In Focus Vol. 3 No. 12

A Banner Gallery Display for Fine-Art Photography on a Budget

Creating a gallery display for 19 prints that range from 16-20 inches tall by up to six feet long on a limited budget can be a daunting task. But, with the right team, the right resources, and the right materials, anything is possible.

That’s the situation that photographer Dennis Galloway found himself in when he was invited to show his work at the Eugene Public Library. His panoramic portraits of local artists in their uniquely personal environments called for a distinctive presentation.

“In the past, I was shooting black-and-white panoramas. I would take individual images and rotate the camera on the nodal point so the photos would fit together. Then, I would create panels with three verticals or squares to get a wide angle. With digital you can do it to get a wide angle and a large file,” explains Galloway. “I started in digital about four years ago and started doing stitching. The stitching programs got better and better, and gave me a lot of control of the image, so that I can make large images as either stitchers or wide-angle shots. A friend of mine who is a painter and a jeweler has a packed-in studio, so I said I’d come over and do a panoramic and make it look like it was the size of a football field. So I started showing the concept around and asking people if I could photograph their studios.”

“The bulk of these were done with a Canon A590 8-megapixel so-called point-and-shoot camera. Qualitatively, the controls are similar to a professional SLR, and it’s still a sophisticated machine compared to film cameras. You can buy panorama heads ranging from $100-$800, but they tend to be bulky, so I built one that will carry my little pocket cameras. By the time I swing it around and make six to nine images, I have these huge files. I take a bunch of photos of the person, and then run the camera around the rest of the room,” adds Galloway. “The first couple I did I had the subjects doing something in the studio while I photographed, which was a complete failure. I realized that for the effect I was after, I wanted the same types of photos as the 19th Century farmer standing in front of his new barn. All the photos are posed the same, but there’s a lot of variety, because no one studio resembles another.”

Fortunately for Galloway, one of his photographic subjects, Janet Smith, owner of Sterling Editions in nearby Springfield, Ore., would help bring his portraits to life at the library art show. Sterling Editions specializes in fine art and décor reproductions, and Smith used her expertise the resources available to her to bring the display to life and under budget.

“It was a link to one of your articles in LexJet’s eNewsletter that interested me in the possibilities of doing something different from a print application standpoint,” says Galloway. “Janet does amazing reproduction work. Most of the people I’ve talked to who have printers come from photography, but Janet has almost 30 years in the printing business, and her work with color is extraordinary. There are little subtleties about color correction that she does, and I’ve never seen anything quite like it. She has a nuanced sense of color balance and correction.”

When he discussed the project with Smith she recommended LexJet Water-Resistant Satin Cloth, held in place with a simple clear snap-frame system from POPCO.

“Most people’s impression of banner material is something you hang outside to advertise an event. Dennis sent me the file he shot at my studio, and I printed out a sample of the material and showed it to him. He was very impressed at the detail he could get, and it became affordable to do it with the Water-Resistant Satin Cloth and the snap rail system. It was also very easy to transport and hang. It was wonderful, and we got a great response from everyone who saw it,” says Smith. “It didn’t require the same color matching as the fine art I typically print, which was a nice change of pace. I printed borderless since we put a three-inch gray border around each one. I mostly used the 24-inch material, and some 36-inch material for some of the larger prints.”

Smith printed the images on her Epson 9800, and simply held the prints in place with the snap rails. Galloway says the Water-Resistant Satin Cloth was the perfect medium for this display. The cloth added a distinguishing element that brought added attention to each image. In fact, says Galloway, the detail inside each image was outstanding.

The prints themselves were not finished in any way, either with a coating, a laminate, or under glass. “At the Great Output Seminar I heard that Water-Resistant Satin Cloth has been displayed outside on the Oregon coast for three years,” says Smith. “It came down easily, and we just rolled it up for the next show.”

Smith adds that the Great Output Seminar helped “fill in the gaps” of her already-extensive color management knowledge as well as cementing the foundational principles of color management. “The seminar was great. The instructor, Tom Hauenstein, really knows his stuff. The last instruction I had in color management was when I worked in offset six or seven years ago. Even a lot of the people teaching color management then didn’t know much about it, but Tom has the answers. It also got me enthusiastic about opening up new markets in décor.”