TOM’S
TIPS
Tom Furlotte has over 35 years experience in the retail camera business! He is an experienced, confident, and knowledgeable salesman as well as an excellent and enthusiastic amateur photographer. Active in the Memphis Camera Club, Tom spends much of his spare time taking photographs of a variety of subjects. His specialty is nature and close-up still life, but he’s well versed in scenic and sports, as well. "Tom’s Tips" will give you an opportunity to take advantage of his expertise and teaching ability on a variety of subjects.
I once entered a picture of a sunflower blooming in the Christian Brothers University show "Eclectic Expressions". I decorated the mat with images of sunflowers taken from several other prints made on the same shoot. To do this, I used an X-acto knife and cut up the prints, trimming out the flowers I did not want to use. This image was selected for the Permanent Collection at CBU.
The idea of the decorated mat is not new, but old ideas last from generation to generation because they are good ideas.
The next time you get a picture you want to enlarge, why not see if it would benefit from a decorated mat. Look at other images from the same shoot and see if there are some prints with good elements you can use on your mat. There might be some image with a bad background or a dull sky you can cut up and make useful.
Once you have selected the elements you want to use, lay them out on your mat, arranging them in a pleasing design. Use glue to attach them to the mat. Use tweezers to handle the small pieces and glue sparingly so it doesn't run onto the mat.
If you have white edges that are distracting, you can run the side of a marker along the edge to hide the white paper.
Have fun being creative.
