John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.

Tonight for the first time I displayed three images at an art show. It is the first time I have printed, framed and displayed for public consumption. I was unique at the show because most were painters, and I was the only one showing B&W images. I think I received a very good response for my work and was pleased. There was one person at the show (not displaying, just observing) who runs a local gallery and does framing also. He really liked my work but made one comment that surprised me. I had matted my photos with extra margin at the bottom and signed / labeled the print in the margin. He said I should have matted more tightly and signed the matt. To me, signing the matt means if you sell the work, and the buyer wants to re-frame and re-matt, they loose the signature. By signing the photo below the image, and matting around it, if they reframe/rematt, then they keep the signature.
My question to UHH is, what is the normal or best solution to this. What do you all do, especially those of you how sell a lot?
Thanks for your advice.

anotherview Loc: California

Not a pro. I date, sign, and include the photograph serial number on the back of the print.

pdsdville Loc: Midlothian, Tx

While signing a painting is normal, signing the front of a photograph is not something you see very often. I've found that if someone wants it signed, they will ask otherwise sign the matt or not at all. Do put all of your information on the back of the print though.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

My Ansel Adams prints are matted the way you did it. He did not title, just signed. The margin is equal all around. When I sold prints I signed the mat and put a sticker on the back talking about the image.I

BudsOwl Loc: Upstate NY and New England

I do the same thing. I sign the mat on right just below the picture and sometimes include the title on the left just below the picture. Normally, I center the photo in the mat so that both top and bottom are the same. Ditto for left and right. If the photo dimensions are the same ratio as the frame, the all the clearance are equal. I often double mat, sometimes using different colors for the inside and outside mat. Sometimes I use black-core mats which help offset the inside and outside mats when they are the same color.
Bud

photocat Loc: Atlanta, Ga

Some like the window to be centered others like heavyweighted at the bottom. All personal taste Tradition also indicates that the space on top and sides are the same with the bottom being at least 1/2 to 1 inch deeper
Although the bottom dimension can be greater

Traditional prints are signed at the bottom of the print or versio not the window and with pencil not ink

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Old fashioned and probably less informed than many. For authenticity's sake you ALWAYS sign the print. If you mat tightly, meaning the mat window slightly overlaps the image area (by 1/8" on each side), then you make your print with borders and sign, title, edition and date the print in pencil (if using cotton rag fine art paper), or with an archival marker like a Sakura Microperm in the bottom border. If you are really creating one-of-a-kind prints in a limited edition, you will undoubtedly have "test" prints, which have as much value or sometimes even more in the art world. These are referred to as Artist's Proofs - (AP) and are also numbered as well.

Hahnemühle paper (and others) provide a Certificate of Authenticity, which has additional information - your name, image title, Certificate number, Media type, Printer used, ink type, Image Description, Date image was captured, date it was printed, and total number of prints in the limited edition. They have a free registry at www.myartregistry.com where you can list your images.

As far as signing a mat, once you re-mat the image your signature is lost, so most artists refrain from doing that and for good reason. You can sign directly on the print. It is certainly acceptable to mat your image with a border around the print and include some information on the actual print in the wider border at the bottom, sign on the back, etc. It's all good.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Hey, this is a new era of photography. Look around as to what you think the best photo artists are doing. Several years ago it was fashionable to sign on the print with a metallic gold or silver paint marker. You don't see that anymore. There is a category of fine art prints, mostly wet darkroom prints that are signed in the margin of the print, not on the mat. I wouldn't sign ON the mat, especially for those type of prints because I don't see that in galleries.

Airwatcher

In my opinion one should never sign the mat. The mat's purpose is to frame the art, not to become part of it. I'm a painter and have never shown any of my photographs, but were I to do so I'd sign the print, in pencil, lower right just under the image, and cut the mat's window to allow extra room at the bottom to reveal the signature. I was also taught in art school that a mat's top and sides should be equal but to add extra dimension at the bottom. The reason for this is that when all sides are equal one perceives the print to hang low in the frame.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

My thoughts:

Signing on print face, should be do be as not to distract from the image itself.

Signing on the matt is not needed and could be lost in the future.

Signing on back should be clear enough they can look you up later.

Best would be to both inconspicuously sign on front as mentioned, and have a sticker with your data or the likes, on back. That looks abit more professional too.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

This is all good. Somewhere on every print, either on a matted-off portion of the print, or a label on the back, I put "©[year] [full name] All rights reserved. Limited edition xxxx/yyyy (or AP xx/yy). I do like Hahnemüle's certificate. I also like including a title and signature.

All of this can be done from a database, if you're savvy. That way, you never duplicate numbers, you maintain a record of the print date, and you don't have to print the entire limited edition at once! You can also track the sale of the print, and other parameters.

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

I haven't sold or gifted in quite a while but I did what you did... I signed the mat. Once the photo belongs to someone else I don't worry about the signature.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

You should be sure to have archival-quality adhesive on that sticker...

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan