Great Article About Print Sizes on The Digital ImageMaker

I just read an excellent article about print sizes by Wayne J. Cosshall, Publisher of The Digital ImageMaker. I often think about the impact that print size has on me when I view prints on walls, in books and as digital images on monitors or projection screens. It is also interesting to me how many large prints (over 30×40 inches, for example) are currently priced in the fine art market compared with smaller prints. Even 35mm transparencies in a lightbox on a wall, framed individually in black mounts can be very striking.

In the past (until the early 20th Century), photographers were, for the most part, constrained to making prints the size of their pre-coated camera plate, or negative (via contact printing). If you’ve ever used an 8 x 10 view camera, or a Banquet Camera like the 1920’s era 7 x 17-inch Korona, the ground glass image is absolutely amazing. With enlargers and digital technologies, these cameras have become less popular and the constraints of size have largely been eliminated. This can make the decision of what size to make fine art prints (or even prints in a book) rather daunting for artists.

To read the article, visit this page on The Digital ImageMaker website.

Related Links:
Interesting story on The Online Photographer about the photography of Art Sinsabaugh (photographed with a banquet camera).
Fantastic site with images of many view cameras, including a 12×20 Folmer & Schwing Banquet Camera