When digital photography first began, the novelty of taking pictures without processing film was crude but promising to the imagination of people who paid their money to try out this new technology. As the digital revolution gained momentum, leading photographic companies began to see the writing on the wall, and the rapid movement away from film based photography for mainstream consumers became commonplace.
Today, innovation continues across this wide new landscape for capturing and presenting images. Not surprisingly, digital picture frames arrived on the scene in 2007 to give consumers a new way to think about their photos and how to display them. Despite these increasing areas of innovation, there was still a traditional area of photography that lagged behind the other new and exciting concepts…until now.
In the quest to maximize the presentation and value of good photographs, many people used the traditional resource of professional framing and matting services to accomplish the effect of appropriately highlighting pictures and works of art. If you have ever gone to a frame shop, you know just how fast showcasing a photo can become an expensive enterprise costing hundreds of dollars. Hopefully, after paying all that money, you wound up with something you actually wanted to display on your wall.
Over the years, there have been many interesting techniques developed for creating a wide variety of matte styles. From simple to exotic mattes, the price for this service has driven hobbyists to try their own hand at creating adequate styles, but the bulky materials and cutters keep the costs of do-it-yourself efforts high as well. Surprisingly, I have found few people other than myself who have taken the next step in the digital revolution by creating digital mattes to go along with printing photos.
There are a number of distinct advantages over traditional matting services that come with using the virtual world of digital mattes:
1. LOWER COST – Because digital mattes are created from “virtual” materials rather than real poster board, metals, wood, and other inlay materials, the cost of labor and matting supplies have been significantly reduced when compared to traditional services, while still achieving very rich looking results, for less than what it costs to print one 8 x 10 copy of your picture in some cases!
2. BETTER COLOR MATCHING – When traditional framers matte pictures, they must rely on choosing from existing supplies of colored matte materials, or special order specific colors to compliment your photographs. With digital matting techniques, exact matches and complimentary highlights can be accomplished without special orders for basic matting materials.
3. MULTI MEDIA PRESENTATION - When a photograph is digitally matted, you get a copy of your original photo that can be displayed in any of the growing number of multi media methods used for showing digital images. These methods include digital picture frames, computers, monitors, or even printed and placed directly into a traditional frame, with the picture perfectly matted and set for display.
4. IMAGE STAYS FRESH – Unlike a traditional photograph, a digital photo that has been digitally matted will not lose its brilliance over time. If a printed copy starts to look deteriorated, all you have to do is print off a fresh copy and replace the old one. My digital matting gives you the ability to keep your matted photos fresh forever!
5. LASTING VALUE – Once your photos have been digitally matted, the mattes will remain as fresh as the pictures, so if you want to duplicate your pictures for others to enjoy, all you need to do is make them a copy of your original matted photograph.
6. CONVENIENCE – Our digital matting services do not require driving to drop off your photos, and driving back to pick up your finished matted pictures. The entire transaction can be handled in an easy on line transaction. If you want to print and frame your photos, you can spend more money on the frame, and less on perfect matting for your images.
7. PROFESSIONAL RESULTS – Our digital matting services allow you to display your photographs with confidence in the rich looking results. As gifts, the photographs will get the attention you expect from a product that shows you put in the extra effort a thoughtful gift deserves. If you plan to resell your photos, a digital matte can increase the presentation value of your photographs.
8. TURN TRADITIONAL PRINTS TO DIGITAL – If you have a traditional printed photo that you would like to digitize, we can scan your photograph and digitally matte the results. Digitalizing your printed photographs will help them be preserved without further deterioration, and give you a chance to store them more efficiently. Think of the digital photo and matting ability as a perfect combination for lighting both your pictures and their surrounding highlights.
9. NEW TECHNIQUES POSSIBLE – Using digital matting techniques there are new accent possibilities available that are not offered using the traditional matting approach. These methods increase the unique possibilities and value of your photo treasures.
10. MATTING TECHNIQUES IMPROVE QUALITY – If you look at framed commercial art, you will see that nearly all photographic images are enhanced by including a matte for the photo. The same is true whether a photo is physically or digitally matted. If you are an amature or professional photographer, you can increase the aesthetic impression of your work by using matting techniques that bring out the highlights of your shots. You can spend a lot of time and effort trying to figure out how to do this yourself, lots of money having your pictures matted by frame shops, or pennies on the dollar by choosing the professional services offered at Matte Watch.
11. DIGITAL PHOTO DISPLAYS ENRICH PHOTOS - Digital photo frame technologies allow digital photos to be displayed with “perfect” accuracy. An electronic frame provides the subtle advantages of true photo reproduction that printing cannot match. With electronic images, there is no degradation in choosing where to display a printed photo to catch the perfect lighting. Electronic display always makes your photos look their best no matter what the room lighting may be. Unlike conventional photos or paintings, a digital display will always reflect the work in its most pristine condition. A matted photo you see on our web site will look just as good in a photo frame as it does on your computer monitor and sometimes even better, as long as it is displayed in the same resolution for which it is designed.
12. TAKE YOUR PHOTOS TO THE NEXT LEVEL – When you purchase photo treatments from Matte Watch, you can use your cherished images to create digital awards, plaques, commemorative, greeting cards, matted photos, promotional items and more. All it takes is a little creativity to bring all your photographic ideas to life. When you use your own photos or choose from my limited edition prints, you can even offer them for resale to your own customers when they are not otherwise posted to this site, helping you to completely recover your design costs!