Remember when photos were something you got in packs of 12 or 24 from the drive up Kodak Fotomat? Your options consisted of rounded corners or normal corners. If you had a really special image, you could go to the local photography shop for a paper enlargement made in their darkroom. Oh how far we’ve come from those days. Today, the options are incredible…

Today’s digital images can be printed on a multitude of surfaces. One, which I endeavor to talk about today, is metal. Who would have thought we would see images printed on a thin sheet of aluminum? Well, I for one love them. The color saturation is superb and the slight sheen of metal coming through the whites gives an otherworldly depth to certain images.

Not only do they look great, but metal prints are weather resistant. My principal production lab, Bay Photo, has a special product called Performance EXT, about which they say this: “Performance EXT Metal will last 5+ years in direct sunlight without noticeable fading. Available with your choice of a High Gloss, Satin, or Sheer Glossy surface.” And that is in “direct” sun!

So imagine the possibilities! Those outside walls can now be decorated in ways that we decorate inside. It seems we all have some pretty plain stucco walls at our homes here in Southern California. Sometimes our windows even look out on such a plain wall. Now imagine creating a mood by strategically placing an awesome metal image in one of those locations. I absolutely love the idea! What would you do?