Mat sizes

Hi All,

Appealing to the printing gurus for some help:

Wrt mat board sizes for fine art, b&w digital prints. I understand it's best to cut mats that fit standard framing sizes, so it's easier and cheaper for the customer to get a frame to fit the print. Presently I print on A4 (8.3" x 11.7") and A3 (11.7" x 16.5") sized papers. What I would like to know is what would be considered a reasonable/sensible sized mat for prints that leave a .5" margin on the A4 paper (so 7.3" x 10.7" max printed area), and prints that leave a 1" margin on A3 (10.7" x 15.5" max printed area)?

Also, for square prints on the same sized papers i.e. 7.3" x 7.3" printed area on A4 and 10.7" x 10.7" on A3, should the mat also be square or is rectangular also considered acceptable?

Finally, I understand the bottom edge of the mat should be slightly larger than the top edge. Is there a percentage calculation for this and does it also apply for square prints?

Any help/guidance much appreciated.

Unless I'm doing a particular print for custom framing, I simply use mats to take me to the next standard size, so if I printed on 8x10/A4 then I'd get a mat for an 11x14/A3 frame. As far as square prints/mats go, I've not done any of those, however where I've seen it done, it's always square print=square mat, UNLESS you're putting several small square prints into one large rectangular mat.

As far as the bottom margin goes, somewhere between 1/3 and 1/4. I like to look at the print before I make a decision because I find that depending on the colours, foreground etc, different prints seem to want different margins to balance them out.

I agree with TI about the mat size, and for me I normally give the bottom an extra 1/2 inch.

this is an interesting topic, I've done my own mat board mounts too, and so far the only "rules" I could find were to go to the next frame size up, which seems to work, and also regarding making the bottom margin larger than the bottom. Most of mine looked ok like that, but i've never been too happy with them.. I also couldn't decide which colour went best with the photo, but i'm guessing this is another thing learnt over time?

I've seen a lot of the fine art prints that are square, and usually have a massive border around them, with something like 3 to 4 inches border at least all round for a 4 inch print etc, and it does tend to make a lot of difference, having a big frame around a photo does seem to make it more striking.