Tips for displaying photos! 🖼

Have you ever found yourself swamped with photos and not sure what to do with them? I have! And I’ve used so many methods of displaying my photos so that they can be enjoyed and not forgotten. In this blog post, I share what I’ve done and ideas that might help you enjoy your treasure trove of photos.

The Problem

I don’t know about you but I have way too many photos on my phone and on my computer! As a photographer, I probably have more than the every-day photo taker. But I’ve asked friends and family and they have lots and lots of photos.

According to chatgpt and the sources sited:

“The number of photos stored on smartphones has increased significantly in recent years. On average, a smartphone user has approximately 2,100 to 2,795 photos on their device. This figure varies by platform, with iOS users typically storing around 2,400 photos and Android users averaging about 1,900 photos. Additionally, people tend to take 6 photos per day on their phones, contributing to these large collections​(Lapse of the Shutter)​(Passport and Visa photos online)​(Smays).”

Given all of that, I guess I am not average 😁 as I have over 10,000 photos on my iPhone!  Anyway, there are many of them that I love. I try to display and share them in different ways so I can enjoy them again and again.

Sorting

First, we need to somehow select the photos we love the most. You can create an album on your phone and copy your favorites there. You can mark them in some photo apps with a heart or a star. I need to be more consistent with this because often I find myself hunting through my photos by date trying to find what I’m looking for. Not very efficient!

Once you have a photo, or several, that you want to see more often, you can consider the ideas in the next section.

Ideas for display

Here are some ways that I display my photos (and prints of paintings too). I have an eclectic mix of art all throughout my house as you can imagine from this list. Our style is very casual.  You can be casual or as polished as you like with these options.

1. Traditional frames – I prefer wooden or wood-look frames. I’ve gotten many from www/pictureframes.com and www.michaels.com Usually, I do use mats. If you have glossy photos up against glass, with no mat or spacer, it may stick to the glass.
   
   Custom framing is expensive. It’s easy to learn to do it yourself using store bought frames. I like to save custom framing for super special pieces and DIY it myself otherwise.
   
   
2. No frames – I have a gallery wall in our powder room where many photos don’t have frames. I have them tacked to the wall. It looks casual and fun (if you ask me!). Couldn’t be easier! A big cork board would be great too – fewer holes in the wall.
   
   I often print my own photos on my photo quality printer. You can have them printed for you in many places – online or in person. When I want a photo printed bigger than my printer can handle, I use www.mpix.com . They are fast and do a great job. Walmart, pharmacies like Rite Aid and Walgreens, and office stores like Staples can print too.
   
   
3. Damage free picture hangers work pretty well. I’ve seen them pull up the paper on drywall before but not often. There are sticker types that go on the back of a frame (or photo) to stick them to the wall with no nail holes.
   
   
4. Unframed but mounted on foam core, or some other material. These have a contemporary look and look especially nice in a grouping of several pieces mounted in the same way. They are super lightweight. I have used www.mixtiles.com and it looks like they now offer framing options as well!
   
   
5. We have an e-frame in our living room. I put our favorite family and vacation photos one there. It has an app to send photos from my phone to the e-frame. It has the added benefit of allowing others, with your authorization, to load photos on it too. That can be a fun surprise and is great for sharing family photos with extended family.
   
   Here is one – as an example – if you’d like to learn more about e-frames. 
   
   
6. I collect greeting cards with photos that I love on them. It’s a fun, inexpensive way to collect art. Sometimes I frame them in multiple window frames (like 3 photos in one frame) or I tuck them in behind the edges of the mirrors in our bathrooms. Nothing fancy or expensive, but I get to see them often.
   
   
7. I use wall space in our powder room for my favorite photos taken by others collection. In our primary bath, I have our walls filled with our own vacation photos, in frames.
   
   
8. Stairwells are a great place to hang photos. It dresses up the big empty walls of the stairwell and is fun to create an arrangement that fits the space.
   
   
9. I love getting photos printed on metal. This can be costly but there are often sales. Look for aluminum which is lightweight.  If you’ll be hanging them right on the wall, there’s no need to frame them. If you will be handling them often, get them framed or the edges will chip off. I know from painful experience!
   
   There are many substrates for photo printing. Here is the current list for ‘wall art’ from mpix. Of this list, metal and acrylics are my favorite because they are reflective and the photos almost look like they do on screens. My least favorite is canvas but that’s just personal preference.   
   
   
   
   
10. A fun way to hang prints is to use binder clips that you pin to the wall (or a cork board). This method makes them so easy to change out. You literally unclip and clip in a new one.
    
    

You can see that I really do like to SEE and enjoy my images and ones that I collect. I like to be surrounded by them. They make me happy! What good are they hiding on my phone and computer where they get buried by the sheer volume of images stored there?

Here are some examples of my collections

Snippet of casual powder room art wall:

Framed print leaning on a shelf:

Framed greeting cards:

Tiny peek at the gallery wall in primary bath:

Watercolor paintings (could be photos) hanging from binder clips:

Images mounted on foam core by mixtiles.com (in memory of our black Greyhound Tommy ❤):

Snippet of a gallery wall in a stairwell:

Wrapping up

How do you like to display your photos? Did any of those options give you ideas for new displays in your home or office? Do you do something else that you’d like to share with me? If so, just email me here. I’d love to hear from you!

As a small business owner of a creative business, I’m always wondering how I can share my skills in various levels of detail to help people create their own art. What would you like to create and how can I help with that? Use the email link above.

Bye for now 😎,

Natalie

 P.S. Check out my flower photo tips freebie right here 🌻