Just received Michael Kenna's book "Trees" today. The pictures are probably about 6" wide (Kenna is not into large prints). Lovely, no comparison to viewing on a screen, even a large monitor. Reflected light is better than transmissive. Smoother, gentler.
Now if someone can just build a 4k e-ink screen with a full range of tones....
I'm a fan of matte paper. I also like Permajet Photo art silk (as it is currently named). It's a matte paper that looks perfectly matte until you print on it, then the inked areas get a subtle sheen (hardly visible, but it's there). It has a kind of waxy surface coating. Odd, but lovely. I've been experimenting with semi gloss and baryta papers, but it's not the same.
C-size and 24x30 inches. I love to print 60x60 inch prints, but few people want them. Viewing distances a foot to 30 feet.
Yep. Big Prints are largely a vanity exercise (for me.) They are difficult even to give away. I made a recent auction donation, offering a choice between a matted 11x14 or a 30x40 gallery wrap of the same image. The wrap has been collecting dust over a mantle since the show it was part of (where it was appreciated, but returned to me “unsold”) was “unhung”. The organization accepted the smaller print. The big ‘un is still decorating the media room.
(Really) Big prints get some attention on a wall (belonging to someone else), but otherwise serve mostly to sell postcards. I'm generally printing (within)16x20 on the top end myself…though occasionally the picture demands more.
On a 27" monitor from about 30" (76cm).
I'm considering mounting a 65" tv somewhere to cycle through favorites.
Hi,
A print.
This goes all the way back to 1973 for me. So it was easy for me to add a printer when I began with digital in 1999.
And the printer kept getting larger. So my preferred size used to be 8x10" even with film. Now it's 16x20" I still print plenty of 8x10" prints. I like to put them in Print File sleeves in three ring binders to make books. The larger ones go on the wall.
Viewing distance is my lap for 8x10 and far enough back so I can see the entire print for the larger ones on the wall.
Stan
I would prefer to print instead of just display on the screen but my photos are not exactly what people call "fine art". I usually try to make my photos as ugly and dreary as possible so they wouldn't make sense as large prints framed or mounted and hung on the wall as decoration. A book would be more fitting but of course a book is not something I make at home by myself, so I will just have to settle for the computer monitor.
To view a picture from 30 feet in my house, you'd have to stand outside 😁😁😁
ps
How's your mobility, any improvement?
Some. It's going to be a long slog.
You could make a print on demand book at home by yourself.
Some is better than none. Best wishes.
this a terrific question. Thanks for posing it.
My preferred way to view images is slowly. Time is the most important factor for me; everything else is secondary.
I realize that it's probably an answer to a different question, but the luxury of enough time has often been a critical factor in my appreciation of images, music, artists, etc. with which I feel a connection. Sometimes I've found an immediate connection while other connections may take time to grow — both with people and art.
Time enough to discover connections and time enough to spend in exploring them more deeply is what I find most satisfying. I may feel a connection to an image presented in any number of different sizes and forms — with the benefit of time.
Don't know about preferred, as in for the ultimate viewing experience, but my phone is by far the most used and useful. I was one of the people who bought a Samsung Galaxy Note when they were first released, no one could understand that, as they were HUGE and the world was into tiny. But it could display my good camera pictures that were saved onto it. Just like a 6x4 photo album, but it fits in my pocket. Funny how things change, now the world wants the largest screens they can get, going to such lengths as folding phones that open up into a tablet size.
Now with my NAS I can show anyone anything I've shot, anywhere in the world, from standing in the middle of a farm paddock to a business office, or laying in bed with the wifey. Technology is marvelous.
