Friday, October 16, 2009

fotoflōt Review



I have been looking for a way to display my HDR photos for quite some time now, and I think I've finally found a way. Framing has always been too expensive, especially when I have an odd sized picture. I used Imagekind once, and it worked alright for a normal photograph, but I was a little worried about putting an HDR behind glass.

I first found fotoflōt a couple of years ago while looking for framing options, and although I thought it looked cool, I never really considered it. fotoflōt does framing in a totally different way than ever before because it isn't actually framing at all. Instead, the photo is printed and mounted onto a 1/8 inch thick sheet acrylic. Magnets are attached to the back of the picture, and once the included wall mount is installed, the picture snaps to the wall mount and appears to float just off the surface of the wall.




I finally caved last week, and bought my first fotoflōt. It came yesterday, and I was so excited to see it, I opened the box before I even got back to my 4th floor apartment after picking it up on the 1st. I picked it out of the pile of boxes left at our apartment because of the big fotoflōt sticker on the box.






Once I got the thing open, I was actually a little disappointed at first.  The print seemed a little too dark.  Then I decided to turn on the light.  The image popped! I was so excited.  Installing the wall mount was a little difficult, but that's because I had no idea how to use the wall anchors (for those of you that don't know, those are the plastic things you put into drywall before you add screws).  For the record, you can also use a hook or a nail to hang the picture, but the screws are a lot more sturdy.  Here's what it looked like after I got it onto the wall.














As soon as I got the thing up on the wall, I went back to fotoflōt and ordered two more.  I ordered another shot of Chicago that's 7.5"x15" which is the same same size as the one that's on my wall now, and one of the National Cathedral that's 15"x12.5".  The National Cathedral pic is black and white, so I'm excited to see how that turns out.  I plan on doing another panorama of the American University quad once the trees change color and turn it into a 5"x25" fotoflōt.  If I had the cash, I would do one for all four seasons and hang them stacked over each other to make a square.


Price was, I couldn't complain.  While certainly not cheap, the fact that fotoflōt offers free shipping in the US made it about the same price as a cheap frame on Imagekind.  Basically, I think I'm in love with fotoflōt.


Just for fun, here's a picture of our kitchen table.  This is why my roommates hate me.  It really doesn't matter though, because they are gone this weekend.





Update: The folks over at fotoflot gave me a shout out on their blog. Check it out: http://su.pr/3DKx17

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I was curious as if this is sort of like a canvas partrait
its hard to tell!!
I just got married in Kauai and was really interested in using fotoflot but I am unsure of exactly what it is! Even after reading! Im a little slow!!

Reid said...

Sandi,

It's not really like a canvas. The photo is printed and mounted on a thin piece of acrylic (a plastic board). It has magnets on the back that attach to the mount that you hang on the wall. It is a smooth finish. It hangs about a half inch from the wall. I hope this helps.

Unknown said...

So if you touched the image with your hand, it would be like touching the surface of a photograph? Meaning no glass or acrylic to protect the photo?

Reid said...

Yup. That's correct. The photo is printed with a matte-like finish to reduce glare.

Herb said...

I was wondering if they treat the image for UV protection as well as for fingerprints. In other words can the image be wiped down.