photography and special effects filmmaking to combine two or more image elements into a single final image. Gently wiping with a micro fibre cloth. Cream colored mats are popular because this color is versatile enough to complement almost any image. A scenic vista or a starfield with planets.

Well for large custom framed concert posters or movie posters we usually recommend the straightforward look of a full bleed custom. Usually mattes are used to combine a foreground image e g. Measure your art enter the measurement of your art and the border size and our custom mat calculator will do the math. White mats work well for black and white photography because they amplify the monochromatic effect of the print.

Actors on a set or a spaceship with a background image e g. You now have a cutting list for each mat you need. Guide to matting for art shows. The darkness and lightness will especially impact your mat choice with black and white photography which usually looks great with a clean white mat but might look better with a dark grey or black mat depending on the feel of the photo.

This busy colored mat idea works because the photo and frame are both simple. The first step is to make absolutely sure the glass is spotless with zero smudges marks dust etc. We love to support artists and since we get so many questions about what kind of matting to use in shows we thought it would be good to create a tutorial on exactly that. If you are cutting multiple mats add a title to identify the artwork and print off.