Ways to Display Photos on the Wall

Hanging Heights

• Hang the pictures about 60 inches from the floor or at eye level, whichever looks better in your home. Sixty inches adheres to museum standards, and if you'd like your photo gallery to fit this model, measure from up the wall from the floor until you reach 60 inches; otherwise, go with eye level. This also might be 60 inches, but if the photo gallery you're working on will be viewed from primarily a sitting position like above your desk, adjust accordingly.

Creating Visual Balance

• Ensure that your display is visually balanced, which means that one side of the gallery holds the same visual weight as the other side. Two types of visual balance exist: symmetrical and asymmetrical. Symmetrical balance happens when you hang pictures of the same size in mirror image to each other, such as an arrangement that features two 5 x 7-inch picture frames flanking one side of a larger 10 x 12-inch frame, and then you recreate the mirrored opposite arrangement right next to it. Asymmetrical would take the same types of frames but wouldn't mirror the arrangement; rather it would allow the larger frame to be balanced by the smaller ones. A number of different combinations exist (see Resources).

Storytelling

• Tell a story with your photos. If you've taken a series of photographs of an important event like a trip to the Grand Canyon, display the photos in a way that tells the story of your trip in sequence. Photos that you hang in some sort of sequence help you convey the events that went into making your photographs. To help you get started with creating your story through photos, think about how Hollywood movie storyboards or comics tell a story through a sequence of pictures. These art forms use key pictures to convey action, events and emotions. Your photos can do the same.

Color

• Use color as a unifying element if you're displaying photos that have no common visual theme. For example, choose photos that feature predominantly red flowers, which provides a common visual element between all of them. If you're not sure how to go about selecting the colors you should highlight in your photograph display, think about the colors you've featured in your decorating scheme and look for photos that possess these colors. Group the photographs together in either an asymmetrical or symmetrical pattern to further enhance the visual continuity of the cluster of photos.