Happy New Year!

If one of your goals for this next decade includes finally getting your photos displayed in your home, this write up is for you!

One of the most exciting things to see when I return to clients’ homes for an annual shoot is photos from past sessions displayed on their walls or on tables in frames. In this fast-paced world it’s so easy to take those digital files and tuck them away and never get around to printing them and enjoying them.

A while back a friend of mine asked for help with laying out her photo wall. It was a lot of work, but I had a blast going through her photos, helping her choose which to go on the wall so that in the end, the story of her family ran the length of her staircase.

I thought I would share some pointers in case you wanted to take some photos from a session with me, and create a display with them. Of course, if you have the drive, you can take photos from your personal collection and apply these rules too, but for this example, I’ll use photo from all one shoot I had recently.

How to choose what goes on the wall

Choose an anchor photo. The anchor photo is the largest photo, or one of the largest photos, and tends to be centered among all the other photos in your wall layout. It should be one of your favorites. In the example below, I chose two siblings having a moment.
The goal is for your wall to tell a story. Avoid an entire wall of people looking straight out at the viewer and create visual interest by choosing photos with a variety of expressions, crops and compositions.
Consider a photo that is a break from the expected but still contributes to the overall look. In this layout, the photo of the hands holding the pinecone accomplishes this.
Make sure your subjects fill the frames differently. Don’t fill your wall with a bunch of full-body shots. Have some with medium crops (waist up), tight shots of faces, and looser shots that show the subjects within an environment that tells a story or adds to the overall effect of the collection.

Layout and hanging directions;

What you’ll need -
brown craft paper (comes in a roll)
painter’s tape
frames in a variety of sizes
prints of your photos (they can be small 4x6s for the time being, and printed at home. They don’t even need to be in color.)
hanging supplies for when you are actually working on the wall.
toothpaste

Gather up all the frames you want to use. In my home I prefer simple frames so the focus is on the images, but variety of styles can be can be great too.
Do a search online for “photo wall layouts” or explore Pinterest using the same search words for layout inspiration. I found the layout I used in this entry HERE.
Once you have your frames, lay them out on the floor in a rough layout of how you’d like them to be on the wall. I start with the largest frames, then balance the whole wall out by adding the smaller frames around them.
Place the photos (remember, they can be just small quick prints at this stage) on the frames on the floor. When you’ve made a final decision of which photos you want in which frames, you’ll know how large each photo needs to be printed according to the frame it’s with. Consider taping the small photo to the glass of the frame for safe keeping once you’re sure you want it in that particular frame. Remember to print your photo to fit the size of the mat within in the frame, not the frame itself.
Photograph the whole collection on the floor. Immediately email that photo to yourself.
Slide the brown packing paper under each frame one at a time. Cut the brown paper to match the size of the frame and make a quick stick figure sketch of the corresponding photo onto the brown bag (or, just take a copy of the photo that’s on the frame and tape it to the brown cutout).
Use those brown cutouts to then lay out the wall, using the photo you took of the frames for reference, and taping the brown rectangles to your wall with the painter’s tape.
Move your brown paper placeholders around until they feel right on the wall, being careful to leave breathing room around the frames. Consider the height of the frames as well. Do you want to add more frames later? Is there room to do so? Will little ones be able to reach them where they are currently placed and is that a concern?
To figure out exactly where to place the nail on the wall, dab a spot of toothpaste on the teeth of the frame hanger, and gently place the frame where it will ultimately go, leaving a toothpaste mark on the brown paper. You can then hammer the nail straight through the brown paper, right where the toothpaste is. Then simply removed the brown paper and replace it with a frame!

When I want to update my wall, I will often add photos to the frames currently hanging, leaving the previous photo behind the new one in the frame.