Gallery Wall Guide: Choosing the Best Print Products for Your Wall Art Galleries

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Feeling overwhelmed with print product options? This'll help...

You have your gallery wall location, images and layout all figured out. But what products should you include in those galleries?

Which of the following styles best describes you are your client? Find the one that fits the closest, then choose the product types listed below that style for your client’s gallery wall.

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Skip to a Product Style:

  • Natural Print Products
  • Modern Print Products
  • Classic Print Products
  • Chic Print Products

Natural Print Products

You like to bring it back to nature and prefer raw, organic products over highly-polished, trend-of-the-day products. You have an affinity for heirlooms and value the sentimentality of your products more than you do their “cool factor”. You’re the hand-crafted, attention-to-detail type and you connect with your clients on a personal level, striving to create images and products that reflect their personality rather than just make them look good.

Bamboo Print courtesy of ProDPI.com

You should consider including:

Bamboo-Mounted Prints
With Bamboo-mounted prints, you can get any of your favorite photographic papers, mounted to a solid, eco-friendly and incredibly durable wood mount.

Wood Prints
One of the newest products on the market, wood prints give your photos a warm, natural feel, allowing the grain of the wood to show through the highlights in your photos.

Framed and Matted Prints
With clean lines and a timeless quality, you just can’t beat the tried-and-true framed and matted print. Choose a classic black frame and white mat to put all of the attention on your photos. If you want a more organic look, try a barnwood frame or a distressed frame.

Gallery-Wrapped Canvases
The Gallery-Wrapped Canvas is another classic in the wall art world. Wrapping the image around the edges of the canvas will give you a seamless look from photo to wall and bring a finished touch to a multi-image gallery.

Float-Framed Gallery Wraps
Take the classic look of the Gallery-Wrapped Canvas and bring it back to earth with a Float Frame. Your wrap will be mounted with a 1/8″ space around it to give it the appearance of floating within the frame. Choose a wood grained frame to enhance the look and feel of your gallery wrapped canvas.

Sheer Metal Mounted Prints
If you’re feeling bold, try out a sheer metal print. Unlike the vivid metal options, a sheer metal print will show the texture and color of the metal, bringing an organic, elemental quality to the highlights of your photos. Try this out on photos that include a large area of highlights (like an open, airy sky).

Modern Print Products

You like to push the envelope and create pieces that are as much a statement of your personality as they are your clients’. You’re always on the lookout for new products that no one else is offering, as long as they show your work off in a way that is both sophisticated and edgy. You have an affinity for bold compositions, pops of color and abstract designs and you want your photography products to help your attention to these details really shine. You want your clients to feel like models and for them to feel sexy, bold and empowered when they see your work on their walls.

Acrylic Block from Bumblejax.com

You should consider including:

Metal Prints
Metal Prints, especially white-coated vivid metals, bring an industrial look to your images while allowing them to shine. Literally. You’ll connect with the bold colors, high contrast and extreme sharpness that defines a metal print and your clients will love the option to mount these as floating pieces, that stand away from the walls. Consider selling these in collections, with one large central piece and multiple smaller supporting pieces, to create a swoon-worthy statement in any clients home.

Acrylic Prints
Much like metal prints, Acrylics will be punchy, bold and razor sharp. With corner-standout mounts, they’ll float above the wall with a refined and finished look, while creating a real statement in your clients’ homes. As one of the newer product offerings available, Acrylic prints will help set you apart in your market, especially when tied together with your bold and modern photography style. Consider pairing these with Metal Prints or selling them as standalone pieces.

Standouts
With clean, crisp edges and the photographic print type of your choice, the standout-mounted print will be right at home in your clients’ homes. These are a far less expensive option than most other products, but they still give a modern and sophisticated look to your images. Be wary of the weight of these products, they’re very light and, psychologically, could make your clients wonder what they’re paying for because they don’t have the heft of a metal, acrylic or framed print. All in all, these are still a very good option for those clients who want a modern look but can’t afford other products.

Thin Framed Prints
Like your client’s favorite skinny tie, the thin-framed print will bring a smart and understated look to your images. Thin-framed prints pay homage to the classic lines and timelessness of a traditionally framed print, but mix it up a bit to stay relevant to today’s more trendsetting clients. Consider selling these in multiples.

Small Prints in Large Mats and Frames
Bring a modern art gallery look to your clients’ homes with smaller prints mounted and matted in large frames. Think 5×5 in a 10×10 mat and 1-2″ frame. These make a bold statement about your images and your clients’ taste, while also drawing attention to the photographs you’ve created. Consider selling these in square triptychs or grids.

Float Wraps
Much like the standout, these are a great option for those clients who want a unique product, but can’t afford your other offerings. Float wraps are canvas prints, wrapped around a substrate, that stand away from the wall, similar to a metal print. Be careful with your options on these as a float wrap that is mounted directly to the substrate will look clean and modern, but if your lab includes any padding between the substrate and the canvas, it may not give you as clean a look as you’re going for. Consider selling these in collections that include differing sizes and try asymmetric layouts for a bold statement wall in your clients’ home.

Classic Print Products

You like to keep it simple and understated, with a preference for timeless pieces over the trend-of-the-day. You have an affinity for high-quality, upscale products that show off your photography, while making it clear that your images and products are meant to last. With an eye for heirlooms, you emphasize the timeless quality and long-lasting build of you products, making it clear that you sell photographs that are intended to be passed down from generation to generation, without falling prey to fads.

Reveal Print courtesy of Print Foundry

You should consider including:

Framed and Matted Prints
For a look that will never grow old, consider the classic black frame and white mat. The clean and timeless look of a framed and matted print will bring all of the attention to your photographs, giving them a stage on which to shine. Framed prints also give you an incredible amount of versatility to match your frame style to the room where they’ll be displayed, making your photographs feel like they were made to be at home in your clients home (because they were).

Gallery-Wrapped Canvases
The Gallery-Wrapped Canvas is another classic and timeless wall art product. These print types bring an organic hint to your photos, with a the canvas texture adding a subtle painting-like touch. Focus on selling image-wrapped canvases for a finished look, without needing a frame. Offer these in larger sizes and as individual pieces rather than collections, as you start to head into a more modern look with multiple canvases in a single collection. Consider flanking your central statement canvas with smaller framed prints with and without mats to show off more photos, while still maintaining a classic look.

Chic Print Products

With a finger on the pulse of the market and a constant eye out for what’s new, you create fun, personality-filled images for clients who want something a little different. Your photos are as much a statement of your lighthearted joie de vivre as they are a reflection of the things that make your clients unique. With an affinity toward products that compliment your creativity and spontaneity, your wall gallery concepts are the Pinterest-lovers dream, something for your clients to strive for.

Framed Prints courtesy of WHCC

You should consider including:

Photo Blocks
Hip and trendy, Photo Blocks show off your clients’ fun, energetic personalities while also drawing attention to the quality of the products you offer. Because they stand out away from the wall, Photo Blocks add depth and character to your images and, when combined with other product types, help you create 3 dimensional galleries that with be a conversation-started in any clients home.

Barnwood and Distressed Frames
Barnwood and Distressed Framed prints bring a touch of the organic to your clients’ homes, showing off your images in a unique and punchy way, while also giving a nod to the timeless look of a framed print. Consider pairing these frames in multiple colors and wood types for a truly custom gallery.

Float Framed Canvases
The Float Framed Canvas takes a traditional gallery-wrapped canvas and turns it on its head, adding a frame that “floats” around the canvas with a small gap. These come in multiple wood types and can add a fun, modern look to the timeless, classic Gallery Wrapped Canvas.

Circle Prints
One of the newer kids on the block, circle prints lend themselves well to fun, funky and eclectic gallery wall designs. Consider mixing these with non-photo wall decor for a wall gallery that is sure to make a statement!

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