How To Choose Photos for a Gallery Wall
A while back, I found a listing for five matching, unopened gold frames on my local buy-and-sell. The seller was asking only $10 per frame. I have been wanting to add a clean, grid-format gallery wall into our home for a long time, and the frame listing was the push I needed to finally make it happen. I scooped up all five frames.
I originally wanted to create the gallery wall on a big blank wall in our cozy room. The frames I purchased are a brand sold exclusively at Michaels, so I visited a nearby store to see if I could grab a few more frames. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to carry this particular frame anymore, so I adjusted my plan. Once we started our built-in fireplace unit, I decided to move around some furniture in our living room, and was left with the perfect little wall right in the heart of our home to build the gallery wall grid with four of them.
This project was fun and easy, but I wanted to address a question that has come up a time or two when I share about photo projects like this: how do you go about actually selecting the photos and ensure they look cohesive? There is a bit of a science, or at least some intention, behind photo selection when it comes to displaying them together. We all have a good handful of personal or family photos that we love, but not all of them may work together in a project like this. So how exactly do you narrow down your images to land on the final photos? I personally take a few things into account when planning my project.
First of all, I like to consider the literal physical parameters of the project, like the portrait format of the frames and the 8”x10” print size. My frame configuration dictated that I would need to select photos in a portrait format (or at least be able to be cropped to such) and the files needed to have a large enough resolution that they would print on a fairly large scale without much graininess. This may seem obvious, but this parameter cut my pool of potential images to use in half right off the bat.
Second of all, I think about the feeling behind the photos. I strongly believe that if I want to have these visual reminders in front of me everyday, I want them to be actual reminders of memories, not just a display of picture perfect moments. Yes, definitely use professional photos if you can, but mix in other, more personal photo moments. A memory from a trip. A family milestone. An average, but overwhelmingly joyful day. We have so many memory connections with imagery and I think that we should use that to our advantage to surround ourselves with the images that will truly bring us joy, not just to present a pretty face for guests to see. Every single photo on my gallery wall takes me somewhere - wandering the rows of family sweet corn with our baby girl for the first time, stealing a kiss on a day of biking around Detroit with my love, the pure look of wonder in my daughters big beautiful brown eyes on the first walk we went on where she actually walked herself, and the sound of a sweet and soft little baby giggle. All this to say, narrow down your selection to the images that make you feel something really good.
Finally, consider variety in both subject matter and composition. Yes, nearly all my favourite photos involve Mabel, but that doesn’t mean that my gallery wall needs to be one-dimensional with staged, smiling photos of her in every frame. When it came to making my photo selections, I tried to think about point of view and scale. I selected an image with a birds-eye view, a close-up view, a portrait, and a full body shot. I also considered the backgrounds and the degree of lightness and darkness they had so that when put together, the images looked well balanced and moved the viewer’s eye around the frames. These choices, although less about heart and more about aesthetics, help create visual interest and depth.
As a few extra notes: If you feel your images look too cluttered or mismatched, converting them to black and white always looks classy and can help unify the differences in tone and style. It is also helpful to lay your selected images out in a grid pattern on your computer to see how they work together and if you need to make any swaps or changes as a result. And as one last tip, always consider printing a few extras for any last minute switches - it always helps to have options!
I hope you found these ideas helpful. It can definitely feel overwhelming, but the nice thing about decorating with personal photos is that you can very easily switch them up and change them out if you feel something isn’t quite working or looks dated. Would you create a structured gallery wall in your home? What memories would you fill it with?
In case you are wondering, I used Pikto to print my images and the quality is great.
