How to display family pictures

What to do with family photos?

So, you’ve had your photo session and you’ve received your digital gallery - You keep opening the gallery to scroll through, a soft smile on your lips as you reflect on the fact that these smiling, laughing, beautiful people are your family.

You don’t want the photos to get lost in the sea of screenshots, quick snaps, and sweet photos on your phone, and you’ve invested the time and money to get quality family photos taken - But you don’t know what to do next.

I've been there.

This post is for you.

I’ve spent hours pouring over photos, adding them to carts, trying to guess (or use chatgpt) to envision what sizes might look good - And then I get frustrated, dump my cold coffee in the sink, and crawl into bed too exhausted to even think about it anymore. But I have also had the great joy of pushing through and making choices that I am SO grateful for!

So, let me save you some stress and simplify this process for you as I share my favorite ways to display family photos from your family photoshoot in your home:

How to display family photos in your home

In this post, I'll share about my three favorite ways to display photos in my home. Feel free to reach out if you have questions or want ideas! (I offer a 15 minute phone call after your session to talk through the ideas that might work best for your family too!)

Wall Galleries

Photo Albums

Matted Prints

Let's start with wall galleries

These are probably my top favorite. I love having a gallery of my favorite photos displayed on my wall. We recently moved into our new home and that was one of the things I most looked forward to - Hanging a simple gallery of my favorite family photos. It made our house feel so much more personalized and cozy to have our photos on the wall.

Where should I hang family photos?

Some great spots to hang photos:

Focal point in living room, above the couch, above the piano, or filling in an awkwardly empty space of wall
In a hallway
Focal point in a nursery or bedroom (such as over a bed/crib, or above a dresser.

*Avoid hanging photos directly across from a window that you like to keep open - The glare will make it harder to see your photos, and can cause the photos to fade.*

How to design a wall gallery?

• One of my all time favorites is three 16x24 vertically oriented frames side by side on a wall - You can do this with 8x10 photos as well for smaller spaces. I love the emotional impact of the three narrow-ish prints side by side. To me, it is the quintessential set up! You can do 24x36 if you want them even bigger, just be sure to measure it out first.

• Another simple one that looks great and allows you to display a number of photos at once is a square or rectangle with 8x10 (or 8x12, 8x10 is just easier to find frames for!) You can do three on the top and three on the bottom, or two by two, or however large you want.

•A triangle is also visually appealing - In my living room, I have a 16x24 on top (horizontally oriented) with three 8x12s underneath spaced so that the three on the bottom form a wider base and then the 16x24 is the top of my "triangle" (I know - it's not exactly a triangle, but it gives the illusion and I think it's pretty.)

Pro tip! You can use painter's tape to visualize this on your wall. If you measure from the top of the frame to the hanger, you can also add a little mark on your wall after the tape is up to mark where you need to put the nail for the hanger.

Family Photo Albums

I also really love photo albums! My little boys LOVE to flip through our albums and I can tell them stories to accompany the photos they are looking at.

Some ideas for when to make a photo album:

Wedding
New Baby (could include maternity, birth, and newborn photos in this!)
Family vacation (this one is a favorite for my boys!)
Family photos
Annual album for each child

How to make a photo album

There are a few different ways you can make a photo album:

• The highest quality and easiest option would be to purchase a custom album through your photographer (this is something you have access to from your gallery when you work with me) - Your photographer then does the work to design the album for you with your favorite images from your session, and orders it through their professional print lab to make sure that your images are the best quality.

•For a quality do-it-yourself option I recommend using Mpix - They have good quality colors and prints that preserve the investment that you’ve made in your photos so that the colors are accurate and the images don’t fade over the years.

• For a budget friendly option: I have used Shutterfly - This is one that I recommend if you are going to be including phone photos that are already lower quality than professional photos. Just know that these won’t be heirloom quality albums, but they are still so sweet to have.

I don’t ever recommend Walmart or Walgreens or Snapfish - These are all very cheap options that have very low quality and tend to change the color of your prints drastically.

Matted Wall Art

If you’re not familiar with matting, it’s the wide border that surrounds your photo inside a frame. The mat creates a natural space between the photo and the frame, almost like a spotlight that draws your eye directly to the image.

Matted prints are a beautiful way to elevate a single favorite image and make it feel like fine art. It also protects your photo by preventing it from pressing directly against the glass, which helps preserve it over time.

This option is really nice when you want one large statement piece, like a family portrait above the fireplace, a newborn photo in the nursery, or a wedding image in the bedroom. A white mat gives a crisp, modern look, while a black mat creates a dramatic, elegant feel.

Matted vs. Unmatted Prints: Which is right for you?

Matted Prints

Create a polished, gallery-style look
Add a border that draws the eye to the photo
Protect the image from pressing against the glass
Feel timeless and classic

Unmatted Prints

Show more of the image edge-to-edge
Have a sleek, modern feel
Work well for large statement pieces or canvases
Often chosen for minimalistic or contemporary home styles

Both are beautiful, it just depends on the style of your space and the feeling you want your photo to give when someone walks into the room.

Bring your photos to life

Your family photos are so much more than just pretty pictures, they are reminders of the love and connection you all share, and sweet memories of this fleeting season that you're living right now.

Whatever you choose, the biggest thing to me is that you print them somehow so that you can turn those digital files into daily joy for yourself and your family.

Hopefully this helps if you were feeling stuck, but if you want some more guidance, let's set up a call after your session and we can talk through what type of space you have in your home, and what fits your family's style best.

I want you to enjoy your photos fully! I am here to help you step-by-step if you need it so that you end up with artwork you truly love.