Taking beautiful photos on your camera or even your phone is an amazing way of capturing those memories of your vacations with family or friends. And while it’s never been easier to take amazing photos at the click of a button, all too often those images sit on our hard drives for years, never seeing the light of day again.
Instead, you can create beautiful wall art from those pictures to show off memories all around your home, providing a wonderful reminder of the good times you had and the beautiful places you’ve seen. As a photographer myself, I know how great it can feel to see my work printed out nice and big, so I’ve put together some of my favorite ways that I display photos at home.
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This square canvas looks great over my stairs.
Go big with a canvas
I’ve had small canvas prints before and they’ve looked OK, but this gigantic canvas makes a real statement. At 47 by 47 inches, it’s a real beast of a print and I had it hung over my stairwell to really show it off and add some color in an otherwise plain space.
While any image will work for a canvas print, I specifically wanted to go with something a little more abstract, opting for a square print of this coastal scene, that brings great coastal vibes into my house.
Buy canvas prints from Cewe UK here.
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I love the stark black-and-white look of this print.
Create a stark monochrome aluminum print
I love black-and-white photography and was especially pleased when I took some moody monochrome images using my converted infrared camera while on holiday on the beautiful Isle of Skye in Scotland. Printed onto aluminum, these prints have a smooth, matte finish that’s free of any reflections and lends itself well to high contrasty black-and-white images.
I had a print made in a whopping 55 by 41 inches and it’s made a stunning addition to my home studio space, standing out nicely against the gray wall. My aluminum print came with hanging rails mounted on the back, although you can also use other wall fixings, as long as they’re strong enough. These large prints are heavy!
Buy aluminum prints from Cewe UK here.
Breaking this image into a triptych gives it a modern twist.
Split your image into an eye-catching triptych
A triptych refers to any image that is displayed in three parts, whether it’s three different images designed to be displayed together, or one image broken up into sections. I went for the latter option, splitting a wide, cinematic view over a wintery Edinburgh into three foam board panels, each measuring 23 by 15 inches.
Hanging them in perfect alignment took a bit of doing, but I love the look of the three of them together. It takes what would be an otherwise regular print and gives it a slightly more modern, interesting twist by breaking it up, while still maintaining the visual impact of the original image.
Try creating triptychs using wide landscape scenes, cityscapes or other panoramic images. Or try it using three different images either from the same occasion (a wedding or holiday) or grouped by theme (black-and-white images, or three locations in different seasons).
Buy triptych prints from Cewe UK here.
The vibrant colors of this shot of the Northern Lights work so well in this acrylic print.
Splash some color with an acrylic print
Acrylic prints are great options for vibrant images, as the way that light passes through the thick material allows colors to really pop with a satisfying contrast that almost gives the print a 3D effect.
I went with a print of an image I shot of the Northern Lights, shimmering over a bay in Iceland. It’s an incredibly colorful image, with vivid greens and yellows from the aurora, mixed in with deep blue tones in the night sky and I absolutely love how it looks in the 55-by-41-inch print.
Hanging it involved screwing mounting points into my wall, which is a bit fiddly for a DIY novice like myself to get right, but I love how the image looks against the deep blue of my room.
Buy acrylic prints from Cewe UK here.
This little honeycomb looks great, but I may add to it with even more tiles.
Create a modern, hexagonal display
Hexxas tiles allow you to print your images on hexagons that you can then build up into an interesting honeycomb pattern on your wall. The seven tiles I received were enough to create a neat circular pattern, but you can order loads more and create much more interesting shapes that spread across your wall.
They’re a great way of showing lots of images as part of one set, so consider how you can theme your tiles so they work in harmony. I opted for a selection of my natural macro images, grouping shots of mushrooms and leaves that work well together. But these tiles would work really well to show off your images from various vacations, adding to them as you travel each year, resulting in an ever-expanding display of beautiful, modern-looking prints.
Buy Hexxas hexagonal tile prints from Cewe UK here.
The classic framed look of this print works well with the others on my wall.
Frame a hero print for a classic look
Going with a classic frame for your print may not feel like the most exciting, modern way to show off your photos, but sometimes the classics really work and will allow your prints to stand the test of time. But if you still want your framed art to make a statement on your wall then you need to go big.
I went for the largest 20-by-30-inch framed print Cewe offered, filling the black frame with an iconic view of the Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye. I love how timeless this piece of art looks on my wall and how well it fits against the other, smaller framed prints from other parts of Scotland.
Buy large framed prints from Cewe UK here.
You and your family and friends will enjoy looking through photo books.
Pack your memories into a stunning photo book
Not all your photographic artwork has to live on your walls. A photo book can be an amazing way to show off a whole selection of images that really tell the story of an occasion. Wedding albums are of course the most obvious ones to go for as you can include all of your images from the happy day into one book that you — and your family and friends — will enjoy flicking through for years to come.
But I’ve also loved creating photo books with sets of images from specific holidays around the world. I often keep photo books in mind when I’m away, ensuring I shoot lots of images that really tell the story of a location — architecture, shop fronts, food, street art, etc. — that will then fill the pages of my book like it’s a luxury travel magazine.
Good photo book makers (including Cewe) will allow you to fully customize the layout of your images, along with the paper type and choice of outer finishes. Cewe also offers books made with 100% recycled paper.
