JasonC Loc: Houston, Texas

Me, too!

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

I mat and frame my own. If I can't decide what color mat board to use I do one of two things, use a neutral grey, white or black. (I have a set of sample Crescent corners which also helps). My other method to get me on tract or in the right direction is to open the shot in PS, (Or any other editing software that can do what I'm about to explain) Temporarily copy Background layer. Make that layer active. Choose Filter>Blur>Average, it will make the copied BG layer the average color based on colors in photo. Now double click on forground color box (bottom of tool bar) to open color picker, select the color of the just produced by Average. Wright down RGB & CMYK numbers for future ref when buying mat board. Next, from the top menu, select Image>Canvas, enlarge your canvas size by whatever size you plan to make the mat border width. Be sure Relative is checked in pop up dialog and Foreground is selected. See attached. Shut of Average layer to see photo with Mat. If you like it go for it using the numbers you wrote down. If not satisfied, experiment. For Double mats, make a new layer and place it between BG and Average layer. Using the Rectangular Marquee tool click at a corner of the 1st mat and drag diagonally to opposite corner (a selection) Now on top menu, Edit>Stroke, in the pop up, (see attached) type size of inner mat width, select color, (I usually use white if a color mat is used. JMT) select inside, Blending normal @ 100% hit enter. You now have a double mat.

(Download)


(Download)

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Thanks for the note about RediMat, I saved the link for their display packages.

Tomcat5133 Loc: Gladwyne PA

WHITE!!!! NOT TO MUCH MAT SO THE MAT DOESN'T BECOMESPART OF THE PHOTOGRAPH!!!

MY THINKING IS THE MAT IS A DISCREET SEPARATION FROM WALLBOARD OR STRANGE
COLOR PAINTS ETC.

HAS ANYONE GONE INTO A MUSEUM AND SEEN COLOR MATS ON PHOTOGRAPH EXHIBITION.

HEY DO WHAT YOU LIKE. GOOD LUCK.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

White is also good for B&W. Not so good for color shots.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

Easy. Use white.

alby Loc: very eastern pa.

slightly off white.... black frame..... 90%.... or what my wife wants

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

I look at the colors that go with the photo. Frequently it winds up white.
I don't worry about archival as the photos are Sam's Club from digital. So if something happens in the next 30-40 years it can just be printed again and perhaps a different mat used.
More likely the print will fail much quicker than the mat unless you spend the extra big bucks for some archival type of print. But for me I don't care as they are for my personal enjoyment and after I am gone most likely no one will care and they will be thrown out along with my 100-300 year old books as no one likes books anymore.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

I can say that white is difficult to use. Gray and Black or some color are often better.

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

I use whatever strikes my fancy, color-wise, but mostly it's white or black. Archival quality, of course...

Cyberkinesis70 Loc: Northern Colorado

I choose a matte that enhances the photo depending on the colors in it. I take my stuff to a professional framer and go through all the samples until I find one I like. The last was 2 mattes, lavender inside gray. It would really depend on the photo. With black and white I would probably choose a white or off white matte.

Old Coot

I owned a Custom Framing shop for many years.
My philosophy was always use 2 mats. One a narrow 1/4 or 1/8 inch border around the print to pick up one of the more prominent colors and two, use a fairly neutral background say 2 1/2" mat to convey the overall feeling in the picture.
If the print is worth keeping, always use acid free mats and acid free foam core backing. Seal the backing to the frame with 3" wide tape. Never use brown paper backing.
To suspend the image behind the mats use acid free releasable tape. Or if the print is not a collectible then we always drymounted the picture to the backing. That gives you the absolute flattest appearance.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I haven't framed much recently, but when I did a lot of matting and framing, I bought archival mats in bulk in several sizes from Bing at matcutter.com

There you had choice of white, white or white. So that's what I used!

They've expanded their options recently. I think they have some black mats now. Those can look nice too.

Pre-cut colored mats often are not archival. I used a few reluctantly. It can be difficult to find a color that works well with an image.... often detracts more than it helps.

Custom cut mats are usually way too expensive (so I made a point of printing to fit standard sizes that were available pre-cut).

I used to do matting and framing professionally... custom sizes were a lot more reasonable when I made them myself!

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

All of them come into play, the most important are the colors of the picture, to decide was goes well with it, but the color of the wall it's going to hang on is important as well. You'll just have to envision it in your head and go by that!

MDI Mainer

Agree totally!