More Than Just a Pretty Picture: The Art of Choosing Photos for Your Framed Memorabilia Masterpiece
Alright, you've selected your legendary jersey. You've pondered the profound depths of mat color. Now, let's talk about the silent storytellers of your framed masterpiece: the accompanying photos. These aren't just filler; they're the vital visual narrative that breathes life into your display. And while you might think "any old photo will do," dear collector, that's where the magic (or the pixelation) happens!
Here at MVP Authentics, we're not just framers; we're also seasoned photo curators. We've seen it all: incredible moments captured in blurry Bigfoot-quality, and iconic shots that, once cropped, make your hero look like they're playing Peek-a-Boo with the edge of the frame. So, before you hit "send" on that email full of potential inclusions, let's dive into the considerations that elevate a good photo to a great photo within your custom frame.
Quality is King (and Queen, and the Royal Guard, and the Entire Kingdom)
This is the golden rule, the absolute non-negotiable, the hill we will happily die on. When it comes to photos, quality needs to be paramount in your mind. If you're opting to send us specific images to be printed and included in your frame, rather than trusting our expert eye to source them, your focus should be on resolution, resolution, resolution!
- The Bigger, The Better: Think of it like this: the more "information" (pixels) in your image, the more flexibility we have. If you can only provide us with a postage-stamp-sized image that looks great on your phone, imagine blowing that up to an 8x10 or larger for your frame. It's like trying to stretch a single slice of pizza to feed a whole tailgate party – it's just not going to look good.
- DPI is Your BFF: If you're dealing with DPI (Dots Per Inch), aim for something above 200 DPI, with over 300 DPI being highly preferred. This ensures that even if we need to do some careful cropping to perfectly fit your chosen layout, there will be little to no reduction in quality or any dreaded fuzziness/pixelation in the finished product. We want crisp, clear action, not a blurry, pixelated mess that makes your favorite player look like they're made of LEGOs.
The Orientation Ordination: Vertical Dominance, Landscape Lamentations
You might have noticed that almost all of the photos used in our standard, tried-and-true vertical jersey layouts are, well, portrait (vertically) oriented. This isn't some arbitrary design quirk; it's because they inherently fit the flow and composition of the frame.
Now, if you have an absolute, must-have, life-depends-on-it photo that's only available in a landscape (horizontally) presentation, don't despair entirely! We can often crop it to fit into a vertical space. However, this is where the quality and composition become even more critical. The shot needs to be wide-angle enough and have enough background to it that when we crop it vertically, we don't accidentally perform an unfortunate "chop-off" on your player's head or feet. We don't want your framed hero looking like they're playing hide-and-seek with the matting, or giving the overall product a sloppy, amateurish look.
A Walk Through Time: Black & White, Color, and the Digital Divide
When considering how something will look on your wall, you might also stumble upon the charming aesthetic of black and white photos, especially for older players. These can be kept in one consistent style (all black and white, or all color) or mixed within the frame. Both ways can look fantastic and add a rich, historical feel! But knowing your preference going in will give you a better idea of how/what to choose if you personally don't want any black and white photos or are not okay with the photos being mixed. No surprises here!
In the same vein, there's a curious period of players, roughly from the early 90s through the early 2000s, where digital photography wasn't quite ubiquitous, and the film negatives often never got scanned into high-resolution digital formats. This means for players from that era, there may truly be only 3-4 usable, high-quality photos in existence that meet our stringent quality recommendations. So, if you're looking to frame a gem from this "pre-digital dark ages" era, be prepared that your photo choices might be somewhat limited or similar to what other collectors have. It's not a conspiracy; it's just the unfortunate reality of evolving technology!
The "Facing the Action" Rule: Don't Let Your Hero Stare at the Bathroom!
This is a personal design consideration of ours, born from years of making frames look their absolute best. When choosing photos, we highly recommend that the facing and action of the subjects in the photos orient to the center of the frame. Think of it as inviting the viewer's eye into the middle, where your glorious jersey resides.
While this isn't a hard-and-fast rule (we're framers, not dictators!), it can lead to some comical (and ultimately, regrettable) results if ignored. It's truly unfortunate when you have an otherwise amazing frame with that iconic action shot in the bottom right corner, but the player is looking off the frame as if they're trying to escape. Now, once it's on your wall, it looks like your hero is staring intently into the bathroom, or perhaps contemplating the dust bunnies in the corner. Awkward! We want your display to be aesthetically pleasing from every angle, drawing admiration, not confused glances.
The Blunt Truth (and Your Easy Out!)
Keeping these points in mind when you're selecting and emailing us the specific photos you want in your frame makes our job much more straightforward. More importantly, it saves us from the heartbreaking task of having to break the news that while that awesome, iconic shot is genuinely fantastic and perhaps captures the best play that player ever made, its landscape orientation or low quality means we simply cannot use it without it looking like an eyesore in an otherwise pristine, museum-quality frame. We don't want to be the bearers of bad news, or the dream-crushers of iconic shots!
And finally, for those who simply want perfection without the headache of pixel counts and focal points, there's always the classic, stress-free option: just send in the jersey, pick your layout, and let us handle the rest. With our combined 35+ years of experience, we've got an encyclopedic knowledge of iconic sports photography. We can always find the absolute best way to make any jersey look phenomenal. There is absolutely no shame in letting us handle it and make it look the best it possibly can. After all, you're the fan, we're the framers – together, we'll create a masterpiece!